The CFO and CMO Partnership: Why Marketing's Best Ally Should Be Finance
If anyone in an organization should be attached at the hip, it's the CFO and CMO.
The best CFO/CMO relationships are closely collaborative, creatively aligned, and, yes, gently contentious. But it’s far too common for these two critical roles to operate in separate silos, or even worse, view each other as adversaries. When these leaders aren’t operating as clear partners, businesses struggle to reach their full growth potential.
If your organization is seeing a lot of turnover in the CMO role, struggling to meet growth metrics, or even just experiencing consistent friction, this post is for you. We’ll walk through the most common root causes of CFO/CMO conflict, and suggest a few key mindset shifts to get this partnership back on track, so your business can finally get the growth flywheel spinning. Read on to learn:
Why marketing metrics are not just the CMO’s responsibility
Assumptions that keep CMOs and CFOs from working productively together
And how to help support a strong partnership between these two key leaders
CMO’s Need to Own Their Metrics. But So Does the CFO.
CMOs get a lot of grief for "not aligning marketing with business metrics." And sure, some marketing metrics are meaningful for the department, but they don't necessarily help a CFO run the business. As CFOs, we don't have strong opinions about month-over-month growth in social media impressions or the latest engagement rates on a campaign. What we do want to see is how our marketing bets are paying off in pipeline growth, lower customer acquisition costs (CAC), increased revenue, and ultimately, improved unit economics that drive sustainable growth.
But here's where most organizations get it wrong: they treat this misalignment as purely a marketing problem to solve.
CFOs shouldn't put the entire onus for either growth or reporting on the CMO. They should be there to support the marketing arm in setting clear measurements that they can use in meaningfully driving the business. A recent Harvard Business Review article put it perfectly: "When measurement is owned by the entire business, not just marketing, something interesting happens. Marketing performs better because decisions are based on business impact rather than channel-specific metrics. CFO confidence in marketing increases because recommendations come with the validation and forecasting rigor they expect from other investments."
And guess what happens when you get this right? The CFO stops seeing marketing as a cost center and starts viewing it as the growth engine it should be.
This shift in perspective is transformative. When finance and marketing speak the same language – the language of business impact – marketing investments get the strategic support they deserve, and finance gets the predictable returns they need to model the business effectively.
Trust, Understanding, and Productive Conflict Make Strong CMO/CFO Partnerships
To get to the kinds of conversations around growth strategy we described above, the CFO and CMO need to develop a certain level of trust in and understanding of each other’s disciplines, underpinned with gentle conflict. Too often, these roles see each other as outright antagonists. CFOs need to understand that it takes money to make money, and that marketing investments often have lag times before returns materialize. CMOs need to remember that finance isn't just there to police the budget, but to keep the strategy on track and ensure resources are allocated to the highest-impact opportunities.
The CMO needs a clear plan with defined outcomes and realistic timelines. But both partners need the right metrics in place to hold each other accountable. This means moving beyond vanity metrics and establishing leading indicators that actually predict business outcomes—metrics like marketing-qualified lead velocity, pipeline coverage ratios, and conversion rates at each funnel stage.
Ideally, when a CMO says, "We want to achieve X," the CFO's first instinct is to say, "Let's figure that out together,” not "That's too expensive," or "Prove it first." Ultimately, their combined goal is to create a shared belief around the next best path, and shared metrics for they will assess performance.
How to Handle Difficult Relationship Dynamics
There are many good ways to salvage a dysfunctional CFO/CMO relationship - if you know how to support different styles of management.
If the CMO is a cowboy who makes big bets without data or clear success metrics, the CFO needs to establish clear guardrails, not handcuffs. Create a framework for experimentation with defined risk tolerance. Allocate a percentage of budget for testing new channels, but require clear hypotheses and measurement plans upfront.
If the CFO wants to constantly cut marketing spend at the first sign of pressure, this CFO needs education on how marketing actually works. Show them the lifetime value data, the cohort analysis, and the long-term impact of cutting brand investment. If they still don't budge, you have a leadership problem that extends beyond this partnership.
If the CMO doesn't understand their funnel and how it works, this is a critical gap that needs immediate attention. The CFO should help facilitate a comprehensive funnel audit and work with the CMO to implement proper attribution and tracking. If the CMO isn't willing or able to develop this understanding, you might have the wrong person in the role.
If the CMO isn't being held accountable for marketing results, know that accountability flows both ways. If the CFO hasn't worked with the CMO to establish clear OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) tied to business outcomes, they share the blame. Set quarterly goals, review progress monthly, and adjust quickly when things aren't working.
If neither party is willing to pivot, test, and experiment, both the CFO and CMO need to embrace a test-and-learn mentality, where small experiments inform larger investments, and failures are treated as valuable data points rather than career-limiting events. Note, too, that this is perhaps the most dangerous scenario: in almost every market, rigidity is a death sentence.
The Path Forward
The strongest organizations we've seen have CFOs and CMOs who meet regularly – weekly or biweekly – to review performance, discuss challenges, and align on priorities. They challenge each other's assumptions respectfully, share wins and losses transparently, and ultimately drive toward the same north star: sustainable, profitable growth.
If you're a CFO, reach out to your CMO this week. Ask them what metrics would help them make better decisions. Offer to help build better forecasting models. Show genuine curiosity about what's working and what's not.
If you're a CMO, schedule time with your CFO to walk them through your funnel, your attribution model, and your growth thesis. Ask them what financial constraints you should be aware of, and where they see the biggest opportunities for efficiency.
Because when the CFO and CMO are truly aligned, magic happens. Marketing becomes a strategic growth driver, finance becomes an enabler rather than a gatekeeper, and the entire organization benefits from decisions based on business impact rather than political positioning.
It's time to break down the walls and build the partnership your business deserves. A Level PRO can help. We are growth-oriented CFOs that work with your team to find ways to say “yes.” Book a call with a Dedicated CFO today, and learn how your team can Level up.