If you are a CMO who works with the C-Suite or board of directors, use this guide to learn what resonates the most with members in those groups. This guide can apply to any innovative idea, especially in AI and Web3.

1. Powered by
Selling A Web3 Idea
To The C-Suite: A
CMO’s Guide
Ben Plomion, Chief Marketing Officer
ben@dibbs.io

2. “You can never cross the ocean unless
you have the courage to lose sight of the
shore”
Christopher Columbus

3. n = 410 CMOs (2023); 400 (2021); 342 (2020); 342 (2019); excluding “don’t know”
Q: What percentage of your revenue is being allocated to your total marketing
expense budget in 2022?
71% of CMOs Lack Sufficient Budget to
Execute Their Strategy in 2023
Marketing Budget Allocations 2019–2023
Mean Percentage of Budget Shown
14%
7%
0%
10.5%
11.0%
6.4%
9.5%
9.1%
COVID-19
Source: 2022 Gartner CMO
Strategy and Spend Survey
2019 2022 2021 2022 2023

4. THE CMO: The Persuader
Armed with diminishing marketing budgets, CMOs must
navigate the world of the C-suite to turn their marketing ideas
into reality. The journey requires hard work, perseverance and
a keen understanding of the high-powered personalities they
will come across. Can they craft their concepts to win them all
over? Strap in and find out.

6. Game On: The
CMO’s Adventure
Through the C-Suite
Marketers encounter many fascinating
characters when selling their ideas to the
top. Here’s how to ace the process.

8. The CEO: The Disrupter
CEOs come in different flavors. Whether they are
entrepreneurs or optimizers, they often share an appetite for
disrupting the current state of a given industry. Your
marketing idea needs to align with your CEO’s vision of the
company, so keep that in mind.
Pro tip: You’ll know you’ve succeeded when a CEO claims your
idea as their own.

10. MOLLY THE BEAR: The Spirit Animal
Made famous in Dan Lyon’s notorious memoir, Disrupted, this
playful but symbolic stand-in for a company’s customers can
be a big help in selling an idea to the CEO, and a constant
touchstone when convincing everyone else. Ensure that your
ideas serves the needs and desires of your customers, and
you’ll spring to the finish line.

12. THE CFO: The Revenue Generator
Great Chief Financial Officers don’t just crunch the
numbers; they’re also drawn like a moth to a flame by
novel ideas that bring sustainable revenue or reduce
customer churn. Whatever your scheme, if the CFO can
see it as a fertilizer for growing a pile of dough, you’re
on your way to the next level.
Pro-tip: if you can work well with your CFO, chances are
you are ready to work with your board of directors.

13. The CFO test: What does You
Idea accomplish?
Generate
Net New
Revenue
Delight
Customers
Increase
Operating
Efficiencies

15. THE CTO: The BFF
In today’s data-driven world, the Chief Technology Officer’s
input is required for nearly any move company wide. CTOs,
end to have an affinity for innovation and they make ideal
partners for CMOs because they offer valuable technological
insight.
Pro tip: keep your pitches concise and make sure they will still
be relevant in six months.

17. GENERAL COUNSEL: The Challenger
Your General Counsel may be the most important non-C seat at
the big conference table. This person’s job is to smell smoke before
it becomes a fire. To do that, the General Counsel will be your
intellectual partner as she/he pokes holes into your ideas, and
create work-arounds.
Pro tip: Great General Counsel can be as creative (in their own way)
as a CMO. Give them an opportunity to do so.

19. THE COO: The Fixer
The Chief Operating Officer is a problem solver who irons out
the inefficiencies and seeks new opportunities for the
company to grow through clever planning. If you want to
score buy-in from your COO, then consider pitching a proof of
concept. The prospect of shelling out cash for your game-
changing idea is a lot more palatable to the COO when it can
be repurposed, built upon, and scaled, with minimal fuss.

21. Congratulations! if you’ve made it this far, you’ve won the game and
your idea just might have the legs to revolutionize the industry! Now
that you’ve won over the C-suite, the actual work begins…
Pro tip: this is just the beginning of your relationship with the C-Suite.
HOME FREE!

23. CPO: The most underrated partner.
Your Chief People Officer may be the least understood ally in the C-
suite. In addition to being a day-to-day partner in recruiting,
appraising and motivating your marketing teams, the CPO is often
a bouncing board for the CEO when things can get contentious
between C-level executives.
Pro tip: the CPO needs you as much as you need her. A little bit of
marketing support to the people ops team will go a long way.

24. Powered byPowered by
Don’t try this
at home!
Ben Plomion, Chief Marketing Officer
ben@dibbs.io