Marketing career path: from specialist to CMO
During and since the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen an abrupt transition to digital interactions. Almost overnight, customers and employees found themselves connecting through digital channels like never before.
The speed, scope and scale of these changes have meant that companies – from start-ups to corporations – are on the hunt for skilled marketing professionals. This demand creates opportunities for individuals interested in pursuing a diverse and exciting marketing career path.
One important marketing role in the digital era is that of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). CMOs are responsible for driving company revenue, building a brand and creating customer loyalty, as well as overseeing data and systems that support value creation.
But what is the pathway to becoming a CMO? Below, we’ll explore the role of a CMO and the professional and educational steps to take to secure this executive-level role.
How to start on your path to CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)
Many people who are interested in pursuing a marketing career path set their sights on becoming a CMO or senior marketing executive. But how do you land that first vice president (VP) of marketing or CMO role if you’ve never held either position?
For Prashant Mohan, a former software engineer and now the CMO at Sharesight, it comes down to the “mindset of experimentation and ability to give things a go.”
“I didn't come from a traditional marketing or agency background; I was more willing to try different things and be open to ideas.”
Mohan’s marketing career path started off not only by baulking at convention but also by being bold.
“In my first marketing role, I onboarded a marketing automation system, and would just build scrappy landing pages all by myself. That was fine for that stage in the company’s growth, and later we got more credible design help to jazz things up.”
The marketing landscape in Australia
As businesses have shifted their attention online to survive the pandemic’s upheaval and emerge stronger, Mohan’s embrace of “experimentation” is just one of the new marketing trends to emerge in recent years.
According to Forbes, having a strong online presence is becoming increasingly crucial to businesses. For instance, 67 per cent of consumers are more inclined to make a purchase if a website is mobile-friendly, while 57 per cent of users are less likely to recommend a business with a poorly designed website.
Digital marketing spending in Australia is expected to reach nearly A$23 billion by 2028. The areas of digital marketing expected to make up this figure in order of amount are:
- Search advertising ($10.7 billion)
- Video advertising ($6.25 billion)
- Banner advertising ($4.21 billion)
- Influencer advertising ($1.16 billion)
- Classifieds ($1.02 billion)
- Audio advertising ($.29 billion)
The Australian government also predicts that predictive and generative artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to shape the business and marketing sectors through content creation, data analysis and customer service.
Another factor shaping Australia’s marketing industry landscape is the push for purpose. More customers believe that brands should be committed to improving society.
For marketers, these changes mean they not only need to know how to respond to what customers think, feel, say and do, but they also need to accelerate their digital capabilities.
Pathway from marketing manager to CMO
In today’s digital environment, data and analytics skills are key. But, surprisingly, not all marketers have them. According to Deloitte, some of the major skills gaps in Australia are generative AI, data science, cybersecurity and coding.
Some of the survey group also noted that their skills in the area were out of date. This statistic is a glaring reminder that to remain competitive and to progress through the ranks, today’s marketing professionals need to gain new skills.
Keeping pace with digital transformations can open the doors to more senior roles in the marketing field. Here’s how that pathway might look.
Step 1: Marketing manager
Becoming a marketing manager is typically one of the early steps in a professional’s marketing career path. Marketing managers establish, plan, execute and evaluate marketing strategies. Their job is to promote a business, product or service by identifying and engaging with its target audience.
Ultimately, the objective of a marketing manager is to support business growth through market research, marketing plans, campaigns and data analysis. Marketing managers are also responsible for hiring, managing and training marketing staff, including entry-level team members.
Skills: Successful marketing managers need a mix of both soft and hard skills, which include:
- Leadership and team management
- Analytical thinking and problem-solving
- Communication and interpersonal skills
- Diversity and inclusion; ethics and social responsibility
- Business strategy and budget management
- Channel marketing and campaign planning
Years of experience: Typically, job advertisements for marketing manager roles require between seven and 10 years of experience in digital environments, with exposure to emerging platforms.
Median salary: A$110,000
Other job titles:
- Advertising manager
- Public relations manager
- Social media manager
- Brand manager
- Promotions manager
- Sales and marketing manager
- Digital marketing manager
- Product manager
Step 2: Marketing director
A marketing director provides leadership to the entire marketing department and oversees the development of effective marketing strategies. These multitaskers are responsible for project and stakeholder management, and ensuring projects are delivered within budget and on time.
Marketing directors are strategists tasked with driving growth and engagement across all channels.
Their role is to build brand awareness, strengthen the strategic position of brands and increase customers’ purchase intention by leading a team of writers, designers, account managers, search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists, marketing specialists and marketing managers.
Skills: Marketing directors need skills in influencing and empowering the marketing team to deliver campaigns that drive results. These abilities include skills in the following areas:
- Leadership and people management
- Strategic thinking
- Project management
- Networking and stakeholder management
- Customer insights and market trends
- Omnichannel marketing strategy and overseeing budgets
- Ethical frameworks
- Forecasting, tracking and measuring marketing activities
Years of experience: Most job advertisements for the role of marketing director specify around 10 years of experience driving commercial returns, brand promotion and marketing leadership positions.
Median salary: A$148,000
Other job titles:
- Director of sales and marketing
- Director of media
- Director of brand marketing
- Director of digital marketing
- Director of communications
- Director of market research
- Director of product marketing
Step 3: VP of marketing
Vice president of marketing is a director-level marketing executive role. The executive in this role is responsible for connecting an organisation’s marketing strategy with the overall business strategy.
A VP of marketing builds and manages high-performing marketing teams and oversees the implementation of marketing strategies to strengthen an organisation’s market position.
They drive results, growth, retention and brand identity – essentially ensuring all marketing efforts and messaging land where they should.
Aside from ensuring the marketing department is running at its peak, the VP of marketing also works closely with other executives such as the VP of sales, (Chief Marketing Officer, or CMO), chief financial officer (CFO), chief executive officer (CEO) and other managers within an organisation.
Skills: The VP of marketing shapes a company’s strategic vision and, sets and achieves targets. To achieve this, they need a mix of people, business and technical skills that include skills in the following areas:
- Leadership and business administration
- Project management and communication
- Strategic planning and sales growth
- Client acquisition and relationship marketing
- Consumer marketing and customer-centricity
- Data-driven marketing and analytics
- Application of marketing technology (martech) stacks (such as artificial intelligence)
- Managing digital offerings and innovation
Years of experience: A VP of marketing has a critical leadership role and reports to the CMO, and typically must have over 10 years of marketing experience.
Median salary: A$184,000
Other job titles:
- VP of brand development
- VP of digital marketing
The next step after becoming a VP of marketing is to become a CMO. But what does a CMO actually do?
What does a CMO do?
A chief marketing officer is a senior executive responsible for overseeing an organisation’s marketing strategy, brand management and customer engagement efforts.
The CMO plays a pivotal role in driving growth by developing and implementing marketing initiatives that align with the company’s overall business goals.
This includes managing the marketing team, setting budgets, analysing market trends and ensuring that the company’s brand message is effectively communicated across all channels.
The CMO’s responsibilities are broad and include developing marketing strategies that increase brand awareness, customer acquisition and customer retention.
They work closely with other department heads, such as those in sales, product development and customer service, to ensure a cohesive approach to market positioning.
The CMO is also tasked with understanding the competitive landscape, identifying market opportunities and leveraging data-driven insights to optimise marketing efforts.
Additionally, they are often involved in overseeing advertising campaigns, public relations efforts, digital marketing approaches, social media strategies and content creation. To excel as a CMO, it’s important to have a strong set of skills that include the following:
- Strategic thinking: The ability to develop long-term plans that align marketing initiatives with business objectives
- Leadership: Proven experience in leading and inspiring a team, with strong interpersonal skills to foster collaboration across departments
- Analytical skills: Proficiency in data analysis and the use of metrics to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, make data-driven decisions and identify areas for improvement
- Digital marketing expertise: Deep understanding of digital marketing tools and platforms, including SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), email marketing and social media
- Creativity: An innovative mindset to develop unique marketing campaigns that capture the audience's attention and differentiate the brand
- Communication skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills to articulate the brand message clearly and effectively
- Customer focus: A keen understanding of customers’ needs and behaviours, and the ability to tailor marketing strategies to meet those needs
- Budget management: Experience in managing marketing budgets to maximise return on investment (ROI) for marketing expenditures
- Adaptability: Ability to quickly adjust strategies in response to market changes or new opportunities
Years of experience: Typically, a CMO should have a minimum of 10 to 15 years of experience in marketing, with at least five years in a leadership role.
A bachelor’s degree in marketing, business or a related field is generally required and many organisations prefer candidates with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or another advanced qualification, such as a Master of Digital Marketing.
Extensive experience in both digital and traditional marketing channels is crucial, along with a proven track record of driving business growth through innovative marketing strategies.
Median salary: A$190,000
Marketing career path
Climbing the marketing career ladder doesn’t always follow a straight line, but it does take gaining new skills, especially for those who want to pursue a digital marketing career.
Mohan says that studying a postgraduate degree paved the way to his new career in marketing – and a new life in Australia.
“My wife and I were both studying in Singapore when Westpac were recruiting students from the master’s program, and that’s how we landed in Australia.”
It was then, while working as a test engineer in consumer electronics for the Philips brand in Bangalore, that Mohan “came in close contact with product management.” He says this is where his “love for consumer marketing really began.”
Then came his break at Google. He was “the strategy and sales operations manager for AUNZ, creating strategies for sales teams to pitch marketing solutions to Aussie and Kiwi marketers.”
Mohan says while he lacked the creative skills often sought after in a marketing agency environment, he made up for it with his data skills.
“Having worked at Google, and helping with selling to marketers, my skills at paid search were instrumental in building my credibility.”
The journey to becoming a leader in marketing is different for everyone. Find out what Mohan’s biggest achievement has been in his role as CMO and how Laura Clemesha progressed from marketing assistant to director of her own marketing agency in our CMO spotlight.
How to advance your digital marketing career
If you’re serious about pursuing a successful marketing career path, further study can be key.
LinkedIn, Payscale, JobOutlook and Glassdoor all indicate that a postgraduate degree in digital marketing can help with moving up to director and CMO positions. In fact, companies that advertise for these senior positions often ask for tertiary qualifications at the master’s level rather than a bachelor’s degree.
UTS Online’s Master of Digital Marketing is designed so graduates can take significant career steps, adapt to crises and navigate an ever-changing marketing landscape.
By studying with UTS Online, you will gain insights from industry-leading digital experts, as well as UTS Online’s leading academic researchers and practitioners in marketing and technology.
This unique combination delivers the skills and strategies to leverage emerging digital technology, tools and platforms for marketing today and develops an adaptive mindset for the evolving digital marketing landscape.
To learn more about the online Master of Digital Marketing, get in touch with our Enrolment Advisors on 1300 477 423.
