‘Not just semantics’: How senior B2B roles are ‘catching up’ to reality

If the evolution of job titles is a measure of progress, then the shift to redefine the world of B2B marketing is clearly moving fast.

Marketing Week’s 2025 State of B2B Marketing study has picked up a shift in the titles adorning business cards in B2B marketing teams over the past year.

More than 10% of the 450 B2B marketers surveyed have seen a head of marketing role introduced to their team, while 6.2% have seen a CMO appointed. Chief growth officer (4%), chief revenue officer (3.7%) and chief customer officer (2.5%) are all trending upwards as well. Both big and small companies are seeing changes, although large firms seem to be appointing CMOs with more gusto than smaller ones.

A change in business strategy is cited as the reason behind the changing titles by over a third (39%) of respondents, while 34% say an effort to redefine the role of marketing is driving the change.

Head of enterprise solutions at LinkedIn UK and Ireland, Tunji Akintokun, agrees changing demands and working practices are behind the shift in job titles. The professional networking site is no stranger to the new job title trend, having appointed Heather Freeland as its first chief brand officer earlier this month. Overseeing brand and consumer marketing, Freeland reports into chief marketing and strategy officer Jessica Jensen.

The rise of these titles like head of marketing, CMO, chief growth officer, are not, in my opinion, just about semantics anymore.

Sven Schumacher, Interprefy

“B2B marketers are feeling increased pressure to prove ROI of marketing on the bottom line and there is greater scrutiny to marketing budget performance. Profitability is key for all B2B companies today and the C-suite is focused on building an organisation that’s agile and collaborative with a single-minded goal to drive growth,” says Akintokun.

“Hence, creating greater marketing and sales alignment is critical for companies, and that’s giving rise to job roles such as chief revenue officer and chief growth officer that can oversee both pillars of the business.”

According to Akintokun, companies need to remember one of the biggest hurdles in B2B is measuring campaign impact because of the length of the buying cycle and number of people a brand must influence to drive a purchase.

“The most successful marketers are shifting understanding of measurement with their C-suite, knowing that outcomes speak much louder than optics and the vanity metrics of years past don’t demonstrate business impact,” he adds.

The change in job titles has been recognised by recruitment companies too.

“A lot of it comes down to the way marketers are strategising now. It is very much more around the customer base, and across acquisition and retention, and obviously maximising different channels,” says head of permanent recruitment at Major Players, Jodie Clayton. 

B2B brands introducing leadership roles to ‘redefine marketing’

She suggests restructured B2B marketing departments now include a suite of specialist marketers to deal with areas such as CRM or other data-driven channels, which requires some senior oversight from a marketing generalist.

“If you think of the CMO or marketing director role, it’s normally across everything. But these chief growth officer roles, particularly, tend to focus on data-driven and performance-led channels, and it is very much because businesses are investing more into digital campaigns for the acquisition side,” says Clayton.

In her experience, titles such as chief growth officer tend not to include any responsibility for areas such as branding or buying outdoor media, while that would be part of a CMO’s remit.

Marketers with new titles may face increased demand to be accountable for their performance.

“For every business it’s about revenue growth, more so than ever, and return on investment. Anybody that is a marketer who is spending budget right now has to answer what return they’re getting from that budget,” says Clayton.

The pressures of competition

Addleshaw Goddard has just celebrated its 250th anniversary, making the law firm a year older than the US. That age has not stopped the organisation leading the charge when it comes to taking on modern job titles for its marketing team.

Global head of marketing Brian Macreadie reports to CMO Laura Ottley, who has a high-level strategic role.

“The CMO here is responsible for all bids, all key client programmes, all business development,” says Macreadie. “In other businesses that role might be called a chief revenue officer or chief growth officer. Here, it just happens it is called CMO.”

The title recognises the scope and seniority of the job and fitted in with the title structure already in use for other senior leaders.

“I run all of the marketing of the firm and I report to the CMO. My boss also is on the board and the executive team. When you’re operating at that level, you can’t run a marketing department and make campaigns, and marketing decisions,” he notes.

Macreadie suggests the evolution of B2B marketing job titles is influenced by a variety of factors, including an increasing professionalisation of roles, the changing nature of B2B competition, the growing maturity of some companies and an increased acceptance of how marketing drives differentiation.

The CMO or marketing director role, it’s normally across everything. But these chief growth officer roles tend to focus on data-driven and performance-led channels.

Jodie Clayton, Major Players

“There’s been a realisation in boardrooms that, in mature markets in particular, the pure nature of competition means you need professionals who are focusing entirely on the outward world, the client world and the competition, to make the right reasoned decisions,” he says.

That includes a fuller appreciation of what professional marketers bring to the party.

“B2B has grown up. They realise the pressures of competition. Marketing is critical if you want to win and you want to grow into the future. I genuinely do believe there is a recognition of that in B2B,” Macreadie explains.

A younger vintage of B2B companies is also seeing change. He cites the impact of a decade or more of new startups coming into B2B, in particular tech businesses.

“When you’re in startup mode, the founders can run marketing and it’s all about hustle, and it’s all around tactics. But there’s a point when a startup is no longer a startup. It’s getting into an established territory and it’s got rivals to compete with. All of a sudden you need somebody who knows what they’re doing in marketing,” he states.

Helped by conferences and platforms such as LinkedIn, individual B2B marketers may also be investing more in their own skills, suggests Macreadie, meaning personal levels of professionalism are improving to meet demand.

“They are now surrounded by what their rivals are doing. It’s back to a competitive function,” he states.

“When you see your rivals making a big sponsorship or doing a brilliant campaign, or just really upping their game on the quality of their know-how…there is this escalation where people think ‘Well, I better up my game.’”

Deeper than semantics

Global head of marketing at translation technology brand Interprefy, Sven Schumacher, agrees marketing is increasingly important to B2B brands, explaining his own role encompasses elements that could fit the remit of a CMO or chief growth officer.

“The rise of these titles like head of marketing, CMO, chief growth officer, are not, in my opinion, just about semantics anymore. There’s actually a deeper shift in how organisations are viewing marketing,” he says.

That includes a gradual move away from a focus on the 4Ps of product, price, place and promotion.

“Today, larger B2B organisations are seeing marketing as more of a growth engine,” he says. “Marketers are becoming more and more involved in revenue, customer lifetime value, competitive positioning, as well.”

There’s been a realisation in boardrooms that…the pure nature of competition means you need professionals who are focusing entirely on the outward world.

Brian Macreadie, Addleshaw Goddard

The levels of data available to B2B marketers should allow them to use their skills more effectively, making marketing increasingly attractive to boards, adds Schumacher.

“I have this analogy that marketers are the artillery firing in war. We need to understand what’s ahead of us. You mitigate it and then clear the way for the rest of the business. We can only do that if you have data on where your enemy is. You need to know where you’re firing the artillery,” he says.

In the past, that hasn’t always been the case.

“A lot of marketeers say they are backed by data, but don’t follow the practice in the sense that they spray and pray, firing artillery and hoping something hits. But that’s costly to a business,” says Schumacher.

However, the marketers that act on data are able to drive growth beyond generating leads and brand awareness, delivering ROI that acts as a “proof of effectiveness”, he argues.

B2B marketers need to show how their runs are scored

Just like B2C consumers, B2B customers have research tools in their pockets that allow them to be far more educated about their potential purchases than they were two decades ago. This changes the dynamic for marketers and their colleagues in sales.

“In today’s B2B market buyers spend most of their journey self-educating and this puts marketers in the driving seat for creating demand, building trust and delivering specific insights long before the salesperson even gets involved in the sales cycles. Essentially these job titles are just catching up to that reality,” says Schumacher.

Some of those B2B companies Macreadie identified as no longer startups are scaling fast and are among the employers bringing in senior marketers who can deal with strategy at a C-suite level, says Schumacher.

“You can have the senior marketing managers that understand how to execute and deliver flawlessly where you are trying to position yourself, but they cannot make the decision of how you address growth in Middle East and Asia Pacific markets over the next five years,” he states.

Making clear the difference between marketers who can be expected to hit KPIs and those who will help steer marketing strategies across years and continents, is another factor that adds to the inflation of job titles.

“That’s becoming more imperative, because marketing can work in a silo,” says Schumacher. “But that dynamic is really changing and the CMO essentially blends that data with creativity and commercial acumen. If you bring that down to the rest of the teams that drives growth immediately.”

Marketing Week will continue our reporting of the State of B2B Marketing data over the coming weeks.