The Marketing budget accounts for more than 10% of revenue in many companies today. As a result, CMOs are often under tremendous pressure to demonstrate their contribution and impact on the business. A Proof Analytics study reported that 96% of the C-Suite among Fortune 1000 companies believe that “their Marketing & PR Teams are unwilling or unable” to prove and measure ROI. As a result, many CMOs lack the support of the C-Suite as revealed in the HBR article The Trouble with CMO,S which declared that, “80% of CEOs don’t trust or are unimpressed with their CMOs.” Our findings in every MPM Benchmark study consistently reveal that “the pressure for Marketing to measure its value, impact, and contribution is on the rise.” Clearly, there is a high demand for Marketing to demonstrate accountability.

Marketing’s struggle with selecting the right metrics is one reason the challenge to demonstrate accountability remains. As a result, it’s no wonder that companies are increasingly turning to Finance and/or Procurement to lead the Marketing accountability and measurement effort. An increased focus by Marketing leaders on accountability will help relieve the pressure, address the needs of the C-Suite, and facilitate Marketing’s role as a strategic partner.

The struggle with accountability often serves as a symptom of poor alignment. Kimberly Whitler and Neil Morgan posited that “alignment of responsibilities is the critical area where mistakes are made.” Our research and that of others find that CMOs and Marketing organizations that achieve alignment are better able to crack the code on accountability. As a result, they are in a better position to avoid receiving budget cuts or their marching papers.

Take These Three Alignment Steps To Improve Your Success

Darren Bridges, president at Safe Systems, echoed the sentiments of many of our customers in the C-suite when he said, “Success requires that marketing be aligned with the business and that we can accurately measure Marketing’s impact.” For a real-life example of an organization refining its alignment to improve accountability, read our case study on this company, Aligning Marketing to Business Results.

The case study explores how Safe Systems went from being activity-driven – primarily due toa lack of alignment – to having clearly defined business targets and a set of quantifiable business outcomes on which to build a more strategic, measurable customer-centric Marketing plan. You’ll learn how they morphed from having a dashboard that didn’t fully communicate Marketing’s contribution or support decision-making to having a set of metrics for the dashboard that more clearly communicates Marketing’s impact to the C-Suite.

These three alignment steps were crucial to the accountability transformation.

Alignment to the Business. At the end of the day, Marketing’s fundamental mission is to be a champion and drive growth by finding, keeping, and growing the right set of profitable customers. Growth is the driving force for any business and a critical aspect of every strategic planning discussion, yet only 22% of the job descriptions Morgan and Whitler studied mentioned how CMOs would be measured or held accountable. Marketing leaders need to form clear strategies for measuring impact and contribution to growth. This requires thinking beyond buckets of revenue and drilling into data on customers and segments. Marketing also needs to facilitate consensus with, and buy-in from, the C-Suite on the measurement strategies.
Alignment to the Customer. As a business owner, there are some things I need to buy, such as liability insurance, and some things I need to sell, such as sponsoring an event. It is Marketing’s job to understand the:
- buyers (and buyers’ needs)
- buyers’ journey to purchase (and renewal)
- products (are they bought or sold)
- buyers’ buying criteria (and how to match solutions to these)
- buyers’ supplier preferences (and how to become the preferred supplier)

This is the non-sexy, nuts-and-bolts work of Marketing, which often requires data and research. From this work, Marketing defines the key stops along the customer lifecycle—from contact to connection to conversation to consideration. Armed with this information, Marketing determines the appropriate positioning, effective messaging strategy, programs, tactics, associated channels, and activities, and can establish performance targets and relevant metrics.

Alignment to Strategy. When Marketing is aligned, it can serve as a strategic asset to the organization and enable the organization to make strategic decisions. In our MPM Benchmark Studies, no Marketing organization earned higher than a 7 out of 10 on their ability to provide data that is relevant to business decisions. A business should make data, analytics, process, and MarTech investments within the context of what the business needs to grow.

Achieve Your Accountability Destination: Use Alignment as Your Compass

Many of our customers find that Accelance®, our patented growth plan application, helps directly tie the Marketing department’s plan and budget to business outcomes, making conversations with the finance leader more positive and enabling faster and more positive funding decisions.

FAQ:

(written by Penn of Sintra.ai)

Q1: Why is Marketing accountability under such intense scrutiny right now?
A: Because Marketing represents a significant investment—often more than 10% of revenue—and the C-Suite expects measurable contribution. Multiple studies cited in your draft reinforce a credibility gap: executives believe Marketing is unwilling or unable to prove ROI, and many CEOs report low trust in CMOs. Your MPM Benchmark work further confirms the trend: pressure to demonstrate value, impact, and contribution continues to rise.

Q2: Why do many Marketing organizations struggle to demonstrate accountability?
A: One central reason is difficulty selecting the right metrics—metrics that credibly connect Marketing activity to business outcomes. When Marketing cannot provide decision-grade measures, organizations increasingly shift accountability leadership to Finance and Procurement. The practical implication is clear: if Marketing does not lead accountability, someone else will.

Q3: How is the accountability problem connected to alignment?
A: Accountability challenges are often a symptom of misalignment. Research cited by Whitler and Morgan suggests that misalignment of responsibilities is where critical mistakes occur. Your findings echo this: Marketing organizations that achieve alignment are better able to “crack the code” on accountability—and are therefore better positioned to protect budgets and leadership credibility.

Q4: What are the three alignment steps that improve Marketing’s accountability and success?
A:

1) Alignment to the Business.
Marketing’s mission is to drive growth by finding, keeping, and growing the right set of profitable customers. Yet research cited indicates many CMO roles are not explicitly defined by measurable accountability. Marketing leaders must define how impact and contribution to growth will be measured—beyond broad revenue buckets—by drilling into customer and segment data. This also requires building consensus and buy-in from the C-Suite on measurement strategy.

2) Alignment to the Customer.
Marketing must do the “nuts-and-bolts” work of understanding: buyers and their needs, the journey to purchase and renewal, what is bought vs. sold, buying criteria, and supplier preferences. This often requires data and research. From this foundation, Marketing can define lifecycle “stops” (e.g., contact → connection → conversation → consideration), then determine positioning, messaging, programs, channels, activities, performance targets, and metrics that reflect how customers actually buy and stay.

3) Alignment to Strategy.
When Marketing is aligned, it becomes a strategic asset—providing data relevant to business decisions and guiding investments in data, analytics, process, and MarTech based on what the business needs to grow. Your benchmark insight underscores the gap: few Marketing organizations rate highly on providing decision-relevant data, which limits strategic influence and weakens accountability.

Q5: What does “accountability transformation” look like in practice?
A: It looks like moving from activity-driven Marketing to outcome-driven Marketing: clearly defined business targets, quantifiable outcomes, and a dashboard that supports decisions and communicates contribution to the C-Suite. In other words, the dashboard shifts from reporting “what we did” to proving “what changed” and “what we will do next based on the data.”

Q6: How can Marketing improve funding conversations with Finance?
A: By directly tying the Marketing plan and budget to business outcomes—so funding decisions are based on expected contribution, measurable targets, and transparent performance management. Tools and frameworks that connect plan-to-outcomes can reduce friction, improve credibility, and speed approval because they make the value chain explicit.