The C-Suite Power Couple: How CMOs and CFOs Work Together to Drive Growth

By Tequia Burt, Editor in Chief of LinkedIn Collective and LinkedIn Ads Blog.

The past few challenging years have revealed just how crucial the CMO role is when it comes to navigating the complexities of the modern business landscape and bridging the gap between a company and its customers. 

According to our B2B Marketing Benchmark, B2B CMOs now occupy a more influential role within their organizations worldwide. Our research* – which polled almost 2,000 B2B leaders, including both CMO and CFOs – found that roughly two in three B2B leaders say the importance of the CMO role has increased in their eyes in the past two years.

By leveraging their expertise in digital transformation, brand management, customer experience, data analytics, trendspotting and strategic partnerships, B2B CMOs have proven that they can help their organizations strike the right balance between short- and long-term strategic goals.

“Unprecedented flux in the past three years has shown businesses that CMOs are in a unique position to drive competitiveness and agility at their companies,” said Vanessa Cheal, Head of Brand & Creative Planning at Transmission. “Their ability to identify and guide the response to unmet customer needs, align long-term brand value with consistent delivery of a core promise and ensure that brand experiences cut through the noise and choice is critical to success.”

Dynamic Duo

Furthermore, there has been no partnership in the C-Suite that has been more important for success than the one between the CMO and their CFO. As business dynamics, priorities and financial considerations shifted, their relationship became more collaborative – combining CMO/CFO efforts have been central for circumventing challenges and seizing opportunities in an uncertain business environment. According to our benchmark, just under seven in 10 CMOs at B2B companies say their relationship with the CFO is stronger than before.

As a result, the CMO profile has been raised in the C-Suite. Almost half of B2B CFOs agree that their CMOs have a more direct role in driving revenue and growth now than in the past. And those CFOs expect that CMOs can prove that to the right stakeholders.

Even CMOs Need to ‘Always Be Learning’

So why are CFOs seeing their marketing counterparts in a new light? Learning the language of finance has been key for B2B CMOs to build relationships with financial leaders. According to our survey, eight in 10 CMOs report that learning the language of finance has helped them secure more marketing budget.

Moreover, our research indicates that CFOs plan to keep priming the pump, as they are more likely than CMOs (76% vs 65%) to hold the view that marketing budgets will increase in the next year.

Boosting measurement proficiency has also led to a better understanding in the C-Suite of the importance of brand when it comes to driving growth: Eighty-four percent of CMOs say they have strengthened skills needed to prove the value of brand marketing to the CFO/CEO.

CMOs efforts to build relationships with the CFO may also help to explain the increased spending on brand and confidence among CFOs regarding brand building efforts. In fact, they are more aligned on B2B marketing efforts in general. Overall, CMOs and CFOs agree on next year’s priorities with the exception of creation of thought leadership, which CMOs cite as a higher priority (55% vs. 46%). 

CMO and CFOs also see eye-to-eye when it comes to top challenges in the next year: finding new customers and engaging existing ones. 

“As customers' expectations are continuously being elevated and changing, the ability to anticipate customer needs and respond quickly has never been more important,”  said Paul Stoddart, CMO of Customer & Partner Success at Salesforce, adding: “Marketing’s focus and knowledge of the customer drives far-reaching influence. Marketing is often the data champion of an organization, and they own the customer journey. Marketing is at the epicenter, connecting teams and processes to form a single view of the customer, and using tools like AI + Data + CRM drive differentiated customer experiences and new revenue streams.”

Additionally, while CMOs and CFO have different perspectives on CMO role changes, they agree that CMOs are under more pressure to prove ROI in less time (42% CMOs vs 38% CFOs).

Keep Building Bridges

With the evolving nature of their role, CMOs now must focus on building relationships in the C-Suite beyond the CFO.

“It’s imperative that CMOs build a deeper understanding and establish stronger connections with the C-Suite to gain a holistic view into the business and the challenges faced as this will empower them to make well-informed decisions that drive both growth and innovation within the organization,” said Jessica Phan, Senior VP & Senior Client Officer at Ipsos.

And they are working on it. According to our research, a little more than four in 10 of CMOs say they are collaborating more with others in the C-Suite. This could be why 37% of CMOs say diplomacy/consensus-building is an important skill in their role.   

Their efforts to collaborate more is raising the profile of the marketing department in general, as 79% of CMOs say they try to involve as many C-Suite leaders as possible in B2B marketing decisions.

New technologies, consumer behaviors and market trends mean that CMOs will continue to be in a position to guide their organizations through both calm and choppy waters. Building key relationships, cultivating new skills and keeping their fingers on the pulse of their customers is essential for today’s CMO. Our research indicates that B2B marketing leaders and their teams realize they must nurture a more agile marketing organization now and in the future.

“Marketing holds the key to decoding shifting customer behavior and expectations,” said Arun Pattabhiraman, CMO of Sprinklr. “The CMO guides the organization's strategy to adapt and thrive in response to these changes.” 

*The B2B Marketing Benchmark was conducted in partnership with Ipsos and surveyed 1,577 senior-level B2B marketing leaders, as well as 377 CFOs, in March through May across the US, UK, Germany, France, India, Australia, Singapore and Brazil.