Meta Description:
A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is not just a creative title — it’s a critical role. Here’s why CEOs and CBOs must stop trivializing it and what brands risk when they do.

Introduction

Most startups today run without a CMO.

Instead, the marketing decisions are split between:

• The CEO, who’s already stretched across ops, finance, hiring, and product

• The CBO, who’s thinking brand but not performance

• And a bunch of vendors, freelancers, or agencies who are “executing” without alignment

This fragmented structure might work in the early stages.
But if you’re trying to scale — you can’t wing your brand strategy anymore.

Here’s the truth:

Being a CMO is not an optional luxury.
It’s a full-time, high-leverage, business-critical role.
And it’s time we stopped trivializing it.