CMO Tenure, Agency New Business, and The Revolving Door

I didn’t see much chatter on some recent CMO stats-some good ammo for your agency new business efforts.

Average CMO tenure=4.1 Years

That might be surprising to you, given the seeming tendency towards revolving doors for the average CMO. (It was 23 months in 2006 BTW.)

In the article I linked to above, a tenure breakdown is given for several categories:

Financial Services: 5.1 years (2nd shortest in this sector behind CIOs – 4.1);

Energy: 4.6 years (2nd shortest behind CIOs – 4.5);

Technology: 4.3 years (shortest);

Industrials: 4.1 years (2nd shortest behind CIOs – 4.0);

Professional Services: 4.1 years (shortest);

Consumer: 3.6 years (shortest);

Life Sciences: 3.1 years (shortest).

So the good news is CMO tenure is growing, and with your current clients, that means more potential to build a relationship before they leave for that next opportunity, or are replaced.

(And hey, when they do leave, there’s another opportunity.)

But from a new business standpoint, it’s still a revolving door, just revolving at a slower pace.

And I know you-new business is a start and stop proposition.

When you kick it into gear again, the percentage will be exponentially higher that you have to start all over again with a new CMO.

Don’t let it happen.