30-60-90 day plan for CMOs
On this page
- What does a CMO own that a VP of marketing does not?
- What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
- Which advertising and data rules should a new CMO check first?
- Which numbers should a new CMO baseline?
- What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
- A filled example
- How should the CEO use this plan in the final interview?
- What should the CEO ask at the 30, 60 and 90-day check-ins?
- What the CEO owes a new CMO
- Common mistakes
- Adapting the plan
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for a new chief marketing officer should spend the first 30 days learning the customer, the marketing budget and the claims the company already makes, use days 31-60 to agree one positioning and one definition of marketing's contribution to revenue with the CEO, CFO and head of sales, and present a 12-month marketing plan with budget, team and measures at day 90. A CMO carries the company's advertising and customer data risk as well as its growth targets, so the first month includes an audit of endorsements, reviews, email, texts and ad tracking against the FTC's rules and, where it applies, California's privacy regulations, current as of October 2026.
This page is for the CEO, founder or board hiring a CMO who leads several marketing functions and sits on the executive team. For a leader who runs demand generation and the marketing team under a CMO or CEO, the 30-60-90 day plan for VPs of marketing fits better; the general executive listening tour is in the 30-60-90 day plan for executives.
What does a CMO own that a VP of marketing does not?
| Area | VP of marketing | CMO |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy | Executes the marketing plan by channel | Sets positioning, segments and the brand; decides what marketing will not do |
| Revenue | Delivers pipeline or sales targets | Agrees with the CEO, CFO and head of sales how marketing's contribution is defined and reported |
| Budget | Allocates within channels | Sets the total marketing investment case and its split between brand, demand and people |
| Risk | Follows the rules on each campaign | Owns the policy for claims, endorsements, reviews and customer data use, with legal |
| Audience | Reports to the CMO or CEO | Reports to the CEO and presents growth to the board |
In smaller companies one person does both. The plan below assumes the CMO has at least one marketing leader underneath; where they do not, add the channel work from the VP plan.
What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
30-60-90 day plan — [Name], Chief Marketing Officer, [company]
Reports to: [CEO] Start date: [date]
Marketing team: [N] in [functions] Agencies: [names]
Marketing budget: [amount] (people / media / tools / events)
Revenue model: [sales-led / product-led / retail / mixed]
Next board meeting: [date]
DAYS 1-30 — Learn the customer, the money and the claims
Goals:
- One-to-one with the CEO, CFO, head of sales, head of product,
head of customer success and every marketing leader
- Talk to [N] customers and [N] lost prospects; listen to [N]
recorded sales calls
- Reconcile last year's marketing spend with finance, line by line
- Inventory every live claim: website, ads, packaging, sales decks,
review and testimonial programs, influencer and affiliate deals
- List every tool that collects or shares customer data (tags,
pixels, CRM, ad platforms, data vendors) and who owns it
- Read the last 12 months of board material on growth
Deliverables by day 30:
- Diagnosis memo: who buys and why, where the budget goes, what
marketing is credited with today, and whether sales agrees
- Claims and data-use risk list, reviewed with counsel
DAYS 31-60 — Agree the story and the measure
Goals:
- Draft positioning and messaging; test it with sales and [N]
customers
- Agree with the CEO, CFO and head of sales one definition of
marketing's contribution and how it is reported each month
- Decide the marketing org: leaders, open roles, agency scope
- Fix the highest-risk claim or data-use issue from month one
- Move a set share of budget from the weakest program to a test
Deliverables by day 60:
- Positioning signed off by the CEO
- Measurement agreement in writing; org design and hiring plan
DAYS 61-90 — Present the plan
Goals:
- Present a 12-month marketing plan: priorities, budget by program,
team, measures and targets
- Brief the board, or write the growth section of the board deck
- Launch one visible piece of work built on the new positioning
Deliverables by day 90:
- Plan and budget approved by the CEO and CFO
- First monthly marketing report on the agreed measures
Check-ins: weekly with the CEO; reviews at day 30, 60 and 90.Which advertising and data rules should a new CMO check first?
The month-one claims and data inventory is there because these rules attach to the company, and a CMO who inherits a non-compliant review program or tracking setup owns it from day one. Checked as of October 2026; this is not legal advice, and which rules apply depends on the business.
| Area | What the rule requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Influencers, affiliates, paid endorsers | A connection between the endorser and the seller that might materially affect the endorsement's credibility, and that the audience would not expect, must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously; free or discounted products count. The Guides were last revised in July 2023. | 16 CFR 255.5 |
| Reviews and testimonials | In effect since October 21, 2024: no fake or false reviews or testimonials, no incentives conditioned on a positive or negative review, disclosure for reviews written by officers or managers, no review suppression by threats or by misrepresenting which reviews are shown, and no buying fake social media indicators | 16 CFR Part 465 (sections 465.2, 465.4, 465.5, 465.7, 465.8); Federal Register |
| Marketing email | Accurate headers and subject lines, a valid postal address, a working opt-out honored within 10 business days, and responsibility for vendors who send on the company's behalf | FTC CAN-SPAM guide |
| Marketing calls and texts | Telemarketing calls using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice to wireless numbers need the called party's prior express written consent | 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(2) |
| Opt-out preference signals (California) | A business that sells or shares personal information must treat a valid browser opt-out signal as a request to opt out of sale and sharing | CCPA regulations, section 7025 (effective text dated January 1, 2026) |
| Privacy risk assessments (California) | Selling or sharing personal information requires a documented risk assessment before the processing starts; for processing that began before 2026 and continues, the deadline is December 31, 2027, with information for 2026-2027 assessments due to the agency by April 1, 2028 | CCPA regulations, sections 7150, 7155 and 7157; CPPA regulations page |
The California rows apply only to businesses the CCPA covers. The regulations' own examples treat sharing browsing data with ad platforms for cross-context behavioral advertising as "sharing," which is why the tag and pixel inventory belongs in month one. Consumer brands with packaging or environmental claims have further rules; the 30-60-90 day plan for brand managers covers the FTC's Made in USA rule and Green Guides.
Which numbers should a new CMO baseline?
The day-30 baseline uses the definitions finance and sales already use. The measures below are examples; pick the ones that match how the company makes money.
| Area | Example measures (examples only) | The question behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | Spend by program against plan; share on people, media, tools and agencies | Does marketing's budget match finance's ledger? |
| Contribution | Marketing-sourced pipeline or new customers; cost per new customer by channel | Does the head of sales accept the number? |
| Conversion | Stage-to-stage conversion from first touch to closed or purchased | Where do buyers drop out? |
| Brand | Branded search trend, share of voice or aided awareness if already tracked | Is the brand doing work that demand programs rely on? |
| Customers | Retention or repeat purchase, win rate against named competitors | Is the positioning winning the deals it targets? |
A strong baseline also says which numbers the CMO does not trust yet. Attribution reports built inside one ad platform, or pipeline counted twice by marketing and sales, are worth flagging before anyone sets a target on them.
What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
| Checkpoint | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | Has spoken to customers and lost prospects; spend reconciled with finance; risk list names real issues | Diagnosis built from internal opinions only; no claims or data inventory |
| Day 60 | Positioning tested with sales and customers; measurement agreed in writing with sales and finance | A rebrand announced before positioning is tested; sales and marketing still count pipeline differently |
| Day 90 | Plan and budget approved; first monthly report on the agreed measures; one risk item closed | A plan copied from the CMO's last company; targets set on numbers nobody trusts |
A filled example
CMO: Priya Natarajan (invented), first CMO at a 400-person company selling scheduling software to clinics, reporting to the CEO, with a demand generation lead, a content lead, a product marketing manager and two agencies.
Day 30: Finance's ledger showed about a fifth of marketing spend sat in tools nobody used. Customer calls showed buyers chose the product for billing integration, which the website barely mentioned. The claims inventory found a customer review program whose email offered a gift card "for your five-star review."
Day 60: Counsel agreed the offer was tied to a positive review; the program was changed to invite every customer to leave an honest review, with no reward tied to the rating. Positioning moved to billing integration and was tested on ten sales calls. The CEO, CFO and head of sales signed a one-page definition of marketing-sourced pipeline.
Day 90: The board saw a plan that cut unused tools, funded a clinic-billing campaign and set two monthly measures. The first report showed pipeline on the agreed definition, which sales and marketing now quoted the same way.
How should the CEO use this plan in the final interview?
Give CMO finalists the same brief: revenue model, marketing budget, team and agencies, last year's results and one known problem. Ask for a plan of no more than two pages and score it with the rubric in how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview. The interview guide for marketing roles keeps the rest of the panel on the same competencies. A strong CMO plan talks to customers before changing the message, agrees measurement with sales and finance before setting targets, and treats claims and data use as executive risk. Questions that test it:
- "Sales says marketing's pipeline number is inflated. How do you settle it in your first 60 days?"
- "Our review program pays customers for reviews. What do you ask first?"
- "Which part of our budget would you cut first, and what would you need to see before you did?"
- "What would you present to the board at your first meeting, and what would you hold back?"
What should the CEO ask at the 30, 60 and 90-day check-ins?
- Day 30: What did customers and lost prospects tell you that we did not know? Which risk on your list worries you most?
- Day 60: Does the head of sales agree with the measurement definition, in writing? What did the positioning test show?
- Day 90: What will you report every month, and what would make you change the plan?
What the CEO owes a new CMO
- A clear mandate: growth, brand, pricing input, product marketing, communications; say which of these the role owns.
- Finance support: a named finance partner and access to the full marketing ledger, not a summary.
- Sales access: call recordings, CRM data and the head of sales' time for the measurement agreement.
- Counsel's time for the claims and data-use review in month one.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Result | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Rebranding in the first 60 days | Money spent on a story nobody tested | Test positioning on real sales calls first |
| Accepting attribution reports as given | Targets set on numbers sales disputes | Agree one written definition with sales and finance |
| Treating legal review as a campaign step | Inherited review, influencer or tracking problems keep running | Claims and data inventory in month one, reviewed with counsel |
| Importing the last company's channel mix | Budget follows habit, not buyers | Let customer and lost-prospect interviews decide the first test |
Adapting the plan
- B2B, sales-led: weight days 1-60 toward the measurement agreement and product marketing; the 30-60-90 day plan for product marketing managers shows the positioning work underneath, and the 30-60-90 day plan for VPs of sales shows the handoffs the CMO must agree.
- Consumer brands: add packaging claims, retail partners and brand tracking to the day-30 inventory, and meet the brand managers who own each line.
- First CMO after a founder-led period: the founder has been the message; spend extra time in month one writing down how the founder sells before changing it.
The 30-60-90 day plan for marketing managers shows the channel-level work the CMO's team will do, and the general 30-60-90 day plan template for new hires covers the structure for any role.
Questions people ask
What should a new chief marketing officer do in the first 30 days?
Meet the CEO, CFO, head of sales, head of product and every marketing leader, talk to customers and lost prospects, reconcile last year's marketing spend with finance line by line, and list every claim, review program, influencer deal and data-sharing tool the company runs. By day 30 the CMO should be able to say who buys and why, where the money goes, and what marketing is credited with today.
How is a CMO's 30-60-90 day plan different from a VP of marketing's?
A VP of marketing usually runs the marketing engine: channels, campaigns, pipeline targets, the team and the tools. A CMO owns the company's positioning and brand, sits on the executive team, agrees with the CEO and CFO how marketing's contribution is measured, carries the legal exposure of the company's advertising and customer data use, and presents growth to the board.
Which marketing laws should a new CMO check first?
As of October 2026, the FTC's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255) for influencer and affiliate disclosures, the FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR Part 465, in effect since October 21, 2024), CAN-SPAM for marketing email, the TCPA rule for marketing calls and texts, and, for businesses covered by California's privacy law, the CCPA regulations on opt-out preference signals and privacy risk assessments. This is not legal advice; review the list with counsel.
What should a CMO present at 90 days?
A 12-month marketing plan the CEO and CFO approve: the positioning, the few priorities, the budget by program, the team and agency model, and the measures marketing will report every month, defined the same way finance and sales define them. It should also report what the CMO fixed in the first 90 days.