Description
Chief marketing officers manage the high level marketing operations in a company. They coordinate all the efforts related to the marketing, promotional, and advertising activities across units or geographical areas. They make sure that different activities aimed at creating awareness of products are profitable for the company. They take decisions and prepare reports on marketing projects and the costs they entail.
Other titles
The following job titles also refer to chief marketing officer:
chief commercial strategist
head of marketing
director of marketing
senior marketing officer
chief commercial officer
chief commercial strategy officer
Minimum qualifications
Bachelor’s degree is generally required to work as chief marketing officer. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.
ISCO skill level
ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:
- the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
- the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
- the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.
Chief marketing officer is a Skill level 4 occupation.
Chief marketing officer career path
Similar occupations
These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to chief marketing officer.
marketeer
sales manager
promotion manager
category manager
commercial director
Long term prospects
These occupations require some skills and knowledge of chief marketing officer. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of chief marketing officer with a significant experience and/or extensive training.
Essential knowledge and skills
Essential knowledge
This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of chief marketing officer.
Business management principles: Principles governing business management methods such as strategy planning, methods of efficient production, people and resources coordination.
Brand marketing techniques: The methods and systems used in researching and establishing a brand identity for marketing purposes.
Market analysis: The field of market analysis and research and its particular research methods.
Content marketing strategy: The process of creation and share of media and publishing content in order to acquire customers.
Marketing mix: Principle of marketing that describes the four fundamental elements in marketing strategies which are the product, the place, the price and the promotion.
Market pricing: Price volatility according to market and price elasticity, and the factors which influence pricing trends and changes in the market in the long and short term.
Essential skills and competences
These skills are necessary for the role of chief marketing officer.
Plan marketing strategy: Determine the objective of the marketing strategy whether it is for establishing image, implementing a pricing strategy, or raising awareness of the product. Establish approaches of marketing actions to ensure that goals are achieved efficiently and over a long term.
Study sales levels of products: Collect and analyse sales levels of products and services in order to use this information for determining the quantities to be produced in the following batches, customer feedback, price trends, and the efficiency of sales methods.
Evaluate marketing content: Revise, assess, align, and approve marketing material and content defined in the marketing plan. Evaluate written word, images, print or video advertisements, public speeches, and statements in accordance with the marketing objectives.
Manage profitability: Review on a regular basis sales and profit performance.
Interpret financial statements: Read, understand, and interpret the key lines and indicators in financial statements. Extract the most important information from financial statements depending on the needs and integrate this information in the development of the department’s plans.
Create annual marketing budget: Make the calculation of both the income and expenditures that are expected to be paid over the coming year concerning the marketing related activities such as advertising, selling and delivering products to people.
Use analytics for commercial purposes: Understand, extract and make use of patterns found in data. Use analytics to describe consistent happenings in observed samples in order to apply them to commercial plans, strategies, and corporate quests.
Analyse consumer buying trends: Analyse buying habits or currently prevalent customer behaviour.
Define measurable marketing objectives: Outline the measurable performance indicators of the marketing plan such as market share, customer value, brand awareness, and sales revenues. Follow up on the progress of these indicators during the development of the marketing plan.
Track key performance indicators: Identify the quantifiable measures that a company or industry uses to gauge or compare performance in terms of meeting their operational and strategic goals, using preset performance indicators.
Analyse internal factors of companies: Research and understand various internal factors that influence the operation of companies such as its culture, strategic foundation, products, prices, and available resources.
Plan marketing campaign: Develop a method to promote a product through different channels, such as television, radio, print and online platforms, social media with the aim to communicate and deliver value to customers.
Integrate marketing strategies with the global strategy: Integrate the marketing strategy and its elements such as the market definition, competitors, price strategy, and communication with the general guidelines of the global strategy of the company.
Analyse external factors of companies: Perform research and analysis of the external factor pertaining to companies such as consumers, position in the market, competitors, and political situation.
Identify potential markets for companies: Observe and analyse market research findings in order to determine promising and profitable markets. Consider the firm’s specific advantage and match it with markets where such value proposition is missing.
Align efforts towards business development: Synchronise the efforts, plans, strategies, and actions carried out in departments of companies towards the growth of business and its turnover. Keep business development as the ultimate outcome of any effort of the company.
Liaise with managers: Liaise with managers of other departments ensuring effective service and communication, i.e. sales, planning, purchasing, trading, distribution and technical.
Analyse work-related written reports: Read and comprehend job-related reports, analyse the content of reports and apply findings to daily work operations.
Optional knowledge and skills
Optional knowledge
This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of chief marketing officer. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.
Customer insight: The marketing concept referring to the deep understanding of the customer’s motivations, behaviours, beliefs, preferences, and values that help understand the reasons why the way they do. This information is then useful for commercial purposes.
International trade: The economic practise and study field that address the exchange of goods and services across geographic borders. The general theories and schools of thought around the implications of international trade in terms of exports, imports, competitivity, GDP, and role of multinational companies.
Customer segmentation: The process whereby a target market is divided into specific sets of consumers for further market analysis.
Printing techniques: The techniques and processes to reproduce text and images using a master form or template such as letterpress printing, gravure, and laser printing.
Social media marketing techniques: The marketing methods and strategies used to increase attention and website traffic through social media channels.
Market entry strategies: The ways to enter a new market and their implications, namely; exporting via representatives, franchising to third parties, collaborating joint ventures, and opening of fully-owned subsidiaries and flagships.
Project management: Understand project management and the activities which comprise this area. Know the variables implied in project management such as time, resources, requirements, deadlines, and responding to unexpected events.
Subsidiary operations: The coordination, processes, and operations revolving around the management of subsidiaries either nationally or internationally. The integration of strategic guidelines coming from the headquarters, consolidation of financial reporting, and abidance by the regulatory mandates of the jurisdiction where the subsidiary operates.
Statistics: The study of statistical theory, methods and practices such as collection, organisation, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data. It deals with all aspects of data including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments in order to forecast and plan work-related activities.
Graphic design: The techniques to create a visual representation of ideas and messages.
Financial capability: Financial operations such as calculations, cost estimations, budget management taking relevant commercial and statistical data into account such as data for materials, supplies and manpower.
Consumer law: The area of law that regulates the relationship between consumer and businesses providing goods or services, including consumer protection and regulations on irregular business practices.
Trading law: Field of law that states and regulates the affairs and legal practices for trading goods and services.
E-commerce systems: Basic digital architecture and commercial transactions for trading products or services conducted via Internet, e-mail, mobile devices, social media, etc.
Quality assurance methodologies: Quality assurance principles, standard requirements, and the set of processes and activities used for measuring, controlling and ensuring the quality of products and processes.
Trendwatching: The practice of understanding the world and its ever-changing nature. The observation of different phenomena in the world in order to predict and foresee the evolution of things in the world.
Optional skills and competences
These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of chief marketing officer. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.
Implement marketing strategies: Implement strategies which aim to promote a specific product or service, using the developed marketing strategies.
Prospect new customers: Initiate activities in order to attract new and interesting customers. Ask for recommendations and references, find places where potential customers can be located.
Use theoretical marketing models: Interpret different academic theories and models of academic nature and make use of them to create the marketing strategy of the company. Employ strategies such as the 7Ps, the customer lifetime value, and the unique selling proposition (USP).
Liaise with advertising agencies: Communicate and cooperate with advertising agencies in transmitting the goals and specifications of the marketing plan. Liaise to develop an advertising and promotional campaign that represent the aim of the marketing plan.
Manage development of promotional material: Perform, oversee or contact agencies for the content creation, designing and distribution of informational and advertising material.
Coordinate marketing plan actions: Manage the overview of the marketing actions such as the marketing planning, internal financial resource granting, advertising materials, implementation, control, and communication efforts.
Analyse supply chain strategies: Examine an organisation’s planning details of production, their expected output units, quality, quantity, cost, time available and labour requirements. Provide suggestions in order to improve products, service quality and reduce costs.
Impart business plans to collaborators: Diffuse, present, and communicate business plans and strategies to managers, employees making sure that objectives, actions, and important messages are properly conveyed.
Communicate with customer service department: Communicate with customer service in a transparent and collaborative manner; monitor how service is operating; relay real-time information to customers.
Develop public relations strategies: Plan, coordinate and implement all the efforts required in a public relations strategy such as defining the targets, preparing communications, contacting partners, and spreading information among stakeholders.
Perform market research: Gather, assess and represent data about target market and customers in order to facilitate strategic development and feasibility studies. Identify market trends.
ISCO group and title
1221 – Sales and marketing managers
References
- Chief marketing officer – ESCO