As a former CMO, the one thing I loved to see when content marketers would pitch ideas is a strong awareness of the counter arguments. Whenever you're coming up with a pitch, you're essentially providing a case with an argument as to why your solution is the best solution. But the best marketing professionals are always going that step beyond, and ensuring that they give some thought to the major counter arguments that their pitch is vulnerable to. You don't have to necessarily have them all tied up and eliminated, but coming to your CMO with evidence that you've already thought about this is fantastic application and responsibility to your work.
You want content marketers to show that they can answer 4 questions. What problem is the new idea trying to solve? How is the idea going to solve it? What does it take to execute the idea? How can we measure or evaluate whether the idea actually solved the problem? If the marketer can answer those questions in a good way, then they can take the stage.
Google remains a vitally important source of web traffic, and so content marketers need to demonstrate that they've considered how their idea will help to capture traffic from Google. This could be as detailed as having conducted keyword research to identify content that users are actively searching for, or running competitor analysis to identify high performing content on a competitor's site. It could also simply be demonstrating that consideration has been given to the keywords the content might target, ensuring that headings and sub-headings are optimised with organic search in mind.
One of the most powerful parts of content marketing is that there's a wealth of metrics that can help marketers easily evaluate the success or failure of their campaigns. While some CMOs might not fully understand the power of content marketing, marketers can use the insights they get from these metrics to show just how they can evaluate success or failure. Use these numbers to easily convey how new content will turn into revenue for a company. When content marketers can quantify their efforts in terms of organic reach, new customers and value-add for a company, it will absolutely convince CMOs to run with those ideas.
The main metrics which CMOs are judged on is total sales and revenue generated. For content marketers to get the green-light when pitching their ideas, they need to demonstrate how this content will push people closer to making a purchase. CMOs typically reject content pitches when there’s no direct link to the brand’s products. Take the time to plan your pitch, identify where your content will sit in ‘the buyer’s journey’, and highlight how your products can organically feature in the final content. Do this and your CMO won’t be able to say no!
One thing that CMOs want to see when content marketers pitch them on ideas is a well-thought-out plan. This should include an overview of the idea, the target audience, the goals of the campaign, and how the campaign will be executed. The overview should be high-level, but should provide enough detail for the CMO to understand the idea. The target audience should be clearly defined, and the goals of the campaign should be realistic and achievable. The execution plan should be detailed and include a timeline, budget, and deliverables. Lastly, CMOs want to see that content marketers have a solid understanding of the brand and what message they want to communicate. They should be able to articulate how the idea will help achieve the brand’s goals and why it’s the right solution for the target audience.
One thing CMOs want to see during a pitch is that "wow factor". Making your pitch stand out is one of the sure ways to get yourself in front of the curve. The "wow factor" does not neccesarily mean to have the most outlandish idea, but it could also mean approaching the more obvious idea with a different perspective. The eventual goal is to either modify traditional ideas or come up with a more unique far-out approach, either way just make sure you stand out with your pitch and deliver a little something special.
CMOs need to see the possible ROI that content marketing strategy can get. The truly important KPIs need to vary based on your specific business model and goals, like activation rates, customer churn rate, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), average revenue per customer, and monthly active users. The takeaway here is that there’s a lot to learn about your average customer, and any content marketer need to know what they're selling and to whom.
CEO at Profit Frog
Answered 4 years ago
CMOs have quite simple goals. If a pitch targets those, it's bound to be successful. One thing CMOs look for in pitches is the long term. Does the idea focus on the now or the later? This is a very important question for them. CMOs don't just want a campaign that attracts new customers. They want to keep them as well. So if your content campaign focuses on retention on top of acquisition - kudos to you. CMOs have to oversee a company's entire marketing, so they're looking at the bigger picture. And that's what your pitch needs to do as well.
Show your CMO how your idea ties into your company's initiative. If your company is all about brand awareness, emphasize how your content will include videos, blogs, and webinars to raise awareness and grow your customer base. On the other hand, if your company is focusing on driving traffic to your website, emphasize how your engaging content is going to encourage your target audience to hop on your site. Content marketers need to focus on their company's main goals and objectives when pitching to their CMO.
Chief Marketing officers are looking for emotional ideas which can get the audience to interact with them. An emotional idea is one that relates to what the audience is experiencing. To be able to sell your product and services, it has to make the audience feel that what they are buying will actually benefit them. When they feel this way, it shows that your marketing content has touched them in an emotional way. This makes more people interact with the marketing content that brings in more sales.
When presenting your plan, you would need to demonstrate your authority and potential to carry out the entire task on your own. Divide your plan into manageable pieces, then carefully guide them through each component of it by shining a little light on it. This will give them the idea that you have already been through the entire process and are acquainted with its ups and downs. You just need to concentrate on understanding the specifics of the plan you are trying to implement, as well as briefly outlining your strategy for turning your vision into reality.
One thing CMOs want to see when content marketers pitch them ideas is a clear understanding of the demographic they are targeting and how this relates to the core product offering of their company. The best way to do this is by creating a persona—a profile of who your ideal customer is. This can help you to determine which topics will be most relevant, how you should write about them, and what kind of tone will resonate with your audience. This will also allow you to tie the content back to how you'll be able to drive customer adoption through the time and resources needed.
Along with their ideas, content marketers should explain the bigger picture related to these ideas. This will help to convince a CMO of how worthwhile these ideas are. For example, suppose a content marketer pitches an idea for a video ad campaign. In that case, they should also explain how this video idea relates to the brand's values. Without this larger context, the CMO may not understand the significance of this idea.
CMOs want to see if content marketers have a clear understanding of the target audience and overall marketing strategy, as well as a thoughtful plan for how they will promote and distribute the content.
CMO's have literally seen it all. The best ideas, the worst ideas, and the downright head scratcher ideas. So oftentimes what a CMO is really looking for in a pitch is a sound idea and strategy around it. Is it relevant, is it timely, is it scalable? CMO's think more pragmatically about a marketing idea. Think like a CMO, and you will pitch like a CMO. Putting yourself in your audience's shoes should be an instinctual first step for any content marketer. The same applies when pitching an idea or campaign to your CMO. They are your audience. Sell them on the idea, then sell the idea to the larger audience. Always keep in mind who your audience is and you'll be successful more often that not. Lose sight of your audience, especially if it's your CMO, and you can stand to lose more than the idea. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Show how your product has helped other marketers solve similar problems. Good salespeople understand how to emphasize those problems and solutions while maintaining a sense of urgency. Pro Tip: Even if no one has time for your meetings, you can still get in the door. Begin by identifying a problem, then demonstrate how your solution solved it... If you've done your job well, you'll be invited to a meeting.
If you're pitching a content idea it's best to have some numbers behind it. Content distribution changes every day, so as a content marketer, you can't guarantee impact but you can estimate it. For example, if you're a big publisher and want to write about black Friday deals, you should include some keyword research about how popular that topic happens to be. It will help a CMO understand what pitches they see potential in. Using that example, the keyword black Friday deals is searched roughly 450,000 times per month around that event.
Writing new articles can be challenging since many topics have already been covered, and even if you bring your unique spin to a topic, it is likely that another publication has already done so. However, new topic ideas relating to or incorporating current global events will have a degree of originality since the world event is fresh in the context of the historical timeline. For instance, an article concept such as "Given the recent spike in interest rates, here are some recommendations on how to save money when purchasing a home" would be of greater interest to me and readers than, for instance, "How to save money when purchasing a home". The article's title and body contain a popular topic that has likely been covered previously; yet, the addition of a current world event makes it novel, timely, and likely to pique the readers' attention.
CMOs want you to show them where your idea fits in the marketing strategy. Explain how your plan brings them closer to achieving their overarching objectives and why it makes sense for them to allocate some of the funds to your idea. You might point to specific data and explain how you plan to improve those figures. By showing how easy it is to integrate your project, you demonstrate your understanding of the company mission and respect for the CMO and marketing team’s time. Make your pitch the missing piece to a brand's marketing strategy.