Chief marketing officers are responsible for the strategic planning and execution of their company’s marketing initiatives. While an extensive background in marketing is crucial, a chief marketing officer’s resume should also display outstanding business acumen and leadership abilities.
To help you strengthen your chief marketing officer (CMO) resume, our executive resume writing team has created this guide, which includes professional resume tips for CMOs and a basic template to give you a headstart.
What Does A Recruiter Look For In A CMO Resume?
Executive recruiters will evaluate your resume to determine whether you have what a particular company needs when seeking a chief marketing officer.
A marketing executive should demonstrate that they can lead a marketing department and contribute to business growth.
Did you know you’re competing against almost 70,000 other CMOs in the United States alone? You will need a stellar resume to beat these odds.
Below, we provide some examples of what recruiters want to see in the resume of a potential marketing executive.
1. Education In Marketing And Related Fields.
The minimum education requirement for a chief marketing officer is typically a bachelor’s degree in marketing, business administration, public relations and advertising, or a related field.
However, many employers want candidates with a master’s degree in relevant areas, like economics, advertising, or corporate communications.
Recruiters will also look for marketing certifications that show you have specialized training in various marketing disciplines, such as digital marketing or business marketing software.
2. Experience In Leading Marketing Campaigns.
Whether you’re leading a small group or a global marketing team, recruiters want to know if you can produce successful marketing strategies and advertising campaigns.
In your resume, you should include specific accomplishments, such as a marketing strategy that increased global sales or a spending strategy that optimized the marketing budget.
Other experience recruiters look for in CMOs include:
- Assisting with product design, packaging, and pricing strategy.
- Conducting marketing operations (market research, customer research, branding, etc.).
- Supporting and driving sales growth
3. An Ability To Develop New Marketing Strategies.
Creativity is a vital part of being a chief marketing officer. Your employer will expect you to develop strategic marketing plans that align with the company’s target market and support revenue growth.
(Related: Does Your DOB Belong On Your Executive Resume?)
Your CMO resume should reflect your ability to keep up with market trends and create unique strategies to support new business development and achieve marketing objectives, such as:
- Improving consumer acquisition and customer retention.
- Generating sales leads.
- Growing the company’s market share.
- Forming strategic partnerships.
- Increasing customer satisfaction
4. Skill In Communicating With A Brand-Consistent Voice.
As the lead marketing manager, recruiters want to confirm that you can convey a consistent brand message with your marketing communications.
Your marketing materials for email marketing campaigns, social media, and other advertising initiatives should all follow a specific brand strategy and guidelines that are unique to the company.
(Related: 10+ Executive Resume Examples).
If you have experience building a brand, describe your brand marketing activities and how they benefitted your former employer.
5. What Unique Value Do You Bring To The Table?
When writing about your professional experience as a marketing manager, highlight how you benefitted your past employer and emphasize your unique value to the company.
You can talk about your accomplishments to showcase your history of success, demonstrating the positive changes you’ll bring to the business if you’re successful in your application.
(Related: Top Benefits Of Hiring An Executive Resume Writer).
How To Write A Chief Marketing Officer Resume.
This section outlines the executive resume layout, including tips and information specifically for helping a chief marketing officer strengthen their application.
The job search process can be brutal, but don’t give in to the temptation to send generic copies of your resume to multiple companies to increase your chances of landing any old position.
Instead, write a distinct resume for each job you apply to, including references specific to the position. Hiring managers will notice your special interest in the job and their company.
1. Header.
At a glance, your resume header should include the following information:
- Name.
- Job title.
- Location.
- Phone number.
- Email address.
- Link to LinkedIn profile or professional website.
Including your LinkedIn profile (or other social media links) improves your credibility and helps the hiring manager learn more about you.
2. Profile Summary.
Your resume summary is your chance to make a lasting impression on the hiring manager, so take your time and follow our tips to write a solid introduction.
In your resume summary, you should convey two main things to the recruiter:
- How you helped your former employer
- How you’ll change the company you’re applying to (for the better)
Don’t be vague in your summary; back up your claims with evidence, such as sales, ROI, and website conversion numbers from successful marketing campaigns you led.
Also, briefly describe the marketing strategy that led to those results or how your marketing skills helped you.
Bonus tip: Include the name of the company you’re applying to in your summary to show the hiring manager that you aren’t sending out your resume en masse.
3. Skills.
Being a chief marketing officer involves working with people across the company, so your resume should emphasize your skill in teamwork, flexibility, and other core competencies that make you a great leader and marketing director.
Be sure to list skills that distinguish you from other candidates; don’t include too many basic skills like ‘proficiency in Microsoft Office’.
The job description likely lists skills the employer wants in a candidate, which should serve as inspiration for what you write in this section.
Technical skills to add to your CMO resume include:
- Data analysis.
- Marketing tools (Keyword Planner, MailChimp, Hubspot).
- Brand management.
- Direct marketing.
- Graphic design tools (Photoshop, Illustrator).
- Search engine optimization (SEO).
- Product marketing.
- Coding languages (HTML, JS, CSS).
- Market research.
- Project management.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) software.
Soft skills recruiters look for in chief marketing officers are:
- Leadership.
- Communication.
- Teamwork.
- Creativity.
- Flexibility.
- Problem-solving.
Bonus tip: Many employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to scan resumes for certain keywords. Use common keywords based on the job description to give your resume a better chance of passing their search.
4. Professional Experience.
Remember to include your qualifications as a leader when describing your job experience.
A chief marketing officer should be able to:
- Collaborate with various departments in the company.
- Lead marketing teams and delegate responsibilities.
- Measure and analyze metrics such as ROI, lead generation, and marketing spending.
- Plan and execute marketing campaigns.
Each entry in your experience section should include the job title, employer, and the dates you started and stopped working there. Using bullet points, list your responsibilities and accomplishments.
Use specific details to build trust with the recruiter, including concrete data on the results of your marketing campaigns and other business development initiatives.
If you’re too vague in this section of your resume, the hiring manager might assume you don’t have enough experience for the job.
5. Education And Certifications.
The education section is where you can show off your marketing prowess.
You should list your degrees, certifications, and other qualifications in reverse chronological order, highlighting your most recent marketing education at the top.
When listing your education, you should include the following details:
- Degree/course
- Institution name
- Location
- Month and year of graduation
You should include marketing certificates and specialized training along with your university degrees.
For example, if you completed courses in social media marketing and marketing management, you should list them in this section.
Business or marketing certifications, such as one from the Australian Academy of Digital Marketing, also show the hiring manager that you have comprehensive technical knowledge that would add value to the company.
(Related: How To Write A HR Executive Resume).
6. Other Resume Sections.
Depending on the company, location, and position, you might want to include these other sections on your chief marketing officer resume:
- Languages
- Volunteer work
- Projects
- Hobbies
A Chief Marketing Officer Resume Template To Help You Get Started.
In this section, you can find a resume sample for a basic CMO resume. You’ll need to tweak the format, layout, and included information to appeal to the company you’re applying to.
You can learn about a business by studying its company website, social media, and other public profiles.
Header.
John Doe
Marketing Executive
Sydney, NSW
johndoe@gmail.com
(123) 456-7891
linkedin.com/in/johndoe
Summary.
“As a marketing executive with 15 years of experience, I bring a unique skill set and a wealth of knowledge to the table. My background in delivering traditional and digital marketing campaigns, a recent campaign being an influencer campaign that resulted in a 40% increase in sales. Recently, I spearheaded a successful global event that increased brand awareness by 25% and generated new leads. I would love to have the opportunity to demonstrate to you how I can add value to your organization.”
Professional Experience.
John Doe
Marketing Executive
Company A
May 2014 – December 2022
Company A designs, develops, and produces B2B software solutions, as well as the provision of support and maintenance services to customers.
Achievements.
- “Developed a segmentation strategy that helped the company to reach a new market and increase its revenue by 50%”
- “Pioneered a successful retention strategy that reduced customer churn rate by 15%.”
- “Used data and analytics to optimize pricing and promotional strategies, resulting in a 10% increase in revenue.”
Repeat the above format for relevant job experience within the last 10 to 15 years. See my full guide to writing executive resume achievements.
Education.
Washington University in St. Louis
2005 – 2009
Masters in Business Administration
- Winner of the Marketing Excellence Award, which recognizes outstanding student work in the final major project (Franchising a Business and How to Reach Potential Franchisees) submitted as part of my MBA.
Repeat the above format for additional degrees and courses
Skills.
“Data analysis, marketing tools (Keyword Planner, MailChimp, Hubspot), brand management, direct marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), product marketing, market research, project management.”
or
“Brand management: Repositioned our brand and messaging to align with the company’s goals and differentiate the company versus our competition. Led the creation of a new visual identity for the brand, including a new logo, color scheme, and typography.”
Repeat with examples of soft skills.
Certification.
Level 7 Professional Certificate in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
C-Suite Resume Examples.
The Arielle Executive team has developed guides resume writing guides for every job in the c-suite:
How To Write A Chief Executive Officer Resume
How To Write A Chief Financial Officer Resume
How To Write A Chief Information Officer Resume
How To Write A Chief Operating Officer Resume
CMO Resume Summary.
We hope this chief marketing officer resume sample and the tips from our guide help you create a professional CMO resume that gives you an edge over the competition.
Your resume will showcase the strength of your marketing expertise by how well you advertise yourself for the CMO position.
If resume writing isn’t your strong suit, be sure to seek out an executive resume writing service like we provide at Arielle that can set you up for success as a senior leader.
