The CMO at the center of strategy

How to transform marketing into a driver of sustainable growth

If your marketing department is still seen as a “campaign factory” and not as a strategic growth lever, now is the time to rethink that positioning. In a scenario of economic instability, accelerated technological changes, and an increasingly unpredictable consumer, marketing must go beyond communication, it must take center stage in strategy.

However, despite having the best customer insights and advanced tools for personalization and data analysis, marketing is still, in many cases, sidelined from strategic decisions. The result is a disconnect between the department’s KPIs and the metrics that truly drive the business, such as revenue, margin, and profitability.

A recent article from McKinsey & Company — based on the 2023 McKinsey survey about the relationship between CEOs and CMOs — shows this gap is widening. This second study, which for the first time included CFOs, highlights the importance of repositioning marketing as the driving force behind growth strategies. Organizations can empower the CMO to act as a general manager, taking part in strategic planning. CEOs, in turn, should ensure a closer partnership between the CMO and the CFO to build a business measurement model that supports marketing’s critical role in the company’s growth plan.

Another finding from the McKinsey article reveals that the presence of CMOs in Fortune 500 companies dropped from 71% in 2023 to 66% in 2024. Moreover, according to the report, only 63% of these companies have a marketing leader on the executive team reporting directly to the CEO. This shows an erosion of influence at precisely the moment when marketing should be taking the lead.

Even more alarming: since the previous survey, there has been a 20% drop in the proportion of CEOs who believe the role of marketing is clearly defined and understood by senior leadership (from 90% to 70%). Furthermore, only half of CMOs report actively participating in strategic planning, and 77% of CMOs and 80% of CEOs believe marketing remains underfunded.

What is behind the disconnect between marketing and growth?

1. Shrinking scope, reduced impact

CMOs are being left out of strategic planning. Instead of driving growth, marketing is often limited to tactical execution: campaigns, media, and branding. In other words, marketing loses influence and fails to impact KPIs.

2. Metrics that don’t align with the business

Acronyms like ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend), CTR (Click-Through Rate), CPC (Cost Per Click), TOP (Time on Page), and SQL (Sales Qualified Leads) are essential for day-to-day operations, but alone, they don’t translate into growth impact.

70% of CEOs evaluate marketing’s impact based on year-over-year revenue growth and profit margin, but only 35% of CMOs consider these indicators as primary metrics. This asymmetry reveals a critical lack of alignment.

Additionally, only 79% of CMOs say they understand how marketing KPIs align with overall growth KPIs, down from 88% in the previous survey. And only 30% believe there is a clear definition of what constitutes marketing ROI.

3. Fragmented customer journey

With roles like Chief Digital Officer, Chief Growth Officer, and Chief Revenue Officer proliferating, ownership of the customer experience has become dispersed. Over 80% of consumers use multiple channels in a purchase journey. In B2B, there can be up to 10 touchpoints. With so many executives focused on the customer, responsibility for the experience has become diluted.

Modern marketing requires a mindset shift

Repositioning marketing requires more than structural change, it demands a shift in posture. The CMO must claim their role as a growth leader and strategic agent.

1. General management mindset

• Set long-term goals

• Translate operational KPIs into business metrics

• Speak the language of the CEO and CFO

• Connect marketing decisions to business strategy

2. Measurement system with the CFO

• Establish shared KPIs

• Accurately measure financial impact

• Ensure marketing data is validated by the CFO, increasing C-suite confidence

The CMO as guardian of the customer experience

With increasingly omnichannel customers, marketing must lead the journey, not just communication. This means:

• Aligning all touchpoints with the brand’s value proposition

• Working side by side with sales, customer service, digital, product, and finance

• Personalizing and integrating the customer experience end-to-end

Despite this, only 15% of companies say they consistently incorporate the voice of the customer into decision-making, a clear opportunity for CMOs to step in with authority.

The cost of disconnection: the hospitality case

A global hotel chain was hitting acquisition records but wasn’t tracking what happened after the first booking.

• Were customers coming back?

• Were they using other services?

• What was the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)?

This siloed approach meant the CMO was evaluated on marketing effectiveness without access to data or influence over the entire customer journey. The result: CLV was $80, while acquisition cost exceeded $100. An inefficient operation with no visibility into the journey led, quite literally, to loss.

The practical path to reposition marketing

1- Review your performance indicators. Are they tied to growth?

2 - Build a measurement system with the CFO. Focus on real results.

3 - Take leadership over the customer journey. Integration is essential.

4 - Reinforce marketing’s role in the C-suite. Marketing is business.

5 - Link metrics to financial goals.

6 - Educate leadership. Show, with data, how marketing creates value.

Conclusion: Marketing as a strategic force

The challenge is clear, CMOs must move from being campaign executors to growth orchestrators.

This requires ownership mindset, financial fluency, and leadership. Repositioning marketing means putting the customer back at the center of the business model. It’s about turning data into decisions, strategy into impact, and interactions into value.

At ZR, we help CMOs and leadership teams transform marketing into a strategic growth lever. Talk to us and discover how we can drive real results with strategy, data, and creativity.