Don’t put CMO under CRO

Because changing the org chart won’t fix your marketing.

This debate comes up a lot.

Some B2B CEOs think moving marketing under the CRO will fix pipeline problems. Others believe it’ll force better alignment between sales and marketing.

I also hear from my colleagues that it can work if the CRO was once a CMO or truly understands marketing.

Yes, that may be true, but such situations are rare.

Here’s why it’s a mistake

When a CRO comes from sales (which is almost always the case), this means:

1- A CRO who hasn’t executed in marketing will naturally make marketing decisions through a sales lens.

2- When a CMO doesn’t report directly to the CEO, it diminishes the strategic impact they can have.

3- You lose the direct relationship between the CMO and CEO, which is one of the most powerful drivers for growth and long-term vision in any company

And what happens when marketing reports to sales?

Marketing gets reduced to a lead generation and performance marketing function, focusing on what’s easy to track in attribution software.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Gating eBooks to generate “MQLs” with no buying intent

• Landing pages that hide product info to force demos

• Writing SDR scripts and automated outreach cadences

• Publishing SEO blogs stuffed with keywords but no real thought leadership

• Running webinars disguised as educational but really just product pitches

You get it.

It’s a short-term mindset trying to solve a poor marketing-sourced pipeline problem.

But changing the org chart won’t fix bad marketing.

Marketing deserves a seat at the revenue table

When marketing is viewed and done right, it moves the needle for your business.

But here’s the thing:

Short-term plays bring quick wins, but in the long run, they lead to a growth plateau.

Marketing isn’t just about “leads now” but also about:

• Building brand awareness and recall

• Creating future demand

• Developing positioning & messaging

• Conducting customer research

• And more…

So, putting marketing under sales as a lead generation function ignores half of its impact.

The right GTM structure

Marketing and sales should operate as a cross-functional GTM team, aligned on revenue but owning different responsibilities.

The best setup?

A CMO reporting to the CEO while working closely with sales leadership.

That’s how you ensure your company doesn’t stay sales-led and gives marketing a real opportunity to impact the bottom line.

And when marketing has that strategic seat, teams can balance short- and long-term strategies effectively to drive sustainable growth (dig deeper here).

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Between the lines

McKinsey study (2024) puts it clearly:

"CEOs who place marketing at the core of their growth strategy are twice as likely to have greater than 5 percent annual growth compared with their peers."

That’s because when marketing reports directly to the CEO, it’s positioned as a growth driver, not just a support function.

But still, many companies fail to define marketing’s role clearly or limit its potential. When that happens, marketing gets stuck in lead generation and sales support instead of building demand, brand and strategy.

The takeaway?

A strong CEO-CMO partnership isn’t just nice to have — in an increasingly noisy B2B market, it’s a competitive advantage.

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Thanks for reading & see you next Saturday!
Alon

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