The Success of Marketing Leaders Needs to Measured Differently

Sadly, most CMOs are hired to be fired.

The average tenure of a CMO is slowly shrinking. It’s now 40 months.

A big part of the problem is that a lot of marketing can be measured.

When marketing doesn’t perform, it’s dangerous for marketing leaders.

There’s trouble when there’s no enough MQLs, downloads, click, Website visits, social media activity, and sales.

It explains why marketing leaders are obsessed with MQLs, for example. They’re easy ways to demonstrate tactical success,

As a result, marketing leaders focus on measurable activities.

It’s a vicious circle.

And it’s a terrible way to operate.

So, riddle me this: h

How do companies assess the performance of marketing leaders amid Dark Web and unattributable marketing activity?

How does developing a strong brand and driving brand awareness get scored?

If customers are having active conversions about a company or product in the Dark Web, how much credit should be given to marketing leaders?

In a data-obsessed world teeming with KPIs, marketing has, in some respects, gone off the rails.

The fundamentals (positioning, messaging, branding, strategy) are not as glamorous or interesting as data.

As a result, many companies have a lot of data but a rotten marketing (and sales) foundation.

It’s time for new ways to determine marketing success that involves attributable and non-attribute activity.

Success will need to embrace qualitative and quantitive considerations.

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