Nearly half of B2B companies (40.5%) don’t have a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or marketing director on their leadership team, according to Marketing Week’s Career & Salary Survey 2024. This figure climbs even higher for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where 48.8% of companies operate without marketing representation at the executive level.
While this might seem like a cost-saving measure or a way to streamline leadership, it often leaves a glaring gap in one critical area: the boardroom.
When CEOs or CTOs are left to address marketing questions without expert support, they often struggle to articulate the connection between marketing efforts and business outcomes.
When the board starts asking about customer acquisition costs, pipeline performance, or the return on investment (ROI) for your latest marketing initiative, it’s not enough to stumble through vague explanations. The lack of clarity can erode trust, create doubt about the company’s direction, and make it harder to secure buy-in for future investments in growth.
For companies without executive marketing leadership, a fractional CMO can be the secret weapon you didn’t know you needed.
What Happens when CEOs Go Without
CEOs and CTOs are brilliant at what they do. They steer the company’s vision, manage operations, and build innovative products. But to them, marketing often feels like a black box. The nuances of pipeline metrics, the marketing funnel, and attribution models can be complex, and even the savviest executives may struggle to articulate how marketing efforts drive business outcomes.
This challenge becomes especially apparent when CEOs go without marketing support in board meetings. They commonly face questions like:
“Why is our cost per acquisition climbing?”
“Which campaigns are driving the most revenue?”
“What’s the timeline for seeing ROI from our latest investment?”
They can feel impossible to answer without the right context and data. Fumbling these conversations create awkward moments and stall key initiatives, weaken confidence, and lead to budget cuts for marketing efforts that are vital to the company’s growth.
Bridging the Marketing Gap in the Boardroom
A fractional CMO is a clever way to bridge the gap between marketing and business outcomes, ensuring CEOs and boards understand how marketing investments drive revenue. They craft data-driven presentations that simplify complex metrics into clear insights, tying the marketing story directly to business priorities like pipeline health, customer growth, and ROI.
Beyond building the board deck, a fractional CMO prepares leadership teams by anticipating tough questions about budgets, campaign performance, and strategy. They ensure the CEO and team are audibly ready—equipped with informed, confident answers. In some cases, they even take an active role, presenting marketing updates directly to the board to establish credibility and secure buy-in.
For real-time challenges, a fractional CMO can even provide behind-the-scenes support during board meetings. For example, I’ve attended meetings in stealth mode, listening in and sending Slack messages to the CEO with insights to answer board questions accurately and confidently.
Why This Matters for B2B Companies–Especially Those Without a CMO
Without a CMO, marketing’s voice is often absent at the leadership table. At best, this absence can lead to missed opportunities to showcase how marketing is contributing to growth. At worst, the absence opens the door for skepticism about marketing’s value.
A fractional CMO ensures marketing isn’t just represented but understood. They help CEOs communicate marketing’s role in the company’s success, tying metrics like pipeline growth, customer retention, and brand equity directly to revenue.
This doesn’t just satisfy the board—it strengthens alignment across the leadership team, ensuring that everyone is on the same page about marketing’s strategic importance.
Don’t Leave Marketing Out of the Boardroom
If your company doesn’t have a CMO, you’re not alone—but that doesn’t mean you should face the boardroom unprepared. A fractional CMO can fill this gap, equipping you with the insights, tools, and confidence you need to own the marketing conversation.
Whether it’s crafting (and designing!) the perfect board deck, prepping your team, or providing real-time support, fractional CMOs ensure marketing is presented as a driver of growth, not just a line item on the budget.
Let’s make sure your next board meeting showcases the full power of your marketing efforts. Reach out to explore how fractional CMO support can elevate your leadership and secure the confidence of your board.
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