Insights

Bridging Strategy and Operations

Why growth depends on execution, not marketing relevance. 

By: Lisa Bratkovich, Ani Matson, & Jennifer Welch 

 

You are not trying to make the marketing team feel relevant. You are trying to grow the company. 

You care about:  

  • Whether strategy turns into results 
  • Whether investment compounds into enterprise value 
  • Whether execution keeps pace with market volatility 

We get it; the challenge is not setting direction. The challenge is making that direction show up consistently in execution. 

 

With many of our clients, growth priorities are pretty clear at the top: 

  • Enter new or adjacent markets 
  • Increase customer lifetime value 
  • Improve pricing power and mix 
  • Use AI and data for competitive advantage 

 

Where things break is in the conversion from strategy to action. 

Frequently, we find: 

  • Roadmaps without clear operational ownership 
  • Teams optimizing activity instead of outcomes (classic, right?) 
  • Data that cannot support confident decisions 
  • AI initiatives without governance or accountability 

 

Marketing stays busy, and growth stays theoretical. 

Recently, Gartner highlighted bridging strategy and execution as a top priority for CMOs.  

How do you rate your CMO on this? 

We believe that when marketing works, it behaves more like an operating system. 

 

Don’t treat marketing as a department. It is an operating lever. 

One that: 

  • Converts strategy into prioritized execution 
  • Aligns teams, budgets, and technology around outcomes 
  • Measures progress in commercial terms 
  • Scales without constant reinvention 

 

Ask yourself, is your marketing operationally reliable? 

This is not about better campaigns. It is about building a growth engine you can depend on.  

 

Firms that still lead with tactics are solving yesterday’s problems. Maybe your strategy is failing because your execution is fragile. 

At The CMO Syndicate, we are ready to help you bridge the gaps in your organization and get your business off to a successful start in this new year.  

📩 Contact us here to learn more.