DigitalMarketer Podcast

Episode 335: The Importance of an Agile, Responsive CMO with David Fossas

Episode

What is the role of a CMO in today’s marketing landscape? Often a CMO will get hired as a band-aid for a company’s marketing ailment, and as such, they don’t usually stick around for too long at any one company.

‘The 4 Ps’ – Product, Price, Placement, Promotion – are still the core of your business. 

How the CMO has a voice in the room to influence the thought process in these key areas is succinctly articulated by a CMO with a keen understanding of the challenges of modern-day marketing. Please join us. 

CMOs that are coming up in the social media SEO scene with an understanding of platforms like TikTok are obviously different from CMOs who’ve come up through the ranks of an agency and have a different take on marketing strategies.

And so, because marketing is being seen as an increasingly specialized role, with CMOs being hired for demand generation or the next marketing challenge (instead of letting them evolve with the company), the role of the CMO is constantly changing.

Creating credibility for the role of the CMO and the overall company marketing strategy (and getting department buy-in) is one of the challenges David addresses in this interview. 

He also touches on the need for marketing to be agile and responsive, and how to frame marketing in the same way we do products. 

David Fossas is a growth-stage leader with a great track record of driving revenue and the advancement of companies from startup to maturity. 

He is also the current CMO of Staccato and is in conversation with TDMs Mark de Grasse about the importance of having a Chief Marketing Officer who is in tune with the rest of the company’s needs.

David Fossas is the current CMO of Staccato, an outdoor lifestyle brand. He has previously worked with over 35 brands, including General Motors, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Verizon, HP, Inc., Visa, and more. You can find him on Twitter (occasionally) and Instagram at the links below.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

01:30 What is the role of the CMO, and why is their tenure statistically so short?

04:00 The importance of the CMO educating other C-Suite team members on company strategy

06:20 Appreciating where new CMOs are coming from

08:00 How to talk about marketing with the other departments in your company

09:43 Why marketing needs to be the most responsive aspect of any organization

14:00 How do CMOs differentiate their roles in product versus brand development?

18:35 Where does the disconnect happen with CMOs in a company’s organization? 

21:25 How did David become a CMO?

28:15 David’s advice for aspirant CMOs

Listen Now

CONNECT WITH DAVID FOSSAS:

Instragram

Twitter

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