Boards have asked CMOs to trim marketing spend by 8 percent on average, and in some cases 10-20 percent, over the past years (source). Yet those same boards still expect revenue and margin to climb.
Complicating matters, the average CMO lasts just 40 months, the lowest figure in more than a decade (source). When your runway is measured in quarters, not years, the first 90 days decide whether you’ll be seen as a profit driver or a cost centre.
A 30-60-90 framework breaks your ramp-up into three tightly focused sprints. Think of each 30-day block as a single job to be done: Diagnose, optimise, then accelerate.
Goal: Establish an honest P&L baseline and lock C-suite agreement on where profit must improve.
Ask yourself: Where is profit leaking today? Which side of the Bowtie, acquisition or expansion, has been ignored? (need a refresh on the Bowtie Model in DTC, read more here). What CAC ceiling and payback window will finance accept?
Goal: Strip waste and redeploy budget to the highest-margin plays.
Ask yourself: Which channels already deliver CAC below the ceiling? Which creative assets are fatiguing fastest? Which fixed costs could move to variable without hurting growth?
Goal: Lock predictable revenue onto the right side of the Bowtie and prove the forecast.
Ask yourself: How quickly can we lift the repeat-order rate? What POAS target protects margin while we scale re-engagement? Which expansion initiatives will land in the next quarter?
Handle each sprint in turn and you’ll deliver a strong first quarter as CMO.
Your first ninety days must end with a handful of numbers that even a sleep-deprived finance director can read at a glance.
Begin with net revenue retention. If by day ninety existing customers are spending at least five per cent more than they did a year ago, you are already compounding growth; a figure of 105 per cent or higher is the line in the sand.
Next comes blended CAC. During week four you will have agreed a ceiling, perhaps forty euros per customer, perhaps eighty, depending on margin. The scoreboard simply shows whether you have stayed under that roof.
A third line tracks the average payback period. Marketing spend that returns its cash inside sixty days keeps cash-flow friendly for even the most austere board, so the trend arrow must be pointing down towards that mark.
Fourth on the sheet is POAS on existing-customer campaigns, expressed in contribution margin. Set the floor at e.g. 300%, meaning every euro invested should throw at least three euros of clean profit back.
Finally, show marketing cost as a share of revenue. If that percentage is flat or shrinking against the baseline you presented in week one, you have proved that growth is coming from smarter allocation, not heavier spending.
Publish the scorecard inside the BI tool everyone already uses. No surprises, no excuses, complete transparency.
New CMOs often reach for tactics before they have fixed the maths. A fresh set of TikTok creatives might earn applause in Slack, but if your acquisition cost is already breaching the ceiling you agreed with finance.
Equally risky is blind faith in tactical leavers. Locking campaigns into “max delivery” or scheduling lifecycle emails without first validating the underlying unit economics merely accelerates bad maths. You spin the flywheel faster but the cash still flows out of the business with no promise of coming back.
A third trap hides outside the classic marketing department. customer-service transcripts and return-reason codes may expose product or fulfillment issues that dwarf any gains you can squeeze from ad optimization, yet many teams never read them. You need to understand, customer service is a gold mine for intelligence! Ignore those signals and you risk pouring more prospects into a leaky bucket. Diagnose first, automate later, and keep one eye on the conversations happening in support. In ninety days those habits will matter far more than any single channel tweak.
A 30-60-90 plan is more than a tidy onboarding document. It’s a defensive wall against budget cuts and tenure stats. Nail the first 90 days, prove profit impact, and you reset expectations for the rest of your term.
Need assistance in your initial 90 days as CMO?
Reach out to me on email at ks@profoundnorth.com or by phone at +45 22 41 77 97.
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