The diminishing strategic role of CMOs
It’s no secret that many Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are being sidelined from the C-suite, and this trend has serious implications for long-term business growth. When CMOs are excluded from top-level decision-making, they lose the ability to tie their deep customer insights directly to enterprise strategy. It’s both a loss for marketing and a loss for the entire organization.
Marketing leaders have unique access to data on customer behavior, trends, and competitive movements. This insight gives them the foresight to “see around corners,” positioning the business for future success. Yet still, too often, they’re boxed into the role of storytellers, far removed from being seen as contributors to revenue generation or strategic growth.
The fragmentation of the traditional Four Ps—product, price, place, and promotion—compounds the issue. These once-integrated elements of marketing are now scattered across functions, making it harder for CMOs to assert their influence. When marketing leaders are stripped of strategic levers, it diminishes their ability to drive change and align the business with evolving market demands.
Here’s a statistic to pay attention to: CEOs who embed marketing into their core growth strategies are twice as likely to achieve over 5% annual growth, according to McKinsey & Company. It’s a pretty clear, data-backed argument that shows how much potential is wasted when CMOs are pushed out of strategic conversations.
3 key cross-functional partnerships for CMOs
A modern CMO cannot operate in a silo. Success demands partnerships across departments to align marketing strategies with broader business goals. Here’s how this collaboration can drive impact:
1. Collaborate with CFOs
If you want the CFO on your side, speak in a language they understand: numbers, results, and accountability. CMOs excel at tailoring messages to their audience, and this skill is just as useful internally. Tie marketing initiatives to measurable financial outcomes, and you’ll be able to secure buy-in and make marketing central to the company’s fiscal health.
For example, present data that shows how marketing spend influences revenue growth or customer acquisition to help your marketing voice secure a stronger position within strategic discussions. When CFOs see concrete value, they’re more likely to support innovation and budget allocation.
2. Engage with R&D and supply chain
Customer feedback is a goldmine for product development and delivery optimization. Sharing market insights with R&D teams helps CMOs better shape products that align with customer demands, shortening the gap between what people want and what businesses deliver.
The supply chain also benefits here from understanding customer expectations, whether it’s faster delivery or more sustainable practices. This collaboration ultimately strengthens customer orientation across the organization, making sure every department is pulling in the same direction.
3. Partner with product leaders
Marketing and product teams are two sides of the same coin. A strong feedback loop between these teams makes sure products are positioned effectively and marketed in ways that resonate with the target audience. Brand consistency depends heavily on this collaboration, as does the ability to create a seamless customer experience from awareness to purchase.
Jim Stengel, a former CMO at Procter & Gamble, pointed out the value of cross-functional partnership by embedding a finance director into his marketing team. This move tied marketing spend directly to results, proving marketing’s strategic value and bringing it to the leading side of corporate planning.
Focus on the ‘unifier archetype’ to drive growth
Not all CMOs operate equally, and McKinsey’s research identifies three archetypes: the Friend, the Loner, and the Unifier. Let’s focus on the one that matters—the Unifier.
Unifiers build relationships with a few key executives and in the process, connect all the dots. They integrate marketing into enterprise-wide strategies, making sure customer insights influence every level of decision-making. Unfortunately, only 24% of CMOs fall into this category. Most find themselves in the less effective Friend or Loner roles, where their influence is limited and their strategic potential goes untapped.
Unifiers are proactive. They don’t wait to be asked. Instead, they take the initiative and step up to showcase how marketing can drive growth, and how these efforts align with organizational goals..
Transparency and collaboration as key transformation catalysts
When Jenny Lewis took over as CMO of The Knot Worldwide, she faced a common challenge: marketing’s role was undervalued. Instead of sticking to the status quo, she used her first board meeting to lay everything on the table. Lewis shared a comprehensive “state of union” report that covered acquisition performance, customer lifecycle trends, cultural dynamics, and competitive positioning.
She didn’t stop there. Lewis outlined a three-year transformation plan and clearly communicated what was needed from other departments to achieve those goals. It was a call to action, creating alignment and improving collaboration across the organization.
Tim Chi, CEO of The Knot, summed it up well: “CMOs at their best combine vision, strategic thinking, and a people-first mindset to unite teams and drive progress.” It shows what happens when marketing leaders step up, take ownership, and bring others along for the journey.
Broader influence on organizational alignment
To move the needle, CMOs must connect customer insights directly to strategic KPIs. Businesses that fail to do this risk losing touch with their customers and leaving money on the table. Marketing leaders have to do more than speak up and need to show how their strategies tie to measurable outcomes that matter across the organization.
Embedding marketing into enterprise strategy needs a keen focus on outcomes. When CMOs succeed in integrating their efforts with broader organizational goals, they can improve performance overall and shape the company’s direction. Anchoring their strategies in customer needs and aligning with the business’s long-term objectives is what helps them drive lasting growth.
Final thoughts
Are you empowering your marketing leaders to shape the future of your business, or are you boxing them into the past? If your CMO isn’t involved in driving strategy, connecting customer insights to innovation, and collaborating across the C-suite, you’re leaving growth on the table. The brands that succeed will be those that place marketing at the core of their vision. So, what’s your next move?
