In business, few things are more frustrating than watching brilliant marketing campaigns light up the public imagination while financial results disappoint. This contradiction is not accidental. It often comes down to a simple but costly truth: the chief executive and the chief marketing officer are no longer aligned.

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In an era of digital transformation and hyper-competition, the gap between vision and execution is more damaging than ever. The CEO–CMO divide is not just a leadership tussle; it is a growth risk that affects jobs, investor confidence, and long-term competitiveness.

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Global consultants put it bluntly: when CEOs and CMOs fail to see eye to eye, the bottom line suffers. CEOs measure growth by revenue and margins, while many CMOs highlight brand engagement, awareness, or customer traffic. They speak different languages, and the disconnect is proving expensive.

The local picture

Here in Rwanda and across East Africa, the consequences are plain to see. Too often, marketing is reduced to counting followers, plastering billboards, organizing gala dinners, escorting VIP guests, approving birthday cakes, deciding office décor, staging endless photo shoots, or even being asked to ‘make things look nice.’ Useful at times, but far removed from the real work of driving growth.

For SMEs competing in tight markets like Kigali, every decision on where to spend limited marketing budgets is critical. A billboard that looks impressive but drives no sales is not just wasteful, it can be the difference between survival and closure. The situation is even more pressing for family businesses and startups that rely heavily on bank financing or donor-backed programmes. Misaligned marketing can undermine investor confidence at the very moment when credibility is most needed.

The problem is not that these efforts lack value. Brand visibility, social engagement, and storytelling matter. But when they are detached from financial performance, they become theatre. CEOs begin to view marketing as an expensive cost centre, while CMOs feel their work is undervalued. This breakdown of trust mirrors what global research confirms: alignment between CEOs and CMOs has fallen sharply in recent years.

The bottom-line impact

The results are clear. Companies without a clear growth leader struggle, while those that align the CEO, CMO, and CFO around the customer journey deliver far stronger results, often double their peers. Misalignment reduces marketing to show business and casts finance as the enforcer, rather than a growth partner.

When leadership teams are out of sync, the cracks show up quickly in customer churn, declining brand loyalty, and rising costs of acquisition. In the long run, this erodes competitiveness and limits innovation. Globally, firms that fail to integrate marketing and financial performance often trail behind in customer retention and shareholder returns.

For Rwanda’s business community, this matters greatly. Our economy leans heavily on SMEs and young enterprises that cannot afford leadership silos or costly distractions. Every franc invested in marketing must translate into sales and customer growth. Yet many firms still pour scarce resources into billboards, gala dinners, and photo opportunities that do little for the bottom line.

A striking example is seen in some retail companies that run glossy campaigns and influencer activations, only to watch stores remain empty. On the flip side, businesses that have integrated marketing with operations and finance are demonstrating that customer insights, when tied directly to pricing, product mix, and distribution, generate measurable growth. The difference lies not in creativity alone, but in leadership alignment.

Way forward

The solution is not to abandon marketing, but to rethink it.

Give marketing leaders a seat at the strategy table. CEOs must involve CMOs in setting direction, not just executing campaigns.

Embrace accountability. CMOs need to translate engagement metrics into financial results that matter to boards and investors. Build cross-functional trust. Finance and marketing should validate outcomes together instead of working as rivals.

Invest in shared metrics. Companies need a single growth dashboard that both CEOs and CMOs understand, one that links brand equity to customer acquisition, retention, and profitability.

Elevate customer insight. Marketing should not only design campaigns but also generate market intelligence that feeds directly into strategy and product development.

Practical steps can be simple. As a CEO, ask your marketing team at the end of every week, "What did you do to grow the business?” If the answer is vague, the disconnect is alive and well. As a CMO, ensure that every campaign report ends with a line that connects activities to sales, retention, or margins. These habits, when consistent, rebuild trust and align leadership.

Rwanda’s businesses, especially SMEs, cannot afford a leadership culture where marketing is theatre and finance is punishment. Aligning leadership is not just a good practice; it is a survival strategy in a market where competition grows fiercer by the day. The firms that will thrive are those whose CEOs and CMOs speak the same language, where brand ambition is tied directly to financial impact, and where growth is a shared responsibility across the leadership table.

The author is an entrepreneur, strategic marketing and growth consultant. She helps businesses define brand identity, align marketing and communications with results, and drive sustainable growth.