An outside Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is a part-time executive staff that serves as the overseer for the planning and execution of an organization’s marketing endeavors. Needless to say, a CMO needs to have a particular set of skills in order to lead successfully and help the client thrive.
If you are looking into hiring reliable CMO services for your company, here are the following skills that you need to look for in every potential candidate:
1. Flexible leadership and management style
The primary role of a CMO is to be a leader. In order to lead their team successfully, CMOs must have a flexible management style that can adapt depending on the type of client that they have. They must be able to motivate people without using fear or pressure, and they should have the people skills to relate to team players.
2. Tech skills
It goes without saying that CMOs should have at least the necessary marketing technology skills down pat. For any type of company, a CMO that is knowledgeable and skilled in the latest marketing tech is an edge against the competition.
3. Strategic planning
Team leaders that are natural visionaries and strategic planners can push marketing efforts in the right direction. And since marketing is one of the most critical factors that affect an organization’s success, having a talented visionary for a CMO can easily pave the path to excellence.
4. Communication skills
CMOs are responsible for planning, developing, and executing marketing and advertising efforts. To be able to maximize each project’s success, a CMO must be an excellent communicator and collaborator with other heads in the organization. They must be able to get the message across every relevant team without struggling. And if they do struggle, they must be able to find better ways to communicate.
5. Innovation and creativity
While technical and strategic skills are crucial for CMOs, they should also have innovation and creativity to bring something new to the table. If you are hiring a third-party CMO, see what they can contribute to your organization that hasn’t been done before. If they don’t have enough innovative or creative thinking skills, it might mean that they’re operating too closely to textbook standards.
6. Problem-solving skills
Problems are bound to arise, especially in marketing. Preventing problems is the number one goal for CMOs, but when inevitable issues do arise, a good CMO must be able to tackle these problems head-on with a Plan A, B, and C.
This is also where experience comes in handy. The more experience that a CMO has, the higher the chance that they’ve already encountered the problems you have before–and the better they are at fixing them.
There is no equation to the perfect Chief Marketing Officer, but these are the skills that will help you determine if a candidate is the one you are looking for. Once you find this type of professional, you can gain peace of mind knowing that your company’s marketing needs are well taken care of.