How CMOs Can Align Budgets, Metrics, and Customer Value With Christine Royston

Christine Royston is the Chief Marketing Officer at Wrike, an intelligent work management platform that helps teams build, connect, automate, and scale workflows. She joined in June 2024 after more than 20 years in B2B enterprise marketing. Before Wrike, Christine was VP and Global Head of Marketing at Udemy, where she helped grow annual recurring revenue from $100M to over $450M and led initiatives including an IPO and rebrand. She also held leadership roles at Bitly, Dropbox, Imperva, and Salesforce.

In this episode…

In today’s marketing landscape, every dollar spent is under a microscope, and leaders are under pressure to prove impact faster than ever. How can CMOs align their budgets, metrics, and customer strategies to show real business value while navigating constant change?

According to Christine Royston, a seasoned B2B marketing leader with global experience, the key is balance. She emphasizes that marketing must be both data-driven and customer-focused, ensuring pipeline and bookings remain at the center of conversations with executives. She highlights how aligning budgets with measurable outcomes builds trust across the business and creates room for innovation. By focusing on efficiency, clear communication, and proactive performance tracking, marketing leaders can demonstrate value early and often.

In this episode of the Revenue Engine Podcast, host Alex Gluz sits down with Christine Royston, Chief Marketing Officer at Wrike, to discuss how CMOs can align budgets, metrics, and customer value. She explains why data transparency builds stronger executive relationships, how to balance brand and demand generation, and the role of customer-centric thinking in growth. Christine also shares insights on adapting to AI-driven changes in marketing.