CMO Focus Contract
Declare the few outcomes marketing will own and what it will ignore
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 98%
The CMO Focus Contract is an explicit agreement about the small number of outcomes marketing will pursue and the work it will deliberately decline. The CMO selects the few goals most critical to the organization, explains why they matter, defines evidence of success, and communicates the boundaries to the CEO, board, and team. This prevents new requests from quietly expanding the strategy and gives resource decisions a consistent test. The contract is not permanent: leaders should revisit it when assumptions or constraints change. Until then, initiatives that do not advance an agreed outcome are deferred, delegated, or rejected.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain as the hosts summarized the importance of deciding what a CMO will and will not care about.
Core principles
- 01Marketing leadership requires explicit choices
- 02A short outcome list is stronger than an undifferentiated activity list
- 03Declaring what will not be pursued protects execution
- 04The CMO should align the CEO and board around owned outcomes
How to run it
- 1
Choose the outcomes
Select a small set of business-relevant results marketing will own.
Pro tip State outcomes rather than channels or activity volumes.
Watch out Too many priorities eliminate the value of the contract.
- 2
Define non-goals
Name plausible initiatives and metrics that will not receive attention during the period.
Pro tip Include requests that repeatedly distract the team.
Watch out Unspoken non-goals will return as exceptions.
- 3
Align executives
Tell the CEO, board, and functional partners what marketing will pursue, reject, and measure.
Pro tip Document the rationale and trade-offs.
Watch out Do not present priorities as settled if required decision-makers have not agreed.
- 4
Enforce the boundary
Evaluate staffing, campaigns, and incoming requests against the agreed outcomes.
Pro tip Require a priority trade-off before accepting new work.
Watch out Adding work without removing work silently breaks the contract.
- 5
Revisit deliberately
Review the contract when evidence, resources, or company strategy materially changes.
Pro tip Use scheduled reviews rather than constant ad hoc reprioritization.
Watch out Focus should not become resistance to valid new information.
In the wild
A CMO tells the founders that marketing will establish the brand, build reach, and unlock community participation through a marquee event. Requests unrelated to those outcomes are deferred unless leadership explicitly replaces one priority.
→ The organization gains clear expectations and concentrates resources on a coherent growth agenda.
Common mistakes
Naming activities instead of outcomes
A list of campaigns or channels does not clarify what business result marketing is accountable for.
Failing to state non-goals
Priorities remain vulnerable to endless additions when leaders never say what the team will not do.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for CMOs and marketing leaders facing many plausible initiatives but limited resources.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal as a rigid annual plan in a rapidly changing crisis that requires frequent reprioritization.
From the transcript
“Like as a CMO, what are my core goals?”
“as a CMO, you should take charge in terms of telling the CEO what you are going to care and not care about.”
“I think knowing what you do and don't do”
From the episode
CMO for the Day: Marketing Pickleball