CMOs face a credibility gap despite improving performance ratings
Here’s the reality: CMOs are doing better. CEOs are rating their performance higher than ever. In Boathouse’s 2025 survey of 150 U.S. CEOs, 45% now describe their CMOs as “Best in Class.” Four years ago, that number was just 21%. Even more telling, 71% of CEOs now grade their CMO an “A” or “B” overall. That’s serious progress in executive perception.
But there’s a catch. Despite these better grades, 63% of those same CEOs still say their marketing capability is average or underperforming. That number is up from 50% just a year ago. So, perceptions of individual performance are growing, but that hasn’t translated into how the entire marketing function is viewed. That’s a misalignment worth paying attention to.
If you’re leading a company or overseeing strategic decisions, this signals a systemic issue. High ratings for the person, low confidence in the function. That disconnect tells us CMOs are gaining political ground, but the marketing department isn’t gaining strategic traction. CEOs are seeing their marketers work harder, but not necessarily seeing results that move the business forward.
This is about direction. And that’s typically a sign the role is being evaluated based on output, not strategic impact. When performance is measured by deliverables instead of measurable growth, the underlying value of marketing gets lost in translation.
As leaders, we need to rethink how we evaluate CMO success. Is it creative execution or business contribution? Until CMOs are judged by their role in driving growth, guiding transformation, and building long-term value, that credibility gap won’t close.
The CMO role lacks strategic alignment with core growth initiatives
Let’s cut to it, only 51% of CEOs say their CMO is central to shaping growth strategy. The other 49%? They view the CMO as someone who steps in later to execute decisions already made. This is a missed opportunity, and it stems from a failure to integrate marketing into the engine room of business strategy.
Growth is a market positioning, product vision, customer trust, and agility. These are areas where marketing should lead, not follow. When CMOs are sidelined from this discussion, their role gets reduced to campaigns and execution. That may check off deliverables, but it doesn’t move the company forward.
As a CEO or senior executive, ask yourself, who in your organization is customer-obsessed, fluent in data, and skilled in message clarity at scale? That’s marketing. But for this function to contribute to growth, it needs to be embedded early in strategic planning.
If you treat marketing as a late-stage add-on, you’re not using one of your most powerful growth assets correctly. On the flip side, CMOs must stop waiting for a seat at the table. Growth strategy is earned through insight, execution, and leadership.
The Boathouse study didn’t uncover this divide by accident. It’s a structural issue that’s gone unaddressed for too long. 49% of top CEOs surveyed said their CMOs are on the periphery of growth planning. That perception keeps marketing out of strategic influence, which then limits its business impact.
Leadership needs to change that narrative. Companies that win on growth will be the ones where marketing drives the vision, not just markets it.
CMOs miss opportunities by not aligning closely with CEO-driven business strategies
Too often, CMOs position themselves downstream from core strategy. They focus on brand execution and campaign delivery, important work, but disconnected from how businesses actually grow. CEOs are thinking about transformation, product evolution, shareholder value, and organizational resilience. Marketing needs to meet them there.
John Connors, CEO of Boathouse, said it directly: “Too many marketing people talk about ‘the CEO is not giving me space to execute my brand strategy.’” That mindset misses the point. If the starting position is “I don’t have space,” you’ve already placed yourself outside the core business conversation. The better move is to step into it—translate the company’s strategy into outcomes that marketing can drive.
It’s about flipping the approach. Instead of waiting for executive alignment, CMOs should lead with it. That means taking the CEO’s priorities, like digital transformation, improving culture, or increasing profit velocity, and converting them into market-facing programs that show real impact. When marketing plays upstream, it expands its influence and relevance.
This isn’t a suggestion to be louder. It’s a recommendation to be precise, focused, and business fluent. CMOs need to communicate in the language of outcomes, growth, efficiency, margin, not just impressions or reach. When marketing efforts map directly to business objectives, the CMO stops being a service function and starts operating as a strategic partner.
At the C-level, leaders want collaborators who move plans forward, not departments that wait for approvals. The more CMOs align to CEO imperatives and get closer to the transformation agenda, the more indispensable they become at the table. That’s how the role evolves. That’s how credibility is earned.
Innovation gaps and risk aversion are stalling progress in marketing performance
Let’s be clear, many CMOs are playing safe. They’re running controlled pilots, validating ideas at small scale, and avoiding bold moves. This measured approach may appear cautious, but to CEOs, it signals indecision. It suggests a lack of urgency and conviction. That’s a problem, especially when innovation is the one metric that decides who leads and who fades.
According to Boathouse’s survey of 150 CEOs, 50% believe CMOs are holding back on innovation. CEOs aren’t demanding perfect bets; they’re looking for smart ones. Areas like customer service and operations have taken the lead in AI integration, surpassing marketing. That shift says a lot. Marketing had the early edge with AI, but it lost momentum because others moved faster with purpose.
Meanwhile, 80% of CEOs are already integrating AI into their organizations. Over half of them acknowledge there’s hype, but they’re still pushing forward. The difference is mindset, strategic functions are leaning in. Marketing, in many cases, is hedging. That lack of commitment is visible from the top.
John Connors, CEO of Boathouse, called it out directly: “How many people have you heard say we’re running pilots? Please stop telling me you’re running pilots… that is also known as you’re covering your ass.” That’s not criticism for the sake of it. It’s a reminder that innovation requires ownership, not caution.
If marketing leaders want strategic influence, they have to take strategic risks. Innovation isn’t a department, it’s a decision. CMOs need to move beyond incrementalism and make decisive moves on platform changes, creative breakthroughs, and AI deployment. That’s where credibility lives. That’s when marketing leads.
The CMO role is vulnerable within the c-suite hierarchy
The numbers don’t lie. In Boathouse’s 2025 survey, 14% of CEOs said they’ve considered eliminating the CMO position in the past year. That figure should make anyone in a marketing leadership role pause. Despite improved performance ratings and a more favorable view of the individual CMO, the role itself is still seen as expendable. That’s a serious strategic problem.
Perception drives value. If a function is seen as optional, it isn’t operating at the core of the business. And in this case, CMOs are being valued for execution, but not for impact. There’s progress in terms of how their work is received, but not enough in terms of how essential they are to future growth.
For CEOs and other C-suite executives, this data point is a signal, not just about marketing leadership, but about organizational focus. If you’re leading transformation, expanding into new markets, or rolling out emerging tech like AI, marketing should be one of your most important drivers. If it’s not, then the structure is off.
CMOs need to draw a clear line between their work and business outcomes. That includes growth metrics, customer acquisition performance, brand equity shifts, and market expansion. If those links aren’t visible, the CMO stays misaligned with executive priorities.
Holding a C-suite title only matters if the function driving it is seen as irreplaceable. Until CMOs bring greater visibility to their strategic contributions, and consistently drive results tied to business success—their position will stay at risk. Action, not defense, changes that status.
The evolving CEO agenda offers CMOs a pivotal role in leading transformation
More than a third of CEOs admit they haven’t fully realized their company’s transformation strategies. That’s a sizable execution gap. It signals an opportunity, for CMOs who know how to operationalize change and deliver impact beyond communications.
Transformation today includes employee morale, cultural strength, ethical clarity, and how the company is perceived externally. These areas all intersect with marketing. Yet, many CMOs aren’t stepping into that space. That’s a tactical error. CEOs need execution partners who can help bring strategic initiatives to market, internally and externally. Marketing can do that, if it chooses to operate at that level.
John Connors, CEO of Boathouse, pointed to this disconnect, saying marketing leaders often default to downstream concerns when they should start upstream. That means aligning early with CEO goals, contributing to cross-functional execution, and making the business strategy visible across customer, media, and stakeholder touchpoints.
For C-suite teams, here’s the key: CMOs can move from function leaders to transformation enablers, if their work reflects the business agenda. That requires fluency in the company’s priorities and the ability to shape narratives that reinforce them internally and externally. Branding alone won’t get them there, strategy alignment will.
Marketing is uniquely positioned to translate CEO vision into emotional and actionable engagement. That includes shaping employee culture, controlling narrative risk, and reinforcing purpose. If CMOs step into that role decisively, they won’t just influence transformation, they’ll drive it. And when that happens, their value inside the C-suite becomes undeniable.
Key takeaways for leaders
- CMOs gain recognition but remain strategically sidelined: Despite improved ratings from CEOs, 63% still see marketing as underperforming, suggesting that performance perception hasn’t translated into strategic trust. Leaders should ensure marketing is evaluated on business impact, not just execution.
- Limited CMO involvement in growth strategy is a missed opportunity: Only 51% of CEOs believe CMOs shape core growth initiatives. Decision-makers should embed marketing earlier in strategy discussions to fully leverage its potential in customer insight and market expansion.
- Misalignment with CEO priorities weakens CMO influence: Many CMOs default to brand execution rather than translating CEO-level business goals into marketing outcomes. CMOs should align directly with enterprise strategy to increase relevance and drive measurable results.
- Risk aversion is dampening innovation in marketing: Half of CEOs feel CMOs are playing too safe on innovation, especially with AI. Leaders should empower marketing to lead on bold, customer-facing innovation and shift from just running pilots to making decisive bets.
- The CMO role is still viewed as expendable: 14% of CEOs have considered cutting the CMO role, underscoring marketing’s fragile position in the C-suite. Strategic alignment and outcome-driven contributions are essential for marketing leaders to protect and grow their role.
- Transformation efforts create white space for CMO leadership: With over a third of CEOs struggling to realize transformation goals, CMOs can step up by operationalizing new strategies, shaping culture, and guiding narrative control. This requires repositioning marketing as a driver of change, not just messaging.
