10 Questions to Ask a Chief Marketing Officer for Better Marketing + Sales Results

A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is important in driving business growth and revenue. They oversee marketing strategies, brand positioning, customer engagement, and lead generation, ensuring that marketing efforts translate into real sales. 

But how do you make sure your Chief Marketing Officer is leading marketing in a way that directly benefits your business success?

The key lies in asking the right questions. Strategic conversations with your Chief Marketing Officer can help align marketing and sales and improve overall business performance. By focusing on core areas like customer acquisition, digital strategies, and data-driven decision-making, you can optimize your marketing efforts for maximum return on investment.

To help you get started, we share in this blog the 10 important questions to ask your Chief Marketing Officer.

Related Article: What Does Marketing + Sales = Revenue Really Mean?

What is The Role of a Chief Marketing Officer?

A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is a senior executive who leads an organization's marketing strategy and operations. 

A Chief Marketing Offices play a key role in developing and executing marketing plans, overseeing market research, and managing campaigns across multiple channels. The Chief Marketing Officer is responsible for enhancing brand awareness, attracting customers, and driving revenue growth through strategic marketing initiatives.

Support your CMO with a Fractional CRO

10 Important Questions To Ask a Chief Marketing Officer

If you want your business to stay on track and achieve the best results, asking the right questions to your Chief Marketing Officer is important.

These 10 important questions to ask your Chief Marketing Officer will help ensure your marketing strategy aligns with your overall business goals.

1. What Are Our Key Marketing Goals, and How Do They Align with Sales Objectives?

Marketing and sales should work hand in hand. If marketing efforts generate leads but sales teams can't convert them, there’s a disconnect. A Chief Marketing Officer should ensure that marketing goals, such as increasing brand awareness, lead generation, or customer retention, are directly supporting sales targets and revenue growth. Clear alignment leads to better business outcomes.

What an FCRO can do: A Fractional Chief Revenue Officer (FCRO) can play a key role in ensuring this alignment. By introducing Kyle Mealy's proven Revenue Cascade™ framework, an FCRO can track the customer journey from awareness to conversion, ensuring that marketing efforts translate directly to sales success.

2. What Marketing Channels Are Delivering the Best Return on Investment?

With so many marketing options like social media, email, SEO, paid ads, influencer marketing, and more, businesses must know which channels provide the highest return on investment. A Chief Marketing Officer should regularly assess which strategies generate the most revenue while minimizing costs, ensuring marketing dollars are spent wisely.

Understanding which marketing channels yield the highest return on investment helps businesses allocate budgets effectively, reduce wasted spend, and drive sustainable growth. Asking a Chief Marketing Officer this question ensures a data-driven strategy, optimizing efforts toward the most profitable channels for maximum impact and competitive advantage.

An FCRO introduces data-driven methods that can calculate the return on all marketing and sales spending. This ensures your marketing efforts are optimized to generate maximum revenue.

3. How Are We Tracking Customer Acquisition Costs and Lifetime Value?

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) measures how much it costs to acquire a new customer, while lifetime value (LTV) shows how much revenue that customer brings over time. If the

If the customer acquisition cost is too high and the lifetime value is too low, marketing efforts may not be sustainable. A Chief Marketing Officer must continuously optimize business strategies to keep these numbers in balance and maximize profitability.

4. What Is Our Data-Driven Marketing Approach?

Marketing is no longer just about creativity, it’s about data. A strong Chief Marketing Officer should use data analytics to track campaign performance, customer behavior, and market trends. Data-driven decisions help refine marketing strategies, eliminate high spending, and improve overall results.

To truly connect your marketing investments to revenue outcomes, data must guide your decisions. A Fractional Chief Revenue Officer uses proven methods to track customer engagement from awareness to purchase, ensuring no lead is left behind.

5. How Are We Leveraging AI and Automation in Our Marketing Strategy?

AI and automation can significantly improve efficiency by personalizing customer interactions, optimizing ad spending, and automating repetitive tasks like email marketing and customer segmentation. A forward-thinking Chief Marketing Officer should have a plan to integrate these tools to stay competitive in the digital age.

6. What Content Strategy Is Driving the Most Engagement?

Content is a major driver of customer engagement, whether it’s blog posts, videos, social media updates, or email campaigns. A Chief Marketing Officer must understand what type of content resonates with the target audience, generates traffic, and leads to conversions. Without a strong content strategy, marketing efforts may fall flat.

7. How Are We Handling Brand Positioning and Differentiation?

A Chief Marketing Officer should have a clear strategy for brand positioning: what makes the company unique, why customers should choose it over competitors, and how to consistently communicate that message. Beyond just differentiation, establishing thought leadership builds trust, credibility, and long-term customer loyalty, turning a brand into an industry leader rather than just another option.

8. What’s Our Plan for SEO and Paid Advertising?

Organic search engine optimization (SEO) and paid advertising (Google Ads, social media ads, etc.) work together to increase visibility and drive traffic. A Chief Marketing Officer should balance these efforts strategically, ensuring that the company ranks well in search results while maximizing the effectiveness of paid campaigns. Without a clear strategy and data to back it, businesses may waste money on ineffective ads or miss out on valuable organic traffic.

9. How Do We Measure and Improve Customer Experience?

Customer experience (CX) impacts brand reputation, retention, and referrals. A Chief Marketing Officer should track customer feedback, online reviews, and satisfaction metrics to identify areas for improvement. Enhancing the customer journey leads to better brand loyalty and long-term success.

10. What’s Our Plan for Adapting to Market Trends and Emerging Technologies?

The marketing world is constantly evolving. A Chief Marketing Officer must stay ahead of trends like new social media platforms, AI advancements, and changing consumer behaviors. Being proactive rather than reactive helps businesses maintain a competitive edge and avoid falling behind.

Know more about What Does Marketing + Sales = Revenue Really Mean?

How Can a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer Help Improve a Business Marketing + Sales Goal?

A Fractional Chief Revenue Officer (FCRO) is a part-time executive who focuses on aligning and optimizing a company's marketing and sales efforts to drive revenue growth.

• Aligns Your Marketing and Sales for Revenue Growth

A Fractional Chief Revenue Officer ensures that marketing and sales teams operate under shared revenue objectives, fostering collaboration and eliminating silos. This unified approach leads to more effective strategies and consistent revenue generation.

• Creates One Revenue Department for Seamless Communication

By integrating marketing and sales into a single revenue-focused department, a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer promotes clear communication and cohesive strategies. This structure ensures that both teams work towards common goals, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. 

• Optimizes Your Data-Driven Decision Making

Fractional Chief Revenue Officers use data analytics to assess performance, identify opportunities, and make informed decisions. This data-centric approach allows for precise adjustments to strategies, leading to improved revenue outcomes.

• Scales Your Business Revenue Through Strategic Partnerships and Innovation

Fractional Chief Revenue Officers identify and cultivate strategic partnerships and innovative approaches to expand market reach and drive growth. Their holistic view of revenue generation enables the development of strategies that capitalize on new opportunities.

The Value of a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer (FCRO)

Even the most experienced Chief Marketing Officer may struggle to bridge the gap between marketing efforts and sales results.

That's where a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer (FCRO) comes in — aligning both functions to create a unified revenue engine. By focusing on metrics like ROASS™ and leveraging the Revenue Cascade™, an FCRO ensures your marketing efforts directly contribute to revenue growth.

If your business needs an experienced Chief Marketing Officer to drive these strategic conversations and boost your results, contact Ready for the Next Level now to learn how a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer can elevate your marketing and sales success.