--- title: What Does a Head of Marketing Do? What You Get in Year One and What It Costs to Wait description: What a head of marketing does, what you should get in 90 days and year one, what the role costs on BLS data, and how to price the cost of waiting. image: https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/blog-heroes/hero-v2_what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do.jpg --- [Skip to main content](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#main-content) [![The Zulu Method](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/tmz_logo_white.svg) ![](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/tmz_logo_black.svg)](https://www.thezulumethod.com/) Our Services [Services Home](https://www.thezulumethod.com/services) [For founders & startups](https://www.thezulumethod.com/for-startups) [For growing businesses](https://www.thezulumethod.com/for-growing-businesses) Resources [Resources Home](https://www.thezulumethod.com/resources) [Cost Calculator](https://www.thezulumethod.com/cost-calculator) [About Us](https://www.thezulumethod.com/about-us) How it works [How pricing works](https://www.thezulumethod.com/pricing) [The 30-Day GTM Rebuild](https://www.thezulumethod.com/gtm-rebuild) [Blog](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog) [![](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/icn_tmz_white.svg) ![](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/icn_tmz_black.svg) Start your GTM Rebuild](https://www.thezulumethod.com/gtm-rebuild) Our Services [Services Home](https://www.thezulumethod.com/services) [For founders & startups](https://www.thezulumethod.com/for-startups) [For growing businesses](https://www.thezulumethod.com/for-growing-businesses) [Resources](https://www.thezulumethod.com/resources) [Cost Calculator](https://www.thezulumethod.com/cost-calculator) [About Us](https://www.thezulumethod.com/about-us) [How pricing works](https://www.thezulumethod.com/pricing) [The 30-Day GTM Rebuild](https://www.thezulumethod.com/gtm-rebuild) [Blog](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog) [![](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/icn_tmz_white.svg) Start your GTM Rebuild](https://www.thezulumethod.com/gtm-rebuild) ![Blueprint diagram of the five jobs a head of marketing owns, around a central role](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-heroes/hero-v2_what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do.jpg?width=1424&height=752&name=hero-v2_what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do.jpg) Marketing Strategy & Execution Leadership # What Does a Head of Marketing Do? What You Get in Year One and What It Costs to Wait ![Hannon Brett](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hs-fs/hubfs/HBrett_Headshot_Dark_Suit.jpeg?width=44&height=44&name=HBrett_Headshot_Dark_Suit.jpeg) Hannon Brett November 12, 2026 Hannon Brett | Published on: November 12, 2026 | Time to read: 19 min | Updated on: November 12, 2026 Short answer A head of marketing owns the company's plan for creating demand: who to sell to, what to say, which channels to fund, and how many qualified sales conversations marketing delivers. In year one, the role should produce a tested message, one repeatable pipeline source, and numbers the founder can read each week. What does a head of marketing do when the company has one product, no team, and a founder who still writes the website? Most search results answer with a job description written for recruiters. This guide is for the founder deciding whether to fill the seat. At The Zulu Method, we start with the five-job test, because the work exists before the title does and somebody is already doing it, usually you. Below you'll find what the role covers, what it costs on federal wage data, what a good first year looks like, and how to price the months you spend without one. #### Key Takeaways - A head of marketing owns five jobs: market and message, the pipeline target, channels and budget, the handoff to sales, and measurement. - The median US marketing manager earned $166,790 in May 2025, which is about $247,000 a year with benefits by our arithmetic on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. - In the first 90 days you should see a tested message, a pipeline target, a funded channel plan, and a weekly report, with revenue coming later. - From the decision to hire to measurable pipeline takes roughly 6 to 9 months, which is The Zulu Method's estimate and not a published figure. - We found no published study of how often first marketing hires fall short, but research on large firms says poor job design drives a great deal of CMO turnover. - The cost of waiting depends on your own close rate, deal size, and margin, so run the worksheet before you post the job. ## Table of Contents - [What does a head of marketing do?](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do) - [What is the difference between a CMO and a head of marketing?](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#what-is-the-difference-between-a-cmo-and-a-head-of-marketing) - [How much does a head of marketing cost?](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#how-much-does-a-head-of-marketing-cost) - [What do you get from a head of marketing in the first 90 days and in year one?](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#what-do-you-get-from-a-head-of-marketing-in-the-first-90-days-and-in-year-one) - [What does it cost to wait for a head of marketing?](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#what-does-it-cost-to-wait-for-a-head-of-marketing) - [Why do some first marketing hires at startups fall short?](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#why-do-some-first-marketing-hires-at-startups-fall-short) - [Is a head of marketing the right first hire, or should you start lower?](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#is-a-head-of-marketing-the-right-first-hire-or-should-you-start-lower) - [Questions & Answers](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do#questions-answers) ## What does a head of marketing do? ![The five-job test: Market & message; Pipeline target; Channels & budget; Handoff to sales; Measurement](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-inline/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do-chart1-v3.jpg?width=1456&height=720&name=what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do-chart1-v3.jpg) A head of marketing decides who the company sells to, what it says to them, where the budget goes, and how many qualified sales conversations marketing delivers each month. In a small company, the same person writes that plan and does a large share of the work. The federal description is broader than most job ads. The [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm) says marketing managers run market research, develop pricing and customer acquisition and retention strategies, and hire and oversee staff. [O\*NET, the Labor Department's occupation database](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-2021.00), adds sales forecasting, budget evaluation, and pricing strategy to the task list. Read those two pages together and the point is plain. The government describes a commercial role. In our reading, recruiter pages tend to describe a campaign role. That gap matters when you write the job. If you describe campaigns, you'll get someone who runs campaigns. A founder deciding whether to hire needs to know which decisions leave their desk, so here's the test we use, built from the same five jobs every time. ### The five-job test The five-job test lists the work that exists in every company that sells something, whether or not anyone holds the title. For each job, ask who owns it today by name. A blank is fine. It tells you what the hire has to take on, and what you're doing yourself in the meantime. | Job | What the owner decides | What you should be able to see by day 90 | | --- | --- | --- | | Market & message | Who you sell to, and why they pick you over the alternatives | One written positioning statement that sales uses word for word | | Pipeline target | How many qualified conversations marketing owes sales each month | A monthly target and a written definition of "qualified" | | Channels & budget | Which two or three sources get funded, and which get dropped | A budget with a reason next to every line | | Handoff to sales | How a lead turns into a conversation, and how fast | Named stages, a response-time rule, and one person on each lead | | Measurement | Which numbers get read each week, and by whom | A one-page weekly report you could re-run yourself | Source: The Zulu Method's five-job test, 6 Nov 2026, with the tasks drawn from the BLS and O\*NET pages above. Two of these deserve a closer look. Message comes first because every other job depends on it. If you want to see what a finished one looks like, read these [positioning statements written out in full](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/positioning-statement-examples). The handoff is the job founders forget to assign, because it sits between marketing and sales and looks like nobody's work. Our guide to building a pipeline when nobody sells full time covers the board and the weekly numbers in detail. ### What a head of marketing shouldn't own Closing deals belongs to sales, even when sales is the founder. A head of marketing also shouldn't be expected to produce every asset alone once the company has more than one channel running, and they shouldn't be the only person who talks to customers. That last one comes up a lot. Meghan Gill, writing in [April 2026](https://meghangill.substack.com/p/why-the-first-startup-marketing-hire), describes a founder who hires a marketer for messaging and then disappears, assuming positioning is handled. She's right to call that a failure pattern, and we'll come back to it. ## What is the difference between a CMO and a head of marketing? A CMO is a company officer who sits on the executive team and answers for growth at the company level. A head of marketing leads the marketing function and may or may not sit on that team. In a company under about 50 people, the two titles often describe the same job, so read the scope, not the title. No standards body defines these titles, and usage varies. [The Pedowitz Group](https://www.pedowitzgroup.com/cmo-responsibilities-vary-by-company-size), a revenue marketing consultancy, notes that in small companies the CMO may oversee all marketing functions and take on content, SEO, and paid media directly. That's what most people mean by a head of marketing. The table below is our reading of how the titles get used, and the company-size line above is our experience, so treat both as a guide. | Title | Usual scope | Usual reporting line | Where you see it most | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Marketing manager | Runs one or more channels against a plan someone else wrote | Head of marketing, or the founder | Any size | | Marketing director | Runs a team and a budget, and shapes the plan | VP, CMO, or CEO | Mid-size firms | | Head of marketing | Owns the function, often with a small team or none | Founder or CEO | Startups and owner-led firms | | VP of marketing | Leads several managers and sets the plan | CEO or CMO | Funded companies with a team in place | | CMO | Answers for growth, brand, and often revenue at the executive table | CEO | Larger companies | Source: Our reading of common usage, 6 Nov 2026. Titles vary by company. The title at the top is also less settled than it looks. Spencer Stuart's analysis of 346 marketing chiefs at S&P 500 companies, [reported by Marketing Dive in January 2026](https://www.marketingdive.com/news/cmo-plus-roles-more-prominent-as-marketing-needs-diversify-report/810396/), found average CMO tenure of 4.1 years, and 31% of those companies had no CMO at all. Some have moved the work into chief commercial or chief revenue officer roles. If public companies can't agree on the seat, a 12-person company shouldn't feel bound by a title. Pick the title that will attract the person you need, and write the scope down. ## How much does a head of marketing cost? ![What a head of marketing costs per year: Lowest 10%; Median; Highest 10%](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-inline/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do-chart2-v3.jpg?width=1456&height=720&name=what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do-chart2-v3.jpg) Marketing managers, the closest federal match, earned a median $166,790 in May 2025. Adding benefits, we estimate about $247,000 a year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics range runs from under $90,260 to over $293,610 before benefits. The BLS doesn't publish a separate figure for the title "head of marketing." Here's the arithmetic. BLS's [wage data](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm) gives the three points on the range. Its [employer cost table for June 2026](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t04.htm) shows wages are 67.5% of total compensation for private-industry management, business, and financial jobs, and benefits are the other 32.5%. Dividing each wage by 0.675 gives an estimate of what the employer pays. | Point in the BLS range | Annual wage (May 2025) | With benefits (our estimate) | Per month with benefits | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Lowest 10% earn less than | $90,260 | About $134,000 | About $11,100 | | Median | $166,790 | About $247,000 | About $20,600 | | Highest 10% earn more than | $293,610 | About $435,000 | About $36,200 | Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (wages, May 2025) and BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (June 2026), both read 6 Nov 2026. The benefits column is our arithmetic. Using the all-private-industry ratio of [70.0% wages](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) instead brings the median to about $238,000. Three things sit outside that table. - **The cost of the search.** SHRM's [2025 recruiting benchmark](https://www.shrm.org/content/dam/en/shrm/research/2025-recruiting-benchmarking-report.pdf), the latest we could open in full, puts median executive cost-per-hire at $10,625 and nonexecutive at $1,200. SHRM's [2026 summary](https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/research/2025-recruiting-benchmarking) says the executive figure has since risen. A retained search firm is priced separately. - **Program budget.** Ads, tools, content, events, and freelancers come on top. In our experience, a head of marketing hired with no working budget spends the first year writing plans nobody funds. The right size depends on revenue and margin, and our post on how much a small business should spend on marketing shows how to set it. - **Equity and bonus.** Startup offers often include stock, and we haven't priced it here. Add it if you're offering it. BLS data also covers marketing managers at every size of employer, including large ones. A first head of marketing at a small firm may land below the median, and a proven operator at a funded startup may land well above it. Treat the median as the planning number and the range as the negotiation. The 30-Day GTM Rebuild Get to market with CMO-level strategy, a sr. marketer, & AI-native scaling! In 30 days a 5X VP and CMO rebuilds your go-to-market, your positioning, and your funnel, and hands you a 90-day plan to grow. **You keep everything we build. Every client is different, so your investment is based on your specific needs.** Positioning & messagingFunnel rebuilt90-day growth planNo long contract [See how the Rebuild works](https://www.thezulumethod.com/gtm-rebuild) The fee is fully credited if you continue within 30 days. ## What do you get from a head of marketing in the first 90 days and in year one? ![A head of marketing's first year: Days 0 to 30; Days 31 to 60; Days 61 to 90; Months 4 to 6; Months 7 to 12](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-inline/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do-chart3-v3.jpg?width=1456&height=720&name=what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do-chart3-v3.jpg) In the first 90 days, a head of marketing should deliver a tested message, a pipeline target, a funded channel plan, and a weekly report. By month 12, the founder should see a repeatable source of qualified conversations that runs without them, plus a second source in testing and a clear case for the next hire. No published study sets these milestones for small companies. What follows comes from our experience building marketing functions, so use it as a starting agreement with your hire and adjust it to your sales cycle. A company with a 12-month sale won't see closed revenue from this work in year one, and that's normal. It should still see qualified conversations. 1. **Days 0 to 30: listen and write it down.** The hire interviews customers, sits in on sales calls, reads the win and loss history, and audits what's already running. By day 30 you should have a draft positioning statement and a list of what to stop. 2. **Days 31 to 60: set the numbers.** The hire agrees a definition of "qualified" with whoever sells, sets a monthly pipeline target, and picks two or three channels with a budget for each. The tracking gets fixed here, because every later decision depends on it. 3. **Days 61 to 90: launch and read.** The first channel goes live, the weekly report starts, and the founder gets one page they can read in five minutes. Expect early signals here, such as reply rates and booked calls, more than revenue. 4. **Months 4 to 6: find what repeats.** Cut the channel that isn't producing and put the money into the one that is. Sales should start reporting back on lead quality, in writing. 5. **Months 7 to 12: make it run without the founder.** One source now produces qualified conversations on a schedule. The hire documents it, tests a second source, and brings you a case for the next role, whether that's an employee, a freelancer, or an outside team. Here's how the clock looks from the day you decide to hire. SHRM's [2025 benchmark](https://www.shrm.org/content/dam/en/shrm/research/2025-recruiting-benchmarking-report.pdf) puts median executive time-to-fill at 45 days, measured from the opened requisition to the accepted offer, and its 2026 summary says that figure held. Writing the role beforehand and waiting out a notice period afterward usually adds about a month. Then comes the ramp, which we estimate at 3.5 to 6.5 months before the first source produces. Add those pieces together and you land at roughly 6 to 9 months from "we should hire someone" to pipeline you can measure. That total is our estimate, not a published figure. ## What does it cost to wait for a head of marketing? The cost of waiting for a head of marketing is the gross margin on deals you didn't win during the delay, plus the founder hours spent covering the role, plus the buyers who chose a shortlist without you. Only the first two fit in a spreadsheet, and the whole sum depends on your own close rate and deal size. Most founders compare the salary against zero. The honest comparison is the salary against what the empty seat costs, and you can work that out in about ten minutes. | Line | Formula | Illustrative example | | --- | --- | --- | | Added qualified conversations per month | Your estimate of what a working source would add | 4 | | Close rate | Your last 12 months, won divided by qualified | 25% | | First-year deal value | Your average | $40,000 | | Gross margin | Your actual margin | 60% | | Margin forgone per month | Multiply the four lines above | $24,000 | | Six months of delay | Monthly figure times 6 | $144,000 | These numbers are illustrative. We made them up to show the math, and they aren't a benchmark. Run the sheet with your own. In this example, the monthly margin of $24,000 sits just above the $20,600 monthly cost of a median hire, so the role roughly pays for itself once the source is working. Change the deal size to $10,000 and the answer flips, which is useful to know before you post the job. Founder time is the second line. If you spend 10 hours a week on marketing, that's time not spent selling or delivering, so price those hours at whatever that work would earn you. Our post on [when founder-led sales stops working](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/founder-led-sales) covers the signals to watch and how to hand off in 90 days. The third cost is harder to count. Buyers often settle on a shortlist before they speak to any seller, and [our guide to getting clients beyond referrals](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/how-to-get-clients-beyond-referrals) covers that research. If nobody is building your name while buyers form their lists, you're absent from those deals, and you won't see them in any report. ### When waiting is the right call Don't hire yet if you can't describe your last ten customers in one sentence, if you haven't closed deals repeatedly by hand, or if you can't fund a program budget on top of the salary. Marketing scales something that already works. Before that point, the founder's own selling teaches you more than a hire would. Waiting is also fine if your referrals fill your capacity and you have no plan to grow past it. ## Why do some first marketing hires at startups fall short? First marketing hires at startups sometimes fall short because the job was designed badly: the founder hires one person for strategy and execution, gives them no measure of success, expects revenue on a sales timeline, and steps away from the message. We found no published study of how often this happens, so treat any percentage you see with care. You'll find blogs claiming the average first hire leaves in under a year, and none we opened showed data. The closest real research covers large companies. Kimberly Whitler and Neil Morgan interviewed more than 300 recruiters, CEOs, and CMOs and analyzed 170 CMO job descriptions for [2017 Harvard Business Review research](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/628700). Only 22% of those descriptions said how the CMO would be measured, and only 2% had a section that clearly spelled out expectations. Nearly three-quarters of CMOs said their jobs aren't designed to let them have the greatest impact on their companies. It's nine years old and it's about big firms, but the mechanism carries down to a 15-person company. #### A Worked Example **A sourced case: the job that didn't match the title.** Whitler and Morgan describe a leading retailer that [began a CMO search in 2012](https://news.darden.virginia.edu/2017/06/26/whitler-cmos-never-last/) and hired a seasoned consumer-goods executive who had assumed he would have the authority to set a growth strategy. A year later he was deeply frustrated. His role was limited mostly to marketing communications, with limited influence over product launches, pricing, and store openings. He told the authors the job was "so poorly designed." Soon after, he left the company. The lesson for a founder is to match the authority you give to the result you expect. In our experience, five causes account for most early exits. - **One person, two jobs.** The founder wants a strategist who also writes every email. Emily Kramer of MKT1 says, in [a third-party summary of her hiring advice](https://echai.ventures/gtm/gtm-operator-principles/what-does-emily-kramer-say-your-first-marketing-hire-must-already-be-able-to-do), that a first marketer should already have four or five of the six dimensions the job needs, leaving one or two genuinely new. Hiring someone stretching in all of them is a common mistake. - **No agreed measure.** In our experience, many founders worry that they won't be able to trace a first marketing hire back to ROI. The answer is to set the numbers before hiring. The fear shrinks once you've agreed what counts as a qualified conversation. - **A sales clock on a marketing job.** A salesperson can show a closed deal in a quarter. A first marketer spends that quarter on the message and the tracking. If you judge day 90 on revenue, you'll end the job right before it works. - **The founder leaves the room.** Gill's [piece on first hires](https://meghangill.substack.com/p/why-the-first-startup-marketing-hire) calls this out, and adds that messaging isn't a one-time exercise. Founders know the customer best while the product is still changing, so they should stay in the message work. - **No program budget or no team.** A senior leader who has always run teams may struggle alone, and a junior doer can't set strategy. Either way, the seat needs money behind it. ## Is a head of marketing the right first hire, or should you start lower? A hands-on head of marketing is the right first hire if the message is settled enough to work on full time. Start lower with a head of growth if one channel already works and needs scaling, or with an outside team if you need several channels running this quarter. A VP of Marketing fits best once there's a team to lead. | Option | Best when | Watch for | | --- | --- | --- | | Hands-on head of marketing | You've got repeat sales and need one owner for all five jobs | Finding someone senior who still likes doing the work | | Head of growth | One channel works, and the job is to scale it with tests | Message and brand work may stay with the founder | | VP of marketing | A team of several marketers already exists | A leader with no team spends months building one first | | Agency | You know the strategy and need channels run | Someone in your company still owns the plan, and who does the work needs checking | | Marketing consultant | You need a plan and a second opinion | A consultant's plan still needs someone to run it | | Part-time or fractional CMO | You need senior judgment for a few days a month | Execution still needs a separate home | Source: Our experience, 6 Nov 2026. Two comparison pages cover cost and speed for a manager-level hire, so their timelines run shorter, at about 4 to 7 months: [in-house marketing vs agency](https://www.thezulumethod.com/first-marketing-hire-vs-agency) and [a fractional CMO, an agency, and a first hire](https://www.thezulumethod.com/fractional-cmo-vs-agency-vs-first-hire-cost). If you have no marketing person today and want the full list of options, start with [how to get pipeline with no marketing team](https://www.thezulumethod.com/no-marketing-team-how-to-get-pipeline). Whichever you pick, the five jobs don't change. They only change owners. A sensible path for many companies is to cover the jobs from outside first, see which one takes the most weekly attention, and then hire into that role with a job description you've already tested. #### Questions to ask yourself - Which of the five jobs has a name next to it today, and which ones are mine by default? - What number would make me say this hire worked at the end of month 12? - Can I fund a program budget on top of about $247,000 a year? - Will I stay in the message work while the product is still changing? - Does the margin in my own worksheet cover the monthly cost of the seat? Your next step takes about 30 minutes and needs nobody else. Write the five jobs on one page, put a name next to each, and fill in the cost-of-waiting worksheet with your last 12 months of numbers. If you're the name on four of the five lines and the margin covers the seat, you have a job description and a business case. If the margin doesn't cover it, you've learned that this year's move is a smaller one, and you can put that money into a plan you run yourself. Have a question about your go-to-market? A short call with a senior operator is a simple way to test your thinking. Bring your plan, your numbers, and your questions. [Let's Talk](https://www.thezulumethod.com/contact) Paid Ads✦SEO + GEO✦Content✦Email✦Social✦Lifecycle✦Analytics✦ Paid Ads✦SEO + GEO✦Content✦Email✦Social✦Lifecycle✦Analytics✦ [![Hannon Brett, founder of The Zulu Method](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/HBrett_Headshot_Dark_Suit.jpeg)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannonbrett/) #### [Hannon Brett](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannonbrett/) [Founder, The Zulu Method](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannonbrett/) 5x CMO/VP | 4x Founder | 25+ Years Building B2B Growth GTMs | B2B Events Growth Expert | Leadership, Superstar Team Building, & Successful Customers.   ## Questions & Answers **Our company has no head of marketing. What are our options?** You have five realistic options: hire a hands-on head of marketing, bring in a part-time senior leader, use a consultant for the plan, use an agency for channels, or keep it with the founder for now. The right pick depends on which of the five jobs has no owner and how soon you need pipeline. **How long does it take a first marketing hire to produce pipeline?** Expect roughly 6 to 9 months from the decision to hire until you can measure pipeline, by our estimate. That includes a 45-day median time to fill from SHRM's 2025 benchmark, about a month of preparation and notice, and 3.5 to 6.5 months of ramp. Longer sales cycles push closed revenue out further. **Who does a head of marketing report to?** A head of marketing in a small company usually reports to the founder or CEO. In larger companies, the role may report to a CMO or a chief revenue officer. Reporting to the CEO matters early on, because the role needs direct access to pricing, product, and sales decisions to do the job well. **Is a head of marketing the same as a marketing director?** A head of marketing and a marketing director overlap, and some companies use the titles interchangeably. In common usage, a head of marketing owns the whole function, while a marketing director may run a team under a VP or CMO. Compare the scope, the budget, and the reporting line before you compare titles. **When should a startup hire a head of marketing?** A startup should hire a head of marketing once it has closed deals repeatedly, can describe its best customers in one sentence, and can fund a program budget on top of the salary. Before that point, the founder's own selling usually teaches the company more than a hire would, and a smaller step fits better. **How do you measure a head of marketing in the first year?** Measure a head of marketing in year one on qualified conversations delivered against a target agreed in advance, plus the milestones for day 90: a tested message, a funded plan, and a weekly report. Revenue belongs in the measure too, but only after a full sales cycle has passed. Agree the definition of qualified in writing. **What should I put in the job description when I hire a head of marketing?** A head of marketing job description should list the five jobs, the pipeline target, the budget the person controls, who they report to, and how they'll be measured. Research on 170 CMO job descriptions at large firms found only 22% said how the person would be measured, so that line alone sets yours apart. ## Recent posts ### [![Proof card for positioning statement examples: only about 14% of customers saw a real difference between suppliers](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-heroes/hero-v2_positioning-statement-examples.jpg?width=1424&height=752&name=hero-v2_positioning-statement-examples.jpg) Marketing Strategy & Execution Go To Market Positioning Statement Examples: 10 for B2B & Owner-Led Firms](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/positioning-statement-examples) ### [![Founder-led sales hand-off plan in four steps from days 0 to 90, on a blue background](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-heroes/hero-v2_founder-led-sales.jpg?width=1424&height=752&name=hero-v2_founder-led-sales.jpg) Go To Market Founder-Led GTMs Founder-Led Sales: When It Stops & a 90-Day Hand-Off Plan](https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/founder-led-sales) ![The Zulu Method](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/lockup.svg) [![The Zulu Method](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/tmz_logo_white.svg)](https://www.thezulumethod.com/) Email us at [hello@thezulumethod.com](mailto:hello@thezulumethod.com) - [![](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/social-linkedin.svg)](https://www.linkedin.com/company/thezulumethod/) - [![](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/social-youtube.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/@TheZuluMethod) - [![](https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/social-x.svg)](https://x.com/TheZuluMethod) Subscribe to our newsletter Sign me up! 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[Privacy Policy](https://www.thezulumethod.com/privacy) [Terms of Service](https://www.thezulumethod.com/terms) © The Zulu Method. All rights reserved. ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Hannon Brett", "url" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/author/hannon-brett" }, "dateModified" : "2026-11-09T23:10:34.360Z", "datePublished" : "2026-11-12T16:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "What Does a Head of Marketing Do? Year One & Cost to Wait", "image" : [ "https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/blog-heroes/hero-v2_what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/The%20Zulu%20Method%20Staked%20Color.svg" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "FAQPage", "mainEntity" : [ { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "You have five realistic options: hire a hands-on head of marketing, bring in a part-time senior leader, use a consultant for the plan, use an agency for channels, or keep it with the founder for now. The right pick depends on which of the five jobs has no owner and how soon you need pipeline." }, "name" : "Our company has no head of marketing. What are our options?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Expect roughly 6 to 9 months from the decision to hire until you can measure pipeline, by our estimate. That includes a 45-day median time to fill from SHRM's 2025 benchmark, about a month of preparation and notice, and 3.5 to 6.5 months of ramp. Longer sales cycles push closed revenue out further." }, "name" : "How long does it take a first marketing hire to produce pipeline?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "A head of marketing in a small company usually reports to the founder or CEO. In larger companies, the role may report to a CMO or a chief revenue officer. Reporting to the CEO matters early on, because the role needs direct access to pricing, product, and sales decisions to do the job well." }, "name" : "Who does a head of marketing report to?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "A head of marketing and a marketing director overlap, and some companies use the titles interchangeably. In common usage, a head of marketing owns the whole function, while a marketing director may run a team under a VP or CMO. Compare the scope, the budget, and the reporting line before you compare titles." }, "name" : "Is a head of marketing the same as a marketing director?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "A startup should hire a head of marketing once it has closed deals repeatedly, can describe its best customers in one sentence, and can fund a program budget on top of the salary. Before that point, the founder's own selling usually teaches the company more than a hire would, and a smaller step fits better." }, "name" : "When should a startup hire a head of marketing?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Measure a head of marketing in year one on qualified conversations delivered against a target agreed in advance, plus the milestones for day 90: a tested message, a funded plan, and a weekly report. Revenue belongs in the measure too, but only after a full sales cycle has passed. Agree the definition of qualified in writing." }, "name" : "How do you measure a head of marketing in the first year?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "A head of marketing job description should list the five jobs, the pipeline target, the budget the person controls, who they report to, and how they'll be measured. Research on 170 CMO job descriptions at large firms found only 22% said how the person would be measured, so that line alone sets yours apart." }, "name" : "What should I put in the job description when I hire a head of marketing?" } ] } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement" : [ { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/", "name" : "Home", "position" : 1 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog", "name" : "Blog", "position" : 2 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/blog/what-does-a-head-of-marketing-do", "name" : "What Does a Head of Marketing Do? What You Get in Year One and What It Costs to Wait", "position" : 3 } ] } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "HowTo", "name" : "How to run the five-job test before hiring a head of marketing", "step" : [ { "@type" : "HowToStep", "position" : 1, "text" : "Write the five jobs on one page: market and message, pipeline target, channels and budget, handoff to sales, and measurement." }, { "@type" : "HowToStep", "position" : 2, "text" : "Put the name of the person who owns each job today next to it, and leave a blank where nobody does." }, { "@type" : "HowToStep", "position" : 3, "text" : "Fill in the cost-of-waiting worksheet with your last 12 months of close rate, deal size, and gross margin." }, { "@type" : "HowToStep", "position" : 4, "text" : "Compare the monthly margin from the worksheet against the monthly cost of the seat, about $20,600 at the median." }, { "@type" : "HowToStep", "position" : 5, "text" : "Decide which option fits the blanks: a hire, a part-time leader, a consultant, an agency, or staying with the founder for now." } ] } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/#organization", "@type" : "Organization", "address" : { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "addressCountry" : "US", "addressLocality" : "San Diego", "addressRegion" : "CA" }, "alternateName" : "Zulu Method", "areaServed" : [ { "@type" : "Country", "name" : "United States" }, { "@type" : "Country", "name" : "Canada" }, { "@type" : "Country", "name" : "Australia" } ], "contactPoint" : { "@type" : "ContactPoint", "contactType" : "sales", "url" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/contact" }, "description" : "The Zulu Method is the outsourced marketing team for founders, startup leaders, and owner-led businesses with no marketing leader in seat. A 5X VP/CMO rebuilds your go-to-market in 30 days, then our team and AI engine run the channels that drive pipeline and revenue.", "email" : "hello@thezulumethod.com", "founder" : { "@type" : "Person", "jobTitle" : "Founder", "knowsAbout" : [ "Go-to-market strategy", "Outsourced marketing", "Demand generation" ], "name" : "Hannon Brett", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannonbrett" ], "url" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/about-us" }, "foundingDate" : "2024", "logo" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/tzm-hubspot/images/tmz_logo_black.svg", "name" : "The Zulu Method", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/thezulumethod/", "https://x.com/TheZuluMethod", "https://www.youtube.com/@TheZuluMethod" ], "url" : "https://www.thezulumethod.com/" } ```