Your guide to hiring a chief marketing officer

Hiring a chief marketing officer can be one of the most crucial decisions for your organization, whether you are replacing an old employee or you are hiring someone for your startup. You already know how important marketing is for your company and how a chief marketing officer can help you build a robust marketing structure and acquire more customers.

If you are not from a marketing background, it can be a bit difficult for you to hire the best candidate for this position.

Today, we are going to share a few traits with that you should look for when hiring a CMO. It will make it easier for you to hire a CMO.

Strategic mindset

A strategic mindset is the first thing that any chief marketing officer must have. Don’t confuse your company’s goal/vision with strategy. While the marketing strategy that the marketing officer will craft must align with your business goals, it is going to be different.

High-potential CMO knows about the market. They keep an eye on the competitor and can foresee any imminent market changes before time.

You can ask them interview questions like:

• Which brand’s marketing strategy you like the most?
• Tell me about the best marketing strategy you have crafted?
• Which target audience did you choose for your previous company and which segment was the most profitable one and why?

Adaptability

Adaptability is another thing that any CMO must-have. Markets are prone to changes. Sometimes the changes are rapid, while sometimes these happen gradually.

A chief marketing officer must be adaptable enough to deal with any rapid changes because you know never know what your competitors are planning or how an external threat can affect you.

Remarkable CMOs have the ability to make decisions. For instance, if a product is not performing in a target market, they will switch the target market or find some other solution to the problem.

Interview questions:

• Have you ever had to overhaul your strategy in light of new business conditions? How did you do it? What was the result?
• What's the most unpredictable thing you've ever done?
• What do you do to push yourself out of your comfort zone?

Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

Incredible CMOs can lead and inspire others. Mostly, CMOs represent the company at different stages. Great leaders can identify the problems and issues caused by interpersonal shortcoming and performance problems.

High-potential CMOs have high levels of emotional intelligence. They are self-aware and they can identify how others feel. They can align on all the employees on the same strategy and goal. They can lead a team with power, integrity and trust.

Some questions that you can consider asking:

• Have you ever experienced an internal crisis? Did you solve it? Or If you were to solve it, how you would have done that?
• Why do you think teams have a lack of trust?
• How do you think interpersonal shortcomings come in the way of great communication?
• What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

Management ability

C-suite roles are among the most complex ones when it comes to management. There are numerous teams under them — from brand management and advertising to sales and product placement. Incredible CMO’s can identify higher potential employees in different areas and then lead them to success.

• Can you describe your management style?
• If you could change something about your management style, what that would be?
• When hiring people, what do you look for?

Intuition and decisiveness

Sometimes a lot of data can be overwhelming. Extraordinary CMOs are aware of various metrics. However, they also trust their intuition. When faced with uncertainty or ambiguity, they don’t let fear take over their senses.

In a world that is full of data, it is normal for anyone to feel a mental block, but great c-suite employees can cut through the clutter and make strong decisions.

Interview questions:

• How important you think intuition is when it comes to making a decision?
• What do you do when you feel paralyzed by a lot of data?
• How do you make decisions?

These are the most sought-after traits people look for in CMOS. If you are hiring someone for the position of chief marketing officer, you can judge the candidate based on these candidates.

Another way to do this is by hiring an executive search firm to help you with the process. These firms have expertise in searching executives and can find the best fit for the executive position you want to fill in.