What Is An Interim CMO?

If you don’t currently have a CMO, your organization may suffer from diminished or lacking marketing leadership. An interim CMO could fill the role temporarily, smoothing things over until you can find a permanent candidate to fill the role.

But what exactly is an interim CMO? How do they help your organization? And how can you find the right candidate for your needs?

The Basics Of Interim CMOs

An interim CMO is very similar to a conventional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). They typically have all the experience and qualifications that a typical CMO would, which usually means years, if not decades, of experience in marketing leadership roles and familiarity with a wide range of marketing and advertising strategies.

Instead of being hired full-time for long-term arrangements, interim CMO candidates are hired on a much more flexible basis, often for short-term needs. As the name implies, many organizations choose to hire an interim CMO when their main CMO leaves or is temporarily unavailable. However, many organizations choose to work with an interim CMO even when they have a permanent CMO in place. In this type of arrangement, the additional interim CMO can work together with the main CMO to tackle a tough problem, take on some responsibilities, or manage a separate team.

Interim CMOs can do everything a typical CMO can, but they’re often tasked with achieving certain goals, solving certain problems, training and motivating a team, or otherwise contributing to the marketing department. They can function as leaders, managers, consultants, and other professionals.

What An Interim CMO Can Do

Put simply, an interim CMO can do anything a traditional CMO can do. But these are some of their most common and important responsibilities:

Make leadership decisions. If there’s currently a gap in your marketing leadership, you might need an interim CMO to step in and start making leadership decisions. This is especially important if you suspect that the vacancy in your leadership might persist for months or years to come. Alternatively, you can have other organizational leaders step in, but they may not have the marketing expertise necessary to make the most effective decisions for this department.
Analyze past efforts. Your marketing department might be struggling, and you might not know exactly why. Your existing CMO might not be able to fully grasp the situation either. Sometimes, bringing in an interim CMO is exactly what you need to solve this issue. They can look at the problems and challenges with a fresh set of eyes, analyze your efforts, and make recommendations for how to improve in the future.
Devise new campaigns. Similarly, an interim CMO can help you devise new campaigns. This is especially important if you have new products or services to launch.
Collaborate with other marketing professionals. Interim CMOs can step into a variety of roles, assisting your marketing team in countless ways.
Train and educate marketing staff members. They also have the knowledge and experience necessary to train and educate your marketing staff members. Even if this is only a temporary arrangement, this investment of time and effort can pay dividends well into the future.
Increase your ROI. In marketing, return on investment (ROI) is everything. It’s a measure of how much value you’re getting, compared to how much you’re spending on various marketing strategies. In general, an interim CMO can help you achieve a higher ROI.
Advise and consult. Interim CMOs can also function as advisors and consultants. They can help you identify issues in your marketing department you never even knew existed – and give you real-time feedback and advice for how to see better results.

Finding The Right Candidate

Much of your success with an interim CMO depends on your ability to find the right candidate. This includes a diverse mix of different objectives. For example, you’ll need to find someone with the experience and qualifications necessary to accomplish what you want them to accomplish, but you also need to find someone with the motivation and discipline to put those experiences to good use.

On top of that, it’s important to find an interim CMO candidate who’s going to fit with your existing culture and collaborate easily with the rest of your marketing team.

The good news is there are plenty of interim CMO candidates to choose from. As long as you’re willing to explore the market, and do your due diligence with individual candidates, you should eventually be able to find someone who’s an ideal fit for your needs.

Finding an interim CMO isn’t always easy, but it’s often extremely beneficial if you have a specific marketing problem to solve or a gap in your marketing leadership. Make sure you’re willing to consider and explore all your options if you want to find the best eventual fit.