What Everybody Ought to Know About CMO Lifespan

Written by Scott Whitney

I’ve heard this anecdotally for some time now, but I finally saw a Forrester Research report that states the average Chief Marketing Officer’s (CMO) lifespan is 23 months. This compares poorly to the 36-48 months average lifespan all the other C-suite executives enjoy.

Shutter.

From a podcast perspective, we must know exactly how our CMO is being measured and then simply help him/her deliver. If he’s being measure on Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is the percentage of customers who would recommend his company minus the percentage of people who would not (promoters-detractors), our job as podcasters is to take steps to improve customer loyalty.

Please note that I’m not saying customer satisfaction. There is a HUGE difference between a “satisfied” customer (who has no allegiance to you), and a loyal customer who will use you again, recommend others to you and push back on competitive advancements.

By the way, it is argued that a good NPS indicates a company’s growth potential through their customer’s eyes. If that is true, then a CMO that is measured on lead generation, corporate revenue, and/or growth objectives, should care about customer loyalty issues as well.

If, on the other hand, the CMO is being measured on other goals, it’s our job as podcasters to KNOW WHAT THEY ARE, so that we may help! The concept of doing a podcast just because it’s cool will soon tire (if it hasn’t already done so), which means if you are responsible for your company’s podcast efforts, not knowing what your CMO really cares about will eventually get your production shut down.

Posted on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 · 2 Comments