Law firms want first chair marketing leaders who think strategically, understand the business of law, and move the needle on growth. But wanting strategy and empowering someone to execute upon it are two different things.
In a recent The BTI Consulting Group survey, more than 130 first-chair legal marketers were asked to describe their CMO experience in just three words. While some CMOs used words like strategic, valued, and impactful, others chose frustrating, underutilized, and exhausting.
Same title. Same skill set. Vastly different experiences.
The gap between a strategic CMO and a task master often has nothing to do with talent. It comes down to whether the firm is willing to empower CMOs to drive impact.
For CMOs evaluating their current roles and law firms trying to figure out how to get the most from this critical hire, here are a few ways to do a reality-check:
- The CMO is in the room for all strategic business meetings. There's a meaningful difference between being asked to show up with a slide deck and being included in the room where decisions get made. If you're consistently part of strategic planning conversations alongside managing partners and practice group leaders, that's a seat. If you're only presenting updates, that's a report.
- The CMO’s strategic ideas are heard and acted upon. It’s great to be invited to contribute ideas, but the real test is whether some of those ideas influence action. Are the CMO’s proposals making it into the firm's strategic plan? If first-chair marketing recommendations routinely get shelved, or diluted into something unrecognizable, there is a chair in the room, but no voice.
- CMO’s have input on business decisions, not just marketing outputs. A strategic CMO weighs in on practice group investments, lateral hiring decisions, client relationship strategy, and competitive positioning. If this person’s role begins and ends with campaigns, events, and collateral, this is not having a seat at the table.
- CMO’s own a budget that goes beyond tasks. True strategic executives have budgets that are connected to firm growth goals, not just funding deliverables.
CMOs, if you have the seat, use it boldly. Firms should build the role to match the realities of its culture.
In my recruiting experience, the firms empowering their first chair marketing professionals to be strategic business drivers will always pull ahead while those keeping marketing professionals at an arm's length will continually fall short.
Join in on the conversation here.
- Jason Caramanico