The CMO’s first 90 days: A playbook for SaaS leaders

Yes, this playbook has four long parts covering a CMO’s first 90 days — and yes, you’ll take about an hour to read it. So, feel free to navigate through the sections and take breaks whenever you need to.

• Why you need a CMO playbook
• Part 1: Review the priorities of your CMO onboarding
• Part 2: Lay the groundwork for your CMO strategy in the first 30 days
• Part 3: From day 31 to 60, set metrics and align tech efficiency with your CMO partners
• Part 4: From day 61 to 90, position your brand and create a CMO plan for the next 24 months
• Wrapping up — or rather kicking off your next chapter as a CMO

Why you need a CMO playbook

Being a chief marketing officer (CMO) in the automation era is akin to running an agency. Leading an extremely lean team, you’re expected to achieve 10X results within a year, which demands a multi-faceted knowledge of technologies, processes and marketing team functions.

You’ll also have to take a hands-on approach to make more money for the corporation, with results that are easy to track back to your efforts, all while staying within a tight budget — no pressure.

Having worked closely with CMOs for the last 12 years, I can confidently say that this playbook would have helped them in their early days — I know I would have benefited from it myself.

The goal is to make your first 90 days as CMO much less brutal, guiding you in making an impact that will outlast your tenure while building an ironclad reputation.

This guide will help you:

• Get clear on a CMO’s responsibilities and priorities to focus on what matters most
• Build alignment with your team, partners and stakeholders
• Create consistency in your messaging while making the most of your resources
• Feel confident in your decisions with a framework that is data driven

This guide is for any C-suite executive within a series A to C-funded startup focused on driving more revenue while building the foundation to control the industry narrative.

Part 1: Review the priorities of your CMO onboarding

That’s right: this is the big leagues, and there’s always pre-work involved to get to a confident start — but you knew that, didn’t you? Before stepping into the role, either as a fractional CMO or in-house executive, let’s take a look at the most critical pre-work items that will put you into a wow-factor position on day 1.

Conduct contextual research

The kickstart of any CMO strategy lies in assessing the environment you’re stepping into. Review your company’s past performance and get an update on market trends. This groundwork helps align your approach with the business’s goals and uncover opportunities.

Do your competitive paid and organic research

To develop an effective 30-60-90-day marketing plan, it’s essential to have a deep understanding of the competitive landscape.

B2B competitive intelligence and research can provide invaluable insight into what other players are doing, what is working for them and where there are opportunities for you to gain market share. It can also help you identify potential business threats and formulate a mitigation plan.

While competitor analysis can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, a thorough B2B marketing strategy allows you to make decisions based on complete information (especially when working in a startup under five year-old). In the early stages of a new business, it’s crucial to make every decision carefully to maximize the impact of limited resources, whether they’re time, budget or workforce.

Learn the structure of the team

Startups demand agility. Understanding each team member’s role streamlines decision-making and effective delegation, maximizing output.

A clear grasp of the CMO team structure aids in aligning the team with business goals, setting role-specific expectations and tailoring communication methods. It’s also foundational for strategic planning allowing the CMO to identify gaps, leverage strengths and establish a clear path to success. This understanding fosters a harmonious, productive team environment from day one.

Ask for all go to market (GTM) documents

If there is a go to market strategy already in place, it’s typically in the form of a PowerPoint or a Google Doc that’s been put together by the company’s founders or your predecessor.

Oftentimes, you’ll find that as the company grows, there isn’t one deck but multiple documents that outline key areas like value proposition, ideal customer profile (ICP), personas, lead generation and competitors. While this approach can work in the early stages, it can lead to confusion and inefficiencies as the company scales.

Map out the investors and who they typically invest in

If you’re working with an active investor who offers advice and scaling resources, it’s critical to develop a relationship with your account manager to access their GTM insights and portfolio company network. Engaging with an active investor can offer valuable guidance and connect you with resources to enhance the GTM strategy.

Key questions to gain clarity and direction before day 1:

1. What products do we sell, and to whom?
2. Do we have a clear ICP?
3. Who are our buyer personas?
4. Do we have a competitor matrix?
5. How big is our publicly accessible content library? Is there a clear content creation opportunity?
6. What type of content are the competitors most focused on creating, and why?
7. What are the competitors focused on promoting via text and visual ads?
8. What do customers say about the brand and competitor products on review platforms like G2, TrustPilot, Capterra, Gartner and Reddit?
9. How do we set the marketing budget?

Part 2: Lay the groundwork for your CMO strategy in the first 30 days

A key part of a chief marketing officer’s duties and responsibilities is to establish strategic alignment with multiple teams, from sales to product, laying the foundation for the creation and execution of a comprehensive strategy. Let’s explore how to build those key connections, identify goals and set the stage for executing a cohesive GTM strategy.

Days 1 to 5: Partner with the sales team

Face it, before you existed at this company, it was already raking in the money, whether through personal relationships (as it almost always is in B2B) or a mix of that and a relentless sales team. Make sure there’s no illusion of you being needed here — frankly, in their opinion, you may be an extra.

So, how does an “extra” step into the lead role — gaining the trust of the founding and sales teams to enrich and support their cycle? It’s through intelligence gathering and delivering value.

But what does that truly mean?

Get a clear picture of the sales team

According to the LinkedIn Moments of Trust Survey, 90% of sales and marketing professionals agree that aligning messages and initiatives improves the customer experience. For example, if marketing promotes a product as budget-friendly but sales emphasize its premium pricing and high-end features, customers may feel hesitant about making a purchase.

Here’s why aligning sales and marketing matters:

• Marketing gains a better understanding of the sales metrics that are key to hitting company targets
• Alignment gives the marketing team valuable insights into what product direction the company is taking or should be focused on
• Marketing can enable the sales team by providing collateral that addresses common customer pain points rather than focusing solely on product-based content

A CMO’s team should listen to sales calls (or gather aggregated feedback) to understand what questions prospects are asking. These insights allow marketing to create content that supports the sales process throughout the prospect’s journey.

Key questions to set the foundation for effective sales strategies from days 1 to 5:

1. Are we focused on an account-based marketing model (ABM) or an inbound model? Have we tried both?
2. Which sales strategy brings us the ideal clients: product led, partner led or sales led?
3. What sales deck or first pitch deck is the sales team using? Does it differ by product and region?
4. Do we have competitor battle decks?
5. What’s the dollar value of a sales qualified lead (SQL)?
6. What’s our customer acquisition cost (CAC)?
7. What’s our customer lifetime value (CLV)?
8. What are our sales presentations’ customer “wow” or “aha” moments?
9. Who are the common blockers on the prospect’s team?
10. What are we doing to deepen existing customer relationships?
11. What’s our net promoter score (NPS)?
12. What types of sales performance incentive funds (SPIFs) do sales reps have? Which one is the most effective?

Days 6 to 10: Understand the product marketing team’s direction

The product team bridges product development and market demands, ensuring offerings align with customer needs and solve pain points. Their insights can give you multiple “aha” moments on market trends, customer expectations and the general competitive landscape.

By comprehending their direction, you can synchronize the broader marketing strategy, tailoring messaging, positioning and campaigns. Neglecting this alignment can result in disjointed GTM strategies, missed sales revenue opportunities and a lack of resonance with the target audience, potentially stalling growth.

Key questions to align with the product strategy from days 6 to 10:

1. Are we embracing a product led growth strategy or its components?
2. Does our website and social channels align with the product’s value offering?
3. Which features do our customers use the most, and what does it help them solve?
4. Which features do our customers use the least, and why?
5. What are the “aha” moments in the product-to-customer walkthroughs?
6. What does the product roadmap look like for the next six months? Specifically, what’s on it and why?

Days 11 to 15: Gather and analyze customer feedback

The role of CMO has evolved with an increased responsibility over every aspect of customer experience. As Gartner points out, in some instances, the CMO has become considered more of a “chief customer officer.” In this interview, a Gartner analyst explains that there’s no longer the option to operate without a powerful insight engine, as CMOs and their teams need to become experts on customer behaviors, historical business performance, competitive landscape and trends.

For a SaaS CMO, analyzing customer behaviors, pain points and feedback facilitates the creation of a successful GTM plan. These insights ensure your strategies resonate, address real needs and provide a direct window into what drives customer decisions.

By aligning your messaging and positioning with customer experiences, you amplify the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Check out this post by Sam Jacob from Pavillion, as he highlights a common pain point: the difficulty in building an efficient customer success motion. For CMOs, the advice is clear: prioritize a solid customer service strategy, particularly after the sale. If the customer journey isn’t well-defined, companies can easily hit a growth plateau, with churn becoming a big roadblock to long-term success.

Per Salesforce’s State of Data and Analytics Report, 65% of customers say they expect companies to adapt experiences to match their changing needs. Ignoring customer behavior data risks misalignment, potentially leading to ineffective product launches, wasted marketing efforts and missed revenue opportunities.

Tuning into your customers guarantees that your GTM strategy is both relevant and compelling, maximizing engagement and conversions.

Key questions to guide your customer-centric approach from days 11 to 15: 

1. Are testimonials readily available to use as trust signals on our site?
2. How’s customer retention? What caused the top accounts to leave and stay?
3. Do we have a clear understanding of our serviceable available market (SAM) and serviceable obtainable market (SOM)?
4. Do we know our net promoter score?
5. Do we have a thorough B2B messaging framework?
6. Is there an easily accessible product knowledge base for customers?

Days 16 to 20: Circle back to the founders’ vision

Founders can be weird — and identifying your founder’s unique perspective is key to capturing the essence of their vision for the company. Often, this vision is buried beneath immediate priorities such as keeping the business afloat, meeting investors’ expectations, landing new clients and retaining top talent.

During this period, the responsibilities of a CMO center on discovering the founder’s priorities and vision for the company’s success. Ask questions about their aspirations for the brand, their perspective on market differentiation and how they envision the ideal customer experience. Keep an eye out for recurring points in their answers to shape how you move forward.

Key questions to align with the founder’s vision from days 16 to 20:

1. If the company could pivot, which direction would it take?
2. What’s the worst feature of the product, and does it really need solving?
3. What does the current B2B buyer journey look like? Where are the primary drop-offs or bottlenecks?
4. Does the company embrace lean principles? How?
5. What do you want the target customer to think of when considering the product?

📖 Save this book for later: 👉What a Unicorn Knows offers a practical guide to scaling a B2B SaaS business using lean principles. It introduces the S.C.A.L.E. framework, focusing on strategic speed, constant experimentation, accelerated value, lean processes and empowered teams. This book is crucial for B2B SaaS CMOs as it provides actionable insights to drive sustainable growth, optimize GTM strategies and navigate the challenges of scaling in a competitive market.

Days 21 to 25: Map the inbound and ABM funnel

For a new CMO, it’s crucial to grasp the customer journey by mapping both the inbound and account-based marketing funnels. While the inbound funnel tracks a prospect’s path from brand awareness to decision, highlighting potential drop-off points, ABM focuses on tailored strategies for specific high-value accounts.

Together, they ensure efficient investment allocation and optimized conversion rates. For instance, if a software company identifies that it’s losing potential clients at the consideration phase of the inbound funnel, it can fine-tune its content strategy. Simultaneously, by targeting a major tech corporation with an ABM approach, the company can create customized demos or presentations to address that corporation’s specific pain points.

Key questions to optimize the inbound and ABM funnels from days 21 to 25:

1. Do we have a clear understanding of how prospects are being engaged at every stage of the sales funnel?
2. Which is the weakest stage, and what can be done in the next 60 days to fix it?
3. Are the tools set up so that we can see each funnel stage and get reliable data to measure?
4. What digital assets does the sales team wish they had — but don’t? Can we build them in the next 60 days?
5. How do our SEO content writing initiatives support the sales team? Do they even exist?
6. Is ABM the right approach for the GTM strategy here, or is it just a buzzword? What is the ideal scope for the marketing strategy?
7. Have we performed an SEO content gap analysis to support inbound and ABM initiatives?

🌐 See how a good website navigation design is critical to conversion rate optimization.

Days 26 to 30: Map vendor relationships

Strategic partners are hard to find, especially those who genuinely obsess about your business and proactively add value to your daily operations and revenue growth.

What you’re looking for here is to identify who from your vendor circle does not understand your business — those need to go. Make all the other vendors deliver results within the first 60 days of you starting by providing you with performance reports and a clear deliverables timeline.

Enable your vendor teams

Vendors, be they platforms, agencies or independent consultants, act as force multipliers for a CMO’s marketing strategy, bringing specialized expertise, tools and channels that might not exist internally. Enabling these partners effectively ensures the brand message is consistently and powerfully conveyed across all channels and touchpoints.

Moreover, a well-integrated vendor relationship fosters agility, allowing the marketing department to pivot as market conditions change, ensuring optimal resource utilization. How? The CMO must prioritize transparent communication, setting clear expectations and sharing insights about the business’s target audience, goals and brand ethos. Just as important is establishing performance metrics and regular check-ins to ensure alignment.

Key questions to address from days 26 to 30 for enabling vendor partnerships effectively:

1. How many PR agencies are signed, and what’s the PR output cadence?
2. Do you have a reliable paid advertising partner? What are the top 50 highest-converting keywords?
3. Who is your marketing automation/CRM implementation partner? What are the top-form submissions about?
4. Do you have an enterprise SEO partner? What are the top 25 keywords, by category, that they are focusing on driving forward?
5. What’s the quarterly content cluster focus to win market share?

Part 3: From day 31 to 60, set metrics and align tech efficiency with your CMO partners

In the CMO’s first 90 days, the second month will focus on understanding and fine-tuning key performance indicators, optimizing your toolset and improving cross-team workflows.

Eliminating outdated systems and strengthening relationships with your tech and finance counterparts will align your marketing strategies with the necessary tools, data and budget to drive success.

Days 31 to 35: Shift focus to web metrics and what you actually need for reporting

For a B2B CMO at a SaaS company, the digital landscape is the primary battleground for customer acquisition and engagement. In this context, web metrics serve as the compass guiding strategic decisions, providing direct insights into user behavior, campaign effectiveness and overall product interest.

For instance, metrics include:

• Bounce rate: Showing whether your landing pages engage visitors or if there’s a disconnect in your messaging, leading to quick exits
• Conversion rates: Reflecting how effectively your sales funnel turns visitors into customers or leads, especially for actions like signing up for a free trial or demo
• Session duration and pages per visit: Revealing how engaging your content is by showing how long users stay on your site and how many pages they visit
• Referral sources: Helping identify which marketing channels drive the most valuable traffic to your site

A SaaS CMO leverages these metrics as a continuous feedback loop to refine strategies and improve performance. Reporting should be simple and designed for decision-making, providing clear, actionable insights that help you quickly identify what’s working, what needs adjustment and where to focus efforts for the greatest impact.

Key questions from days 31 to 35 to refine your web metrics strategy:

1. Do we have a centralized dashboard that pulls analytics from organic, paid, direct, referral, social and email channels?
2. Are we tracking CTA clicks?
3. Are we tracking form submissions and/or thank you pages?
4. Is there a regular technical SEO audit of the site?
5. What are our top pieces of content based on organic traffic?
6. What are our highest-converting landing pages based on paid traffic?
7. Which pages have the highest bounce rates? Do they need to be redesigned or redirected?

Days 36 to 40: Map out the martech stack

The current martech and salestech ecosystem is flooded with too many options, so you must maintain a laser focus on the tools you actually need versus those you don’t.

Start with eliminating technology debt

Technology debt in the marketing team can manifest as outdated CRM systems, manual data entry due to a lack of integrations or reliance on legacy analytics platforms. These hinder agility, scalability and data accuracy. Not addressing these issues risks inefficiencies, missed opportunities and increased operational costs.

Eliminating tech debt ensures streamlined workflows, accurate insights and optimal resource utilization, allowing the marketing team to respond faster to market changes and drive better marketing ROI.

Here are typical examples of martech debt:

• Outdated CRM systems: An old CRM can limit functionality and integration capabilities, often lacking the latest security measures
• Manual data entry: A lack of proper integration between marketing tools forces manual input, increasing the risk of errors and consuming valuable time
• Legacy analytics platforms: Relying on outdated analytics tools can lead to inaccurate data interpretations, limiting the team’s ability to make informed decisions

Key questions to optimize your martech stack from days 36 to 40:

1. What apps are we using that we can’t live without, and why?
2. What apps are we not using, and when are the renewal dates?
3. Which AI tools can help us with landing page creation, content writing, meeting transcriptions and animation?
4. Do I need a marketing operations role?
5. Is there a sales operations role?
6. Is this a time to review a CRM move or subscription?

Days 41 to 55: Determine or refine your task management processes

Project management platforms like Monday.com, Asana and Wrike are great options for a marketing team as they don’t overburden you with complex processes and fields. Instead, they offer intuitive, easy-to-understand visuals — ranging from timelines to workload allocation and time tracking.

Your tenure will be rocky without a task management system that is meant to glue multiple marketing, sales and technology roles together.

Key questions to improve your task management processes from days 41 to 55:

1. How does the copy team interact with the design team?
2. What is the current creative brief process?
3. How does the marketing team submit bug tickets to the development team?
4. Where is the detailed content calendar for SEO writing?

Days 56 to 60: Partner with the CTO and CFO

There’s a reason I’ve left these roles toward the end of your 90-day term. These CMO partnerships are detail and justification-oriented. By this point, you will have had enough time to gather your bearings and assess the tech stack and web metrics — all in the hopes of establishing the current growth baseline.

Now, both the CTO and CFO roles will have an immense impact throughout your tenure at the new firm, so it’s best you become partners in crime versus kindergarten rivals that don’t share blocks. Here are the typical stigmas you’ll need to break down.

The CTO’s view of the marketing office

According to the 2024 State of Martech Report, 72% of companies have 50% or more of their martech stack integrated with a central platform, whether it’s a CRM, customer engagement or marketing automation platform. For a CTO, this is good news — in their eyes, you’re not only cutting down the extra work for their teams but also minimizing the company’s attack surface.

But when you have a dozen (sometimes more) martech tools, you’ve a lot of software for the CTO and CISO offices to keep track of.

Viewpoint: Martech contributes to technology debt

The more tools you use, the greater the chance of non-adoption, which then contributes to technology debt (when you do not use a tool actively but still pay for it).

Marketing teams are notorious for wanting to try the latest hyped-up tool ― according to the Gartner Marketing Technology Survey, they report using only 33% of total martech stack capability. CTOs have come to know this ― reason why you’ll typically get immediate pushback when even mentioning a new subscription.

Before seeking technology approval, create a marketing technology plan that includes:

• A table of all existing and planned tech
• Benefit statements
• Yearly subscription costs
• Integration capabilities
• Primary user designation
• Usage frequency
• SSO capability
• Security certifications
• Contribution to demand generation, leads and conversions

Viewpoint: Martech expands the attack surface

The more cloud services you introduce, the bigger your company’s attack surface for cybercriminals to exploit. Use the marketing technology plan you’ve created to prove to the CTO and CISO that the services you’re introducing have been vetted and aren’t from shady software publishers.

Viewpoint: Marketing requests add up to the resource strain

Software startup development and design resources are scarce. They need to be 100% focused on the product ― except when the marketing team keeps pestering them for website edits, martech integration troubleshooting, vendor selection etc.

Create a RACI chart of existing and needed subject matter experts who will make your marketing team into a self-sustaining unit. The easier way to do this is to:

• In-source core roles: Your core team should be lean and capable of diving deep into the industry context while also managing vendors. The best first hires are the head of content, demand generation director and marketing ops.
• Outsource tactical work to agencies: Given budget and tech constraints, you’ll need to rely on specialist teams that provide proven methodologies to help you grow. The first areas to outsource should be search engine optimization and paid advertising.

The CFO’s view of marketing

If you’re a CMO who shifts all your attention to marketing campaigns while neglecting revenue-driving initiatives, you’re leaving a key opportunity on the table. A strategic partnership between a CMO and CFO creates the foundation for smarter growth decisions, from evaluating investment opportunities to aligning on metrics that truly reflect business impact.

Viewpoint: Marketing looks like an endless money pit

Marketing teams are often criticized for careless spending and over-hiring, so don’t be the marketer who lacks a revenue-focused approach. Instead, use your marketing tech plan and show:

• Contract management: Negotiate the best rates and co-terminated agreements for easier management of contracts, demonstrating that you’re aware of costs.
• Active tool usage: Prove that your team will actively use the toolset to enhance your go to market efforts.
• Direct impact on lead generation: Everything you do in marketing must be linked to lead generation, even if the sales cycles are long. Be prepared to explain how using B2B marketing software will drive more customers through the door (e.g., increased organic leads, more accurate retargeting, precise ABM nurturing etc.).
• Vendor management: You might have excellent vendors, but have you onboarded them properly? And do you have time to manage them? If not, ensure your vendors are self-sustaining and proactive. Otherwise, like software, they become debt.

Viewpoint: The ROI coming from marketing spend is unclear

Marketers often struggle to prove their ROI, which is why revenue marketing has become a strategic approach. Focusing on driving revenue and warm leads through the door with clear measurements will help you win the CFO’s favor.

What you need to do:

• Set up goals in GA4: Ensure you track the demo page visits, contact page submissions, newsletter sign-ups, chatbot interactions, webinar registrations and PDF downloads. All of these are leads.
• Segment leads within your CRM: Once you capture a lead, they need clear segmentation and nurturing by both marketing and sales.
• Hook into an all-in-one analytic board: Use platforms like Looker Studio to bring all your data together in one place, making it easy to visualize your marketing performance, track lead sources and see how leads move through your conversion paths.

Key questions to ensure alignment with financial goals from days 56 to 60:

1. Am I enabled to participate in the budget planning process with the CFO (when it comes to marketing and sales initiatives) or am I handed a baseless budget that will set me up for failure?
2. Can I clearly showcase to the CFO that marketing is focused on value-creation activity for brand, product and sales teams?
3. Can I clearly find and communicate the number of leads generated per quarter, cost per lead, customer acquisition cost and customer lifetime value to sales leadership and the CFO?

Part 4: From day 61 to 90, position your brand and create a CMO plan for the next 24 months

The last 30 days of this CMO playbook focus on refining your strategy. This is your chance to pull everything together:

• Position your brand with precision
• Align your team on key goals
• Set the stage for the next 24 months

Refining your CMO planning is all about bringing your strategy into sharper focus. Let’s review the critical steps to analyze performance and fine-tune your priorities for sustained success throughout your tenure.

Days 61 to 65: Understand your competitive position

Understanding your business’s competitive positioning within the market provides a lens through which you can effectively differentiate your brand and create resonant messaging. It guides your strategic allocation of resources and tailoring of marketing activities.

With a clear grasp of your competitive matrix, you avoid misalignment in your messaging, wasted marketing investment and a decline in market share that can compromise growth and profitability.

Key questions to address from days 61 to 65:

1. What are Gartner, Forrester and McKinsey saying about the ecosystem you play in? Who are the recognized top players, and to which category do you belong?
2. Who are my top organic search competitors (both direct and indirect)?
3. What type of content are the established players outputting the most of, and how frequently? (This will help you set a basic baseline)
4. Have we done a B2B keyword research to identify which premium positions we should win vs. the competition?

Depending on your industry, building competitor comparison pages will help you get quality leads, prospects who are actively comparing solutions before making a purchasing decision.

Days 66 to 70: Plant the seeds to drum up attention to the new lead generation efforts

You know the marketing team isn’t the most popular in almost any company. From a simpleton’s perspective, it’s easy to see them as the group that spends a lot without showing immediate returns.

So, how do you fight what often is a negative or neutral disposition toward your team? Leverage your newly built internal partnerships by involving others in the growth story. Remember that most internal roles other than sales and marketing teams typically do not see the overall picture and perform relatively repetitive tasks. Here’s what to do:

Create a name for your program

Believe it or not, you do have a program. You’re in a new role, so you can start anew by branding your whole presence at the company. Something basic like “Growth 2025,” “Reach 2025” or “Drive 2025” will do. This will help people associate the new “program” with your efforts.

[Quote from Jebi on how he branded his internal initiative and rallied up multiple teams for buy-in]

Get others involved as well (aside from the C-Suite)

You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much you can learn from other departments. Their opinions always matter as they can provide fresh perspectives on the company’s inner workings, and that often doesn’t make its way to the top. But listening to them is one thing; getting their participation and giving them public recognition is a powerful next move you should work on.

See how you can tap into the expertise of other departments to enhance collaboration and drive results:

• A product lead can compile the “aha” moments from product demos and customer interaction calls — the product team is also key in creating docs and academy centers for lead generation
• A content writer can work closely with product leads to create more resonant content and assist the product team with press releases for public-facing product update logs
• A designer can collaborate with all teams to develop a unified brand guide and refine page layout logic

Key questions to strengthen content creation and thought leadership from days 66 to 70:

1. Besides the founders, who has the most in-depth product knowledge in the company?
2. Which internal subject matter experts (SMEs) can create content (in addition to their regular duties) to help the company drive thought leadership in the industry?
3. How can we expand our content creation efforts to include formats like a docs hub, product updates, Q&A, webinars and screen recordings on YouTube to enhance the company’s thought leadership?
4. Did I create a project charter outlining how the project will be run, who will be involved and what processes will guide it?

🎤 Find out why SME interviews are the secret of content marketing success

Days 71 to 75: Be aware of industry trends and baselines, but don’t obsess over them

Staying on top of industry trends gives you valuable context. Successful CMOs know the difference between awareness and obsession. Following respected sources like Gartner helps maintain a broad understanding of market dynamics and emerging opportunities.

However, getting too fixated on industry benchmarks can take your focus off your organization’s unique growth trajectory and strategic priorities. The key is finding balance — staying sufficiently informed to spot relevant opportunities while keeping your team focused on internal initiatives that drive measurable business value.

According to the CMO Survey 2024, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing has increased by 59% over six months. As we’ve entered an era of automation via AI, innovation and the consumption of information are about to speed up significantly — this means you need to take the time to understand the newest tech and trends you can leverage for lead gen.

Yes, this would be a regular practice and yes, you should take a week out of your first 90 days to just focus on understanding if you’re relying on tried and tested tech (your comfort zone) vs. emerging tools that could unlock new opportunities for growth.

Speaking of trends, ensure you have a strong AI stack by 2026 to get things out the door faster.

👉 Check out this insightful Gartner webinar on the impact of AI on marketing

💡 Also, explore another read from Insight Partners on modern word of mouth (mWOM)

Understand your industry’s seasonality and online demand behavior

What events influence your industry’s seasonal trends and demand patterns?

See the below screenshot from one of our B2B SaaS clients. Notice that, although oversimplified, there is an industry lull from December to July through August. That’s because the decision makers go on holiday breaks in the winter and summer breaks right before the school year starts. Knowing this, you may want to opt into making drastic site changes, shifting content or preparing for the next quarter during this off-peak time.

Key questions to address from days 71 to 75:

1. Are there industry-specific trends you can take advantage of by spin messaging in social or paid channels?
2. What’s the total budget provided for marketing, and are there cost centers to manage it?
3. Which marketing tactic has been the most neglected? Should the budget be allocated to it?
4. Which channel is eating most of the budget without having measurable results (i.e., social in B2B)?
5. How can I use AI to replace day-to-day execution work? And what should the company’s official AI martech stack include?

📚 Critical reads worth your while:

• Insight Partner’s SaaS Marketing Benchmarks
• Gartner’s State of Marketing Budget and Strategy of 2024

Days 76 to 80: Don’t forget that you are a leader

There’s a great book out there, Leaders Eat Last, to help remind you of what makes memorable leaders vs. the “gray” ones who are self-serving. Remember that it will be much harder to rally your troops and sponsors on your initiative’s vision without implementing basic leadership principles.

Lead by example

As a marketing leader, your actions speak louder than words. Whether it’s showing up early to a meeting or staying calm during a crisis, your behavior sets the tone for the entire department. By leading through your actions, you foster a culture of accountability and respect.

A few things to keep in mind when it comes to setting the right example as a CMO:

• Follow through: If you promise something, ensure it gets done.
• Maintain integrity: Be honest and transparent in all your actions — trust is built through consistency and truthfulness.
• Be approachable: Show empathy and understanding to foster an open environment where others feel comfortable coming to you.
• Encourage collaboration: Support teamwork and collaboration by participating actively and sharing your ideas.
• Celebrate success: Recognize achievements and milestones, sharing credit with your team to reinforce a positive, goal-oriented culture.

📚Read more about leadership in The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz.

Learn to listen

Listening is one of the chief marketing officer skills you should master — but it’s often one of the weakest among these execs. Why? You’re often so focused on what you’re going to say next that you’re not fully processing the information being conveyed to you. To refine your active listening, make an effort to fully understand the speaker’s point before offering your own thoughts.

Active listening determines how your team members and stakeholders feel and engage with you. As NTT Data shows, 96% of respondents from organizations with strong customer experience (CX) practices agree that aligning CX and employee experience (EX) is crucial for driving business growth. The way you listen to your team directly impacts how well both experiences integrate and how your business progresses.

📚Review the classic How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Understand how to negotiate

As one of the foundational CMO skills, negotiation goes beyond closing deals — it’s about finding common ground and creating win-win scenarios. You’ll need to negotiate with internal teams, external partners and even customers to push your brand’s objectives forward.

Successful negotiation hinges on understanding the interests and needs of the other party, not just the position they’re taking. Approaching negotiations with a collaborative mindset helps you create stronger, more sustainable relationships and often get better results for your brand.

📚Check out these titles:

• Crucial Conversations
• Never Split the Difference

Key questions to ensure team alignment and growth from days 76 to 80:

1. Do I have performance review sheets created for every team member with clear evaluation metrics?
2. Am I actively instilling accountability within my team?
3. Are monthly strategy meetings scheduled with sales, product, marketing and leadership teams?
4. Does my team hold daily morning stand-ups to stay aligned?
5. Is the marketing team participating in monthly sales team lessons-learned sessions?

Days 81 to 85: Create an education-based curriculum

Going back to class is more fun than it may sound. Investing time in your chief marketing officer training sets the foundation for a strong marketing team. The name of the game is to get out of the comfort zone of what your team may know.

Coursera is a staple at our firm

You must invest in your team members’ upskilling. Online courses offer flexible and convenient ways for employees to gain new skills and stay up-to-date with industry trends.

Monitoring employee progress in online courses is important, so you can make sure your team is gaining the desired knowledge and skills. Course certifications can verify employee learning and promote employees based on their new skills. This is extremely important in highly technical fields, where keeping up with rapidly changing technologies is essential.

Lessons learned should be run monthly

As any project manager knows, lessons-learned sessions are essential for team productivity. By taking the time to debrief after a project or multiple workstreams are completed, team members identify areas for improvement and make changes to how they work going forward.

However, lessons-learned sessions are not always easy to run. Marketing teams, in particular, can be resistant to feedback and may be reluctant to discuss opportunities for growth. As a result, it’s important to approach these sessions carefully. Here are a few tips:

• Avoid blame and focus on constructive learning. The goal is to identify ways to improve future projects, not to point fingers at who did what wrong.
• Encourage everyone to participate. Marketing teams can be large and diverse, so give everyone a chance to have their say.
• Be prepared to facilitate discussion. It’s helpful to prepare a few questions in advance to start the conversation.
• Be open to feedback. These sessions allow team members to provide honest feedback about their performance as project managers.

Key questions to build a high-performing marketing team from days 81 to 85:

1. Do we have a clear, team-specific onboarding plan?
2. Does everyone understand how to interpret monthly analytics reports and what optimization decisions these reports inform?
3. Does the team conduct quarterly lessons-learned sessions with follow-through assignments?

🛠️Tool recommendation: Juno Journey helps you onboard new members and continuously up-skill your existing team.

Days 86 to 90: Build a 24-month growth plan, no less, no more

Scaling companies move fast. Building a sub-12-month plan is too short-sighted, so focus on a 24-month growth path. This way, you’ll be able to get thoughtful executive buy-in and the budget commitment required to succeed.

Since you’re now within the sphere of being the CEO’s right hand, it’s time to build a project plan (in your task management tool) focused on growth. By this time, you should have an idea whether you have the budget for a holistic approach such as organic, paid, social and PR, or if you should be selecting a few strategies that bring in long-term and short-term success:

Short term: Paid advertising and heavy PR uplift

Paid advertising and PR offer a powerful boost to your brand’s visibility in the short term. Through targeted ads across search engines and social media, you get your message in front of the right audience, driving traffic and increasing the likelihood of conversions.

Pairing paid ads with a robust PR strategy amplifies your efforts to get your brand into the spotlight. Use analytics to refine your approach and make sure you’re reaching your target audience with the right message.

Long term: Enterprise SEO/GEO

Organic search is the primary traffic source for most B2B websites, and business buyers are increasingly researching online before making purchasing decisions.

B2B teams that focus on enterprise SEO — that is, optimization to achieve long-term results — can achieve benefits such as increased organic share of voice, more sales-qualified leads and improved market share.

While thought leadership can be time-consuming and require significant investment, a well-structured strategy will pay off big time by positioning your company as a trusted authority in your industry.

Key questions to ensure strategic alignment and growth from days 86 to 90:

1. Do I have a clear enterprise SEO strategy that is built and maintained on a quarterly basis?
2. Do I have a clear understanding of the keyword topic clusters (thematics) in which I should be ranking?
3. Are my content, social and product teams aligned, or is there a need for a clear content schedule with the purpose of driving key themes forward?
4. Is my thought leadership program designed to influence brand perception?

Wrapping up – or rather kicking off your next chapter as a CMO

Now that you’ve gone through the CMO’s first 90 days, I hope you feel more confident about what’s ahead.

The next chapter isn’t about having everything figured out right away, but getting started with a strong foundation for CMO success.

Achieving success in this journey is never a solo effort — it thrives on strong partnerships, whether with your team, customers or trusted collaborators. That’s where we come in. Our team at Productive Shop has been supporting CMOs in building an enterprise SEO program, creating high-impact content strategies, optimizing paid media campaigns and supporting complete brand overhauls with website rebuilds.

We’re here to join you in your next steps, offering the expertise and support needed to turn your vision into results. Let’s talk and make it happen together.