Starting a business is difficult and building it up takes an inordinate amount of effort. Money may be tight and you’re careful (or should be) with every new hire. Adding someone to the C-suite or management team is an even greater commitment. Yet you may not be able to afford not hiring a Chief Marketing Officer or CMO. Here are eight reasons you should consider hiring a CMO.
- You’ve Maximized Market Fit
During product development, you’re still focusing on getting the product just right. You may not need a marketing guru heading a marketing campaign when you aren’t sure what the final design will be, much less who the best customer market segment is. If you’ve already maximized your market fit, then it is worth bringing in a CMO to improve upon things beyond what you’ve already accomplished with A/B testing.
- You Need to Coordinate Across Many Different Channels
The average marketing talent can handle marketing across one channel, whether it is digital marketing or printed advertising. If you’re trying to market across multiple channels, you’ll want to bring in a CMO sooner rather than later. This ensures that your trade show marketing to other businesses, digital marketing, social media outreach and print ads are all handled appropriately and coordinate with each other.
A CMO should be brought in when you’ve been neglecting to market across digital media. Bring in a professional to do it right instead of trying to do it yourself, risking literally costly mistakes. A CMO will look beyond traditional advertising to emerging technologies, and their expertise is critical if you’re moving into digital marketing for the first time.
- Your Market Consists of Other Businesses
Consumers may be willing to try a new product or service, especially when it comes at little cost to them. Businesses, however, are going to be reluctant to buy something from a small business or someone they’ve never heard of. A Chief Marketing Officer sells your business and can do so in a way that your target buyers will listen to.
- Your Start-up Needs to Put the Product First
A start-up looking to break into the business by selling to established major players needs to bring in a CMO as soon as possible. They’ll be able to do the market research and give actionable feedback so that your product is just right when you launch. A Chief Marketing Officer will also be able to launch the product successfully, generating revenue and profits as soon as possible. A good Chief Marketing Officer can’t save a bad product, but they could make a good-enough product sell well.
B2B start-ups, in particular, need to hire a CMO for B2B marketing. CMO’s prove your value to other businesses, making the case to other businesses as to why they should buy from you instead of the competition. For start-ups that want to build brand recognition or forge strong partnerships as soon as possible so they can hit the ground running, you may want to bring in a CMO, along with a CTO, when you found the company. If you’re already reaching out to these customers, you will have to have a CMO within a year of shipping your product to keep things on track.
Just know what your business will do or provide before you bring in someone to try to market it. If you’re still deciding who and what you are, the CEO should be the CMO.
- You Want to Scale Up
We’ve already said that a small business that fits its niche really doesn’t need a CMO. You need a CMO if you literally want to take your business to the next level. You’re a small business that wants to grow into a medium-sized enterprise. You’re a local brand that wants to become a regional brand. Bring in a CMO to create a long-term branding campaign across all channels while building distribution networks and partnerships on a bigger scale. A CMO is able to help a business that has hit a plateau or otherwise becomes stuck in a rut it needs to get out of. Businesses of all sizes should consider adding a CMO once they start trying to expand internationally.
- Your Brand is in Need of Rebranding or Rebuilding
Regardless of your business’ size, a Chief Marketing Officer may be the only real solution for rebranding your firm. You need such help when your brand is inconsistent and customers are confused. A CMO will be able to standardize and elevate your brand at all touchpoints. A CMO should be called in when your brand has lost its focus or is no longer in line with your branding strategy. A CMO is critical if no one has heard of you.
A CMO should be able to spark discussion and cultivate excitement, re-invigorating a client base and re-energizing your brand’s reputation. A CMO will know how to create a community out of your customers. He or she understands the strategies for building customer loyalty and generating word-of-mouth marketing that makes your business attractive to other, potential customers.
- You Have a Marketing Department
Mid-sized and growing firms should have marketing talent. Once you have three or more marketing professionals working full-time for the company, you should consider having a CMO to lead and coordinate their efforts. You’re essentially bringing in a competent manager for oversight by hiring a CMO.
Why make the marketing manager a C-level position? Bringing in a CMO ensures that marketing has input on every major decision. A CMO provides input on how decisions might impact the company’s brand, growth, customer satisfaction or partners.
- Your Marketing Budget Feels Wasted
You probably need to bring in a Chief Marketing Officer if you are seeing a declining return on the investment of your marketing dollars. When what you’re doing isn’t working – or just isn’t working as well as it used to – you need new leadership for the marketing team. A CMO will be able to review the data and make data-driven decisions quickly as to which marketing methods, messages, and channels should be pursued and which should be dropped. You must have expert help when nothing you’re doing in terms of marketing is working.
A CMO or Chief Marketing Officer may not be necessary at the very start of your venture, and it isn’t necessary for small businesses that plan on staying that way. However, their value and importance rise over time and they are critical for specific phases of a business’ growth. Know when you need their assistance so that you can bring in the experts for what you can’t do yourself anymore.
