7 Priorities Of A New CMO

You hired a new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), now what? Executives are driven to succeed, and you can enhance their results by helping them establish priorities.

Before reviewing marketing campaigns, metrics, or technology, you should ask a new CMO to become familiar with the company’s overall goals. For example, you might have a goal to increase sales by 10% to achieve revenue goals. Or you might be focused on increasing customer loyalty and retention to make revenue more predictable. Give your marketing executive insight into the company’s vision and goals. Once they have this insight, they will be better positioned to evaluate the marketing department’s goals.

2) Support the new CMO on your company’s remote working and communication approach

Every organization has different remote work tools and habits. Your company might use Microsoft Teams for internal communications while using Zoom for outside meetings. Equip the new Chief Marketing Officer with user accounts on all of the remote work tools you use. If you have developed remote working habits and rituals (e.g., Thursday night virtual cocktail hour), invite them to those events. Onboarding an employee, especially an executive, requires additional effort in a remote working environment because casual hallway encounters are not going to happen.

Avoid assuming that the CMO already has all the needed hardware and software for remote working. Ask them if they need a background screen for video conferencing calls, a new web camera, and a headset.

3) Help a new CMO grow their internal network quickly

Executives need a robust internal network to achieve results.

Specifically, focus your attention on helping the CMO connect with the sales team. Take the CMO and VP of Sales to lunch, invite the CMO to visit customers (online or in-person), and sales challenges if there have been challenges or conflicts historically between sales and marketing, layout those issues upfront so the CMO can avoid stepping on landmines.

4) Brief the CMO on their marketing team

To help the CMO achieve more with their team, give them a crash course on their marketing team’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, highlight the top performers in the group who can handle additional responsibilities. Further, advise the CMO on the marketing team (e.g., high employee turnover at the junior level or a lack of technical marketing skills).

5) Walk them through the marketing department’s budget and financial process

Obtain a recent marketing budget and walk your new CMO through the budget. Explain any areas where they are over budget or under budget. Tell them how the budgeting and financial management process works. For example, do they have to approve department expenses above a certain amount? When are quarterly and annual departmental budgets due for submission?

6) Introduce them to key marketing vendors, agencies, and technologies

Your new CMO needs to understand the current external vendors and resources to make smart decisions. Brief your new CMO on the history, budgets, and strengths of the service providers, consultants, and agencies currently in place. Based on this information, the CMO can decide what changes need to be made.

7) Provide clarity about the CMO’s goals

Your CMO will probably have a few ideas on what goals they should set for the company. To minimize unproductive back and forth discussions, give them guidance on goals. For example, if you are focused on gaining more Fortune 500 logos, then make this fact crystal clear.

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