Who on earth would want to be a CMO?

They're expected to "...build the brand, increase revenue, inform business strategy and drive differentiation, all in less than twelve months, regardless of budget, staffing, tech resources, product quality, competitive activity, customer experience, or pricing strategies.

"In other words, CMOs are expected to be miracle workers and, in the absence of miracles, are distrusted (HBR reported that 80 percent of CEOs don’t trust their current CMOs) and then dismissed (the average tenure of a CMO is between twenty-four and thirty-six months, depending on the study)."

Wowzers! Drew Neisser sure sets the tone in his new book:

"Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brand" (renegade.com).

Packed full of interesting info, here are my top takeaway tidbits (some may seem obvious, but I really like how they're expressed):

💡 Only 41 percent of CMOs can articulate their brand story in eight words or less.

💡 "You need the courage to fight for an overarching brand strategy that differentiates your company".

💡 Distinctiveness should be an organisational commitment, not just a marketing one.

💡 The foremost marketing imperative is “to cut through”.

💡 Forget all that you can do and focus on what you must do to make a difference.

💡 Courageous marketers are business strategists first.

💡 “Anything is possible if you don’t care who gets credit”.

💡 In-person events and trade shows represented 30 to 50 percent of B2B sales pipelines in 2019. So, finding a virtual replacement for physical events was not a casual undertaking but rather an urgent need.

💡 Well done is better than well said.

💡 A modest amount of great content is better than a deluge of mediocrity.

💡 "If you’re the Head of Marketing, you can’t even think about trying new things without the express support of your CEO. Ironically, this is where many CMOs fail, and it happens often before they even start their jobs."

💡 Sales is often a lagging indicator for B2B brands with long sales cycles.

💡 MarTech isn’t marketing. It's a means of capitalising on your marketing activities.

💡 MarTech is only as good as the staff that uses it.

💡 "Develop a highly visible and creatively executed case history program".

💡 Being relevant is the same as being thoughtful.

💡 Examples of 'pithy taglines' for complicated businesses:

Company specialising in maintaining third-party servers in data storage facilities:

👉 'All About Uptime' 👈

Software for the construction industry:

👉 'Together We Build Amazing' 👈

Manufacturer of controls that enable labs to calibrate the accuracy of their testing equipment:

👉 'Control Freaks’ 👈

Platform that helps companies defend themselves against fishing.

👉 'Uniting Humanity Against Phishing' 👈

Check out the book at renegade.com