An Open Letter To CEOs: Here's Why Your CMO Is Thinking About Leaving
You have a tough job. Very few understand how many stakeholders you truly have to answer to or the pressure of your world. Like many of your peers, you may have been told that every bit of marketing has to be measurable to be effective. Or, that it is really product and sales that drive growth, where marketing serves as an ancillary function and needs to be controlled and directed.
You may already know that CMOs have the highest turnover in the C-suite, hovering at 35 to 41 months depending on which research you look at. If you think that can’t possibly be your CMO because they are such a rockstar, remember that unicorns get hunted the most. Insisting that they stalk your customers.
There is a great episode from Modern Family where Claire and Cam are trying to flip a house and they stalk the customer online to “cater the house” to his needs. When the potential buyer finds it all a bit too creepy during the showing , he bolts. The modern customer journey has changed. You don’t get to control the journey. You don’t even get to know every touch point.