When starting a new role as a CMO, what are the first steps you take to understand the organization's existing marketing strategy and the alignment with broader business goals?

While talking with a bunch of different people is probably best practice, in reality you only have so much time each day. So after the CEO, I'd start with the team that's likely to be the most outward-focused (Sales) and the team that's likely to be most inward-focused (R&D).

Sales will have a lot of thoughts about marketing and how it's working at the "coal face" of interacting with prospects. They'll share their goals (which are a useful proxy for business goals), and they'll reveal tensions, whether it's with the current marketing team, the product team, and/or IT team, etc.

R&D will give you insight into the art of the possible for the business from a product perspective that helps contextualize subsequent conversations with the product team, especially about roadmap. You can then apply your expertise to push for better product-market fit.

Listen. Ask lots of questions. Ask them what the brand means to them. (Them being leadership as well as employees at all levels, customers, competitors). Talk with product managers about what VoC goes into their product development, and learn what they are excited about. Talk with Sales about what resonates when they make the sale, and how they learn from lost opportunities. (If they don't do follow-up on lost opportunities, spend a little time making those calls yourself.)

See if what you've heard from all of that listening matches what you saw from the website and materials that you reviewed when you were interviewing/considering the role. Is there a mismatch? 

Review the business goals and see how what has been going on prior to you joining the team has been supported (or not supported) by marketing. 

In summary: take your time making sweeping changes or making judgement about what is in place already. Keep what's working, and change what isn't. And then keep listening and adjusting.

The first thing is to understand the fundamentals of the business:
-  Current LTV and CAC
- Who are the most profitable customers
- What is the cost structure, what drives profitability
- What is the ideal customer profile
- What is the market perception
- What are the pain points that the company solves for customers
- How do customer make buying decisions, what are their perceptions
- What is the current growth strategy and trajectory - what is the opportunity
- How does the business see their investment in marketing

In other words, you need to understand the business, to then build the foundation of marketing: ideal customer profile, segments and personas, market opportunity, positioning & messaging, brand strategy, demand gen strategy, etc.

Before you start working on a marketing strategy you need to deep dive into the company culture, business model, and goals by meeting with other key team members (CEO, CFO, sales, product) and reviewing key documents (business plan, financials). Evaluate the current marketing team structure, budget, resources, and performance using data and analytics. Talk to each of the existing team memebers of the marketing team to identify what's working and what's not. You can then identify misalignments between the current marketing strategy and overall business objectives, looking for opportunities to improve. After that you can develop a plan with clear goals and in aligment with broader business objectives.

It's important to "diagnose before you prescribe." Spend time with employees, understand what's currently being achieved so you can perform a Stop, Start, Continue exercise. The most important factor is ensuring the activities of your team ladder up to corporate objectives. Ultimately, how are you helping your company achieve objectives A, B, and C? Where there are gaps, note them and assess capabilities you must (1) buy, (2) build, or (3) other. Good luck!