How PR should vie for the prestige of the CMO
By proving value and learning the business strategy believed to be the domain of the chief marketing officer, PR execs can be powerful leaders for the organization.
Are PR professionals respected and valued enough within high-tech corporations?
Over the past several weeks I have been clicking on website tabs and reading the list of bios of leadership teams of dozens of high-tech companies. Those pages feature photos of the usual suspects: chief executive officers, chief financial officers, and chief technology officers.
Then you see a photo of someone who holds the title of chief marketing officer, but I haven’t seen any vice presidents of public relations or media relations or chief public relations officers in these sets of pictures.
Why?
Perceived CMO value
The conclusion seems apparent: Companies believe CMOs are more deserving of being on these elite lists of corporate executives.
Anyone who does public relations or media relations, even if worthy of a vice president title, doesn’t rise to that level of seniority and influence in the corporate hierarchy.
Why? Because they don’t deliver as much value as CMOs?
This appears to be the case.
Maybe this is fine and just a detail. But it should be concerning to PR execs wanting more clout within companies and more sway over strategies.
PR execs should be concerned
Should public relations executives be concerned they are not listed among the corporate leadership team as CMOs are?
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