Companies With Strong Alignment Are 2x More Likely to Achieve Over 5% Growth
Let’s talk about the business breakup nobody’s discussing, the widening rift between CEOs and CMOs.
McKinsey’s latest research, highlighted in Adweek, found that CEO-CMO alignment dropped by 20% between 2023 and 2025. Miscommunication over roles and muddy metrics are eroding trust in the C-suite.
And the cracks are showing:
Only 22% of CEOs say marketing drives growth in their organization. Worse yet, CMOs have the shortest tenure in the C-suite (just 3.5 years). Why? Because somewhere along the way, CEOs stopped seeing marketing as a growth engine and started treating it like a cost center.
But here’s the kicker: Companies with strong CEO-CMO alignment grow 2x faster. So why are these two drifting apart? And more importantly, how do we fix it?
Spoiler alert: CMO-as-a-Service might be the secret weapon.
SO … What’s Really Going On
McKinsey’s research reveals some brutal truths:
Role Confusion:
In 2023, 90% of CEOs said marketing’s purpose was clear. By 2025, that number plummeted to 70%. The fallout? CMOs feel sidelined. Only 50% are involved in strategic planning, and in the Fortune 500, 37% of companies no longer even have a CMO at the table.
Metrics That Don’t Match:
While 70% of CEOs measure marketing success via revenue and margin, only 35% of CMOs do the same.
Lost in Translation:
When CMOs talk “web traffic” or “brand awareness,” CEOs are waiting for the bottom-line results they actually care about. No wonder they’re not speaking the same language.
The Growth vs. Brand Tug-of-War:
60% of CEOs demand customer acquisition NOW, while CMOs are stuck justifying long-term brand spend. The result? Reactive, short-term campaigns that fizzle out fast and a pipeline that never gains real momentum.
The ROI Black Box:
Only 35% of CEOs believe marketing can prove its ROI. So guess what gets cut first when budgets tighten? (Hint: It’s not the sales team’s expense accounts.)
This isn’t just a communication problem, it’s a full-blown growth crisis.
The Stakes Are Real: Growth, Trust & Cold Hard Cash
McKinsey’s data paints a make-or-break picture: Strategic CMOs = Growth Rocket Fuel
When CEOs treat their CMO as a true growth driver (not just a campaign executor), companies are 2X more likely to smash 5%+ annual growth. But when alignment fails? Marketing gets downgraded to a cost center and we all know what happens to cost centers come budget season.
The Budget Bloodbath
- 80% of CEOs admit marketing is underfunded
- 77% of CMOs agree (for once, they’re on the same page—just not the page anyone wants)
- The proof? Global ad spend tanked from 9.1% to 7.7% of revenue in 2024
The result? Misalignment doesn’t just cause tension, it costs money. Every percent cut from the marketing budget means fewer leads, slower sales, and more room for competitors to win.
How to shift the Drift to Drive?
A. Speak the CEO’s Language ($$$, Not Buzzwords)
CEOs care about revenue, margins, and scalability, not “engagement rates.” McKinsey found that CMOs who tie campaigns directly to revenue get 3x more CEO buy-in.
Ditch the Vanity Metrics
B. No more “likes and shares” reports. Instead, track:
– Marketing-sourced pipeline
– Customer lifetime value (LTV) lift
– Cost per acquisition (Customer Acquisition Costs ) efficiency
C. Bring a CFO Into the Mix
McKinsey’s data shows that CEO-CMO-CFO alignment boosts marketing’s credibility. When finance backs your numbers, the CEO listens.
The CMO-as-a-Service Advantage: Bridging the Gap with Surgical Precision
Here’s the reality: Not every company needs (or can afford) a full-time CMO. But that doesn’t mean you should go without strategic marketing leadership.
Enter CMO-as-a-Service—your on-demand growth architect.
At SAGE Marketing, we don’t just plug campaigns and tactics , we rewire the entire CEO-CMO connection. When we step in as your CMO-as-a-Service, we look at the system from the ground up. Whether building marketing infrastructure from scratch or supercharging an overwhelmed team, we start where it matters most: the leadership table. We force clarity on business objectives, stress-test your market positioning, and reclaim marketing’s seat at the strategy discussion—the one most CMOs lost years ago.
Here’s how we deliver what internal teams can’t:
- CEO-Aligned from Day One
We speak the language of revenue and margins first, brand buzzwords last. No more translating marketing metrics into business impact; we lead with it. And we use HubSpot CRM to measure the results and make sure all activities both from the marketing side as well as the sales side are aligned and connected. - Value Proposition Stress Test
Before spending a dollar, we pressure-test your messaging against what actually moves deals. No “brand awareness” black holes, just conversion-focused positioning. - Zero-Politics Execution
Unburdened by internal hierarchies, we cut through bureaucracy to implement what works, fast. - Outcome-Obsessed Engagement
Our project-based model ties every dollar to measurable results. No retainers for vague “strategy”, just hard ROI. - Trust Repair Kit
We rebuild credibility between CEOs and marketing by delivering visible wins in the short time frames.
The result? Companies working with SAGE Marketing see:
– Increase in pipeline quality
– Decrease in customer acquisition costs
– And most importantly CEO satisfaction with marketing
This isn’t about adding another marketer, it’s about installing a growth accelerator that finally aligns your leadership team. The best part? You only pay for the transformation, not the title.
Final Word
The message is simple: Ignore the data, and the disconnect widens, breaking trust, defunding efforts, and strangling growth. Fix it. Bring clarity, metrics, and partnership into your CMO role. And if you don’t have a CMO onboard, SAGE’s CMO-as-a-Service is the shortcut to strong C-suite alignment and real results.
The 7 Questions Every CMO Should Be Asking
If you’re a CMO, or acting as one you can’t afford to just talk campaigns. You need to ask the questions that earn you a seat at the strategic table and build trust where it’s breaking. Start here:
1. What are the CEO’s top 3 business goals this quarter and how is marketing contributing to each?
Don’t assume alignment. Get clarity, then build your marketing roadmap backward from real business KPIs.
2. Which metrics actually matter to the CFO?
Revenue growth? Gross margin? Customer Acquisition Costs -to-Life Time Value ratio? Match your reporting to what finance values or risk getting ignored.
3. What’s our definition of success and how will we measure it?
Awareness? Pipeline? Closed-won deals? Define it together. The biggest disconnects come from different scorecards.
4. Where is marketing viewed as a cost vs. a driver of growth?
Dig into perceptions across the org. If it’s seen as “nice to have,” you’ve got a positioning problem.
5. Are we building long-term brand equity or just chasing short-term leads?
Balance both. CEOs often want quick wins, but your job is also to invest in tomorrow’s revenue.
6. How can we test, learn, and pivot faster?
Show you’re not just creative, you’re iterative and data-driven. That earns confidence.
7. Would we hire us again?
If your current marketing function applied for the job today, would leadership say yes? If not fix it, fast.
Final Thought
The CEO-CMO divide isn’t just a “marketing problem” it’s a business survival problem. The companies that win will be the ones who fix this drift before their competitors do.
And if you don’t have the right CMO in place yet? No panic. That’s exactly why we exist.
