Don't Hire a CMO to Manage Your Marketing. Hire One to Improve Your Business.
By Michael Donovan ·
What five months of marketing transformation in a complex industrial business reveal about the leadership CEOs should expect.
Most CEOs know what they expect from their operations executives.
Projects need to be delivered. Costs need to be controlled. The business needs to become more efficient.
But when it comes to hiring a Chief Marketing Officer, expectations are often surprisingly vague.
The new CMO is expected to strengthen the brand, improve market visibility, develop a marketing strategy and perhaps generate more leads.
All reasonable objectives.
But here's a question I think every CEO should ask before making that investment:
What, specifically, should be different about our business six months after hiring a CMO?
Not what presentations will have been delivered. Not how many marketing meetings will have taken place.
What will have changed?
Will more prospective customers know the company exists? Will its capabilities be better understood? Will its salespeople have better tools to win business?
And perhaps most importantly, will marketing have contributed to new commercial opportunities?
After more than 25 years working in branding and marketing, I believe these are the questions that matter most.
They're also questions I've had the opportunity to test in practice.
What Five Months of Marketing Transformation Can Look Like
In June 2026, I began implementing a comprehensive digital marketing program for an established environmental remediation company.
This wasn't a consumer brand selling inexpensive products online.
It was a technically sophisticated industrial business operating in a specialized market, where projects can involve complex engineering requirements, extensive procurement processes and substantial financial commitments.
The challenge was familiar.
The company's technical capabilities were considerable. Its digital visibility and marketing infrastructure had not kept pace with the sophistication of the business.
That created an opportunity.
Not simply to make the company look better, but to improve how prospective customers discovered its capabilities and how effectively the business communicated its value.
The early results were encouraging.
Between June and September 2026, Google search impressions increased 449%, from 7,254 to 39,804.
Over the same period, the number of distinct search queries for which the website ranked increased 264%, from 393 to 1,430.
By September, the website was recording 4,902 verified human sessions and 5,904 page views per month.
On LinkedIn, individual posts achieved engagement rates as high as 73%, with typical reported rates ranging between 15% and 39%.
These are notable figures for a specialized industrial company operating in a market where buying decisions are rarely impulsive.
But the more important results were commercial.
By October 28, the website had generated 14 valid inbound inquiries after excluding tests and spam. Previously, the website had generated virtually no identifiable inbound commercial opportunities.
Four of those inquiries included quantified remediation requirements representing a combined 85,000 to 99,000 metric tonnes of prospective work. These are customer-reported quantities, not contracted volumes.
One of the inquiries has already resulted in an awarded project. Another three to six potential projects may emerge from the remaining inquiries, although none should be counted as a win before an award is confirmed.
At the current pace, the channel could generate approximately 28 to 32 inquiries annually, assuming that demand remains consistent. If six of those inquiries ultimately become awarded projects, that would represent an illustrative 18.8% to 21.4% conversion rate.
Those are scenarios, not forecasts. Yet they show why a new inbound channel should be assessed over the commercial life of its opportunities, not solely by the contracts awarded in its opening months.
The objective isn't simply to generate leads. It's to create commercial opportunities that can become new business.
Marketing Should Be a Commercial Function
One of the problems with how businesses evaluate marketing is that they often separate it from the commercial activities it is supposed to support.
Sales is responsible for revenue. Operations is responsible for delivery. Finance is responsible for financial performance.
Marketing, meanwhile, is frequently judged by the quality of its advertising, the appearance of its website or the amount of content it produces.
Those things matter, but they aren't sufficient measures of success.
A beautifully designed website that nobody finds has limited commercial value.
A technically accurate brochure that fails to explain why a customer should choose the company isn't doing its job.
And a marketing strategy that never moves beyond the planning stage is little more than an expensive document.
Marketing should improve the conditions under which a company competes for business.
That means making the organization easier to discover and its value easier to understand.
It means helping prospective customers recognize why the company deserves consideration before they ever speak to a salesperson.
It also means supporting the sales organization with information that helps customers make decisions.
In complex industrial markets, this can be particularly valuable.
An engineering consultant researching remediation technologies may be months away from recommending a contractor.
A procurement specialist may be assembling a shortlist before a formal tender is issued.
A project owner may be investigating possible solutions long before funding has been approved.
If your company isn't visible during those early stages, you may never know an opportunity existed.
Marketing can help change that.
Your Website Should Be More Than a Digital Brochure
I've encountered many established businesses whose websites do little more than describe their services and provide a telephone number.
Some are attractive. Others are outdated.
But the underlying problem is often the same.
They've been built to describe the company rather than help prospective customers find answers.
That's a missed opportunity.
Consider an environmental remediation company with expertise in treating hydrocarbon-contaminated soil.
Its prospective customers may not begin their research by searching for the company's name.
They may be searching for treatment methods, regulatory requirements or technologies suitable for a particular contaminant.
They may want to understand the practical differences between thermal treatment and other remediation approaches.
Or they may be trying to establish whether a particular technology has been successfully applied to a comparable project.
A website that provides useful, technically credible answers can become part of that research process.
Over time, it can establish the company's visibility across a much broader range of relevant searches.
That's what makes the increase from 393 to 1,430 ranking search queries significant.
It represents a substantial expansion in the range of searches through which prospective customers could encounter the business.
Not every search will produce an inquiry. Not every inquiry will represent a qualified opportunity.
But the company becomes discoverable in more of the conversations taking place within its market.
And in an industry where a single project can be worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, even a modest number of additional qualified opportunities can matter.
The Best Marketing Often Begins Before the Sales Process
There's another misconception I encounter frequently.
Marketing is sometimes treated as something that happens after the sales organization has identified its target customers.
The sales team develops relationships. Marketing produces materials to support those relationships.
That's certainly one part of the job.
But effective marketing can also help create the opportunity for a relationship to begin.
A prospective customer discovers a technical article through Google.
They explore the company's capabilities and review a relevant case study.
They develop enough confidence to make an inquiry.
The sales organization now has an opportunity that might otherwise never have reached it.
This is particularly important in specialized B2B markets, where the number of potential customers may be relatively small and the value of individual opportunities relatively high.
The objective isn't necessarily to generate thousands of leads.
It's to become visible to the right organizations when they have a reason to investigate your capabilities.
One qualified inquiry can be worth more than thousands of casual website visits.
And when an inbound inquiry ultimately becomes a project, the commercial relevance of marketing becomes considerably easier to demonstrate.
That doesn't mean marketing deserves sole credit for the sale.
Salespeople still need to qualify the opportunity, develop the relationship and negotiate the commercial terms.
Operations may need to establish technical feasibility and delivery requirements.
The award itself may depend on numerous factors beyond marketing's influence.
But creating the initial opportunity is a meaningful contribution.
It's one that should be measured.
A New Marketing Channel Needs to Be Measured Over Its Commercial Life
One mistake businesses can make when evaluating inbound marketing is to judge its success entirely by the revenue generated during its first few months.
That approach can be misleading, particularly in industrial markets.
A prospective customer might make an initial inquiry in July, conduct technical evaluations in September and issue a formal request for proposal in December.
The project may not be awarded until the following year.
That doesn't mean the original inquiry was unsuccessful.
It means the opportunity is progressing through a commercial process that takes time.
A more useful approach is to distinguish between three measures.
Revenue already won: The value of projects awarded from marketing-generated opportunities.
Qualified pipeline: The potential contract value of opportunities that have progressed beyond an initial inquiry and meet the company's qualification criteria.
Future opportunity: Earlier-stage inquiries that may develop into viable projects but have not yet been sufficiently qualified.
These measures should never be confused.
Pipeline is not revenue. An inquiry is not necessarily a qualified lead. And a potential project should not be reported as a sale.
But each measure tells management something useful about how the marketing program is performing.
For CEOs and CFOs, the objective should be to understand whether marketing is creating opportunities that have a reasonable prospect of becoming profitable business.
That requires looking beyond the first conversion.
It also requires cooperation between marketing and sales.
The website may generate the inquiry, but the commercial organization must still qualify and pursue it.
Both functions contribute to the eventual outcome.
The most useful question isn't whether marketing or sales deserves credit. It's whether the company is becoming more effective at acquiring customers.
What About Social Media? Does It Really Matter in Industrial Markets?
I've heard variations of the same question throughout my career.
Does anyone really pay attention to an environmental remediation company on LinkedIn?
Would an engineering consultant engage with content from an industrial contractor?
Are these audiences even interested in corporate communications?
The answer depends largely on what you're communicating.
If a company's LinkedIn activity consists primarily of generic announcements and promotional claims, there's little reason to expect meaningful engagement.
But industrial businesses possess something that many consumer brands spend enormous amounts of money trying to create.
They have genuine expertise.
They solve difficult problems.
Their people work on projects that can affect communities, infrastructure and the environment for decades.
That's valuable material for compelling communications.
The challenge is presenting it in a way that people find relevant.
In the program I referenced earlier, individual LinkedIn posts achieved engagement rates as high as 73%, with typical reported results between 15% and 39%.
Those figures illustrate the potential for strong engagement, although engagement rates should always be interpreted according to the platform's calculation method and the size of the audience reached.
The lesson isn't that every industrial company should expect similar numbers.
It's that technically sophisticated businesses are not inherently uninteresting.
Often, they simply haven't learned how to communicate their expertise in a way that connects with people.
And that matters because the people making purchasing decisions are still people.
They respond to ideas that help them understand their industry and make better decisions.
A CMO Should Make Your Salespeople More Effective
For CEOs and COOs, this may be one of the most practical ways to evaluate marketing leadership.
Does marketing make the sales organization's job easier?
In complex B2B markets, salespeople often spend considerable time explaining capabilities, addressing technical questions and establishing credibility.
Some of that work will always require personal interaction.
But much of it can be supported by better commercial communications.
A well-developed case study can demonstrate how a company solved a problem similar to the customer's.
A technical resource can help an engineering consultant evaluate possible approaches.
A compelling corporate presentation can communicate the company's value more effectively than a collection of disconnected slides.
And a properly structured website can answer important questions before the first meeting takes place.
During the same period as the digital marketing program, I developed a substantial portfolio of supporting communications.
This included a 50-page flagship corporate brochure, more than 27 case studies and specialized sales presentations.
I also developed technical marketing content and supporting materials for major industry events.
The objective wasn't simply to produce more collateral.
It was to make the company's capabilities easier to understand and its expertise easier to evaluate.
Because in markets where purchasing decisions involve substantial financial commitments and professional risk, confidence matters.
Customers need reasons to believe the company can deliver.
Good marketing helps provide those reasons.
The Next Opportunity Is Commercial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is changing what marketing leadership can contribute to a business.
But I believe much of the current discussion is focused on the least interesting applications.
Writing social media posts faster is useful.
Producing routine content more efficiently can reduce costs.
Yet for industrial businesses, the larger opportunity may lie in improving how companies identify and evaluate commercial opportunities.
Consider the amount of information that exists across public procurement systems, regulatory announcements and industry publications.
Some of it may reveal emerging demand for services long before a formal request for proposals appears.
Other information may help identify prospective customers or changes in purchasing requirements.
Historically, gathering and interpreting this material has required substantial manual effort.
AI-enabled systems can help make that process more systematic.
Over the past several years, I've increasingly incorporated AI development into my work, building applications that extend beyond conventional marketing technology.
These include systems designed to monitor commercial opportunities, analyze market signals and make specialized business information more accessible.
In environmental remediation, such capabilities can support earlier opportunity identification and more informed business development decisions.
They don't replace experienced salespeople.
They give those people additional information with which to make decisions.
For a CEO considering a CMO appointment, this raises an interesting question.
Should marketing leadership be responsible only for communicating the company's value, or should it also help build the systems that identify where that value is needed?
I believe the second possibility deserves serious consideration.
The CFO's Question: What Are We Actually Paying For?
The economics of marketing leadership are particularly important for mid-market companies.
A business generating $20 million, $50 million or even $150 million annually may need sophisticated marketing capabilities without requiring a large, permanent marketing department.
A full-time CMO represents one investment.
But the executive's compensation may be only part of the total cost.
The company may also require writers, designers, digital specialists and external agencies to implement the strategy.
That's not necessarily a problem.
For larger organizations, building and managing a specialized team may be exactly what the business needs.
But it does mean the CFO should evaluate the complete operating model rather than the executive's compensation alone.
A fractional CMO who works two days a week developing strategy may be an excellent investment if the company already has the people needed to execute it.
For a business without those resources, the arrangement may be less economical than it initially appears.
The strategy still needs to be implemented.
And implementation has a cost.
This is where a fractional executive who combines strategic leadership with advanced practical capabilities can offer a different proposition.
Someone who can develop the strategy and personally execute substantial parts of it may reduce the need for additional suppliers.
They may also reduce the delays associated with transferring work between multiple parties.
That doesn't eliminate the need for specialists when a project requires them.
But it can change the economics considerably.
The important question isn't simply how much the CMO costs.
It's what the business can accomplish with the total investment.
There's also a useful financial test for an emerging inbound program. Suppose it produces six awarded projects in a year. At an average contract value of $250,000, those projects would represent $1.5 million in revenue. At $500,000 each, they would represent $3 million.
Neither figure is a forecast. Whether the program pays for itself depends on actual contract values, incremental contribution margins and the total cost of acquisition. Revenue alone is not return on investment.
Still, it shows why even a relatively small number of additional wins can be commercially consequential in a high-value industrial market.
What Should You Expect in the First 150 Days?
I don't believe every new CMO should be judged against an identical set of targets.
A company entering a new market faces different challenges from one trying to reposition an established brand.
A business with a mature marketing department has different needs from one building its capabilities almost from scratch.
And a company selling complex industrial services may require a different approach from a high-volume technology business.
But I do believe CEOs should expect meaningful progress in five areas.
First, a clear commercial diagnosis.
The CMO should understand the business well enough to identify where marketing can make the greatest contribution.
That requires more than reviewing the website or evaluating the logo.
It means understanding the company's competitive position, its customers and the obstacles affecting growth.
Second, a stronger market position.
The business should become more effective at explaining what makes it valuable.
That might involve new positioning, better technical communications or a clearer explanation of its competitive advantages.
Third, measurable improvements in market visibility.
If prospective customers are searching for the company's capabilities, the business should be increasingly discoverable.
Search performance, relevant website traffic and audience engagement can provide early evidence of progress.
Fourth, better commercial support.
The sales organization should have stronger tools for explaining capabilities and helping customers evaluate the company.
Marketing should make commercial conversations more effective.
Fifth, a clearer connection between marketing and business opportunities.
The company should be able to distinguish general marketing activity from inquiries that have genuine commercial potential.
Over time, it should also understand which opportunities were sourced or influenced by marketing.
These expectations don't guarantee a particular financial outcome within 150 days.
Industrial sales cycles can extend well beyond that period.
But they provide a practical basis for evaluating whether marketing leadership is improving the business.
The Difference Between Marketing Activity and Marketing Progress
I've seen companies produce extraordinary amounts of marketing material without making meaningful commercial progress.
They publish regularly.
They attend conferences.
They commission advertising and redesign their websites.
Yet they struggle to explain whether any of it is improving their competitive position.
The problem isn't necessarily a lack of effort.
It's a lack of connection between the activity and the business outcome.
A new website should do more than look modern.
It should help prospective customers find and understand the company.
A case study should do more than describe a completed project.
It should help a future customer recognize the company's ability to solve a similar problem.
A social media program should do more than maintain an online presence.
It should strengthen the company's visibility and credibility among relevant audiences.
And a marketing strategy should do more than establish priorities.
It should lead to implementation.
This is why I place considerable value on marketing executives who understand both strategy and execution.
There's a meaningful difference between knowing what should be done and possessing the expertise to do it.
The best operating model depends on the business, but the ability to connect strategic decisions with practical implementation can be especially valuable in companies with limited internal marketing resources.
Before You Hire a CMO, Ask These Questions
If I were advising a CEO or CFO evaluating marketing leadership, I'd encourage them to look beyond the candidate's experience and presentation skills.
I'd want to know what they've actually accomplished.
Can they demonstrate measurable improvements in market visibility?
Have they helped generate qualified commercial opportunities?
Can they show examples of work they've personally developed, rather than simply supervised?
Do they understand the economics of the business and the realities of its purchasing process?
And perhaps most importantly, can they explain what they would prioritize during their first five months?
Not in general terms.
In the context of your company.
A strong candidate should be able to identify the questions they need answered before making commitments.
They should also understand which outcomes can be measured quickly and which require more time.
That's a more useful conversation than asking someone to describe their preferred marketing philosophy.
The Real Question Isn't Whether You Need a CMO
For many established industrial businesses, the decision to invest in senior marketing leadership comes after years of relying primarily on reputation, relationships and the efforts of their salespeople.
Those things remain important.
In fact, they're often among the company's greatest assets.
But they may no longer be sufficient on their own.
Prospective customers increasingly research potential suppliers before making contact.
Technical expertise needs to be communicated effectively.
Commercial opportunities can emerge through digital channels long before they reach a conventional sales process.
And the technology available to support business development is becoming considerably more sophisticated.
The opportunity for marketing leadership is to connect these developments with the company's commercial objectives.
To make its expertise more visible.
To make its capabilities easier to evaluate.
To help its salespeople compete more effectively.
And ultimately, to contribute to the development of new business.
The results I've described from five months of work in environmental remediation illustrate what can happen when marketing strategy is connected directly to execution.
Not every initiative produces an immediate return.
Not every metric represents commercial success.
But when a company's visibility expands substantially, genuine inquiries begin reaching the business and an inbound opportunity becomes a new project, something meaningful is happening.
Marketing is beginning to function as a commercial asset.
And that's the standard I believe CEOs should expect.
Don't hire a CMO simply to manage your marketing.
Hire someone capable of making your business more competitive.
About Michael Donovan
Michael Donovan is a fractional Chief Marketing Officer and brand strategist with more than 25 years of experience in branding, marketing and communications.
A former agency founder, he combines executive marketing leadership with hands-on creative execution and AI-enabled commercial technology. His work focuses on helping established industrial and technology businesses strengthen their competitive position and develop more effective commercial capabilities.
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