Comprehensive surveys and casual anecdotes continue to show that CEOs' trust in their CMOs is waning.
It's not that marketing isn't trying to do the right thing. CMOs understand their role as strategic drivers of pipeline, performance, and revenue. But more often than not, the conversation focuses on activity rather than impact. And that's creating a huge rift between CEOs and CMOs over the value of marketing's contributions.
Whatever the cause, the impact of this gap is significant. CMO tenure continues to shrink. New titles are taking on more of the CMO's authority, and marketing budgets are being cut in the name of efficiency. AI continues to be a topic that many CMOs are not prepared to address beyond a few efficiency gains. That means CMOs need to address this credibility issue. fast.
To make this happen, the CEO and CMO need to be on the same page. Rebuilding alignment, credibility, and influence across the C-suite isn't just important for marketing; It's essential for business growth. This requires CMOs to focus on refreshing a set of fundamentals.
1. Drive the company's strategic narrative and value story
CEOs and other executives are increasingly investing in CMOs for more than marketing expertise. CEOs and boards of directors rely on you to provide a comprehensive view of the market, identify trends and changes, and understand customer trends. As a CMO, you're not just a tactical arm, you're the CEO's strategic sparring partner, and you need to be willing to question decisions.
At the same time, areas that were traditionally the domain of the CMO, such as brand narrative ownership, are now critical to the CEO's growth agenda and part of this leader's portfolio. In this environment, the CMO's responsibility is to help tell the company's story and the value it brings to the world. This new CMO job could create a new kind of CEO-CMO partnership that, if successful, could position marketing as a key vehicle for the company's story and ultimately business growth.
2. They are both growth drivers and reputation builders, making them a dual threat.
Companies need both demand generation and brand equity. But too many organizations position this as “brand vs. demand” or “top funnel vs. bottom funnel,” creating an inherent conflict between disciplines even though growth and reputation are inherently linked. Even when CMOs talk about “balancing” the two practices, they are falling into this trap because they are creating binary choices that are not consistent with people's consumption patterns.
Instead, connected customer journeys require brand and demand to work together, forcing CMOs to simultaneously drive growth and build reputation. It starts with a solid foundation of mutual goals. Instead of separate plans for growth strategy, brand strategy, and marketing, CMOs need a single north star that links directly to the commercial objectives of the entire organization. It balances the urgency of achieving short-term growth goals while laying the foundation for long-term sustained success. Your brand stays relevant because it's connected across every touchpoint and you can allocate resources accordingly.
3. Become the “ultimate” source of truth for your customers.
The CMO's role is commonly defined as the “voice of the customer.” But that gets things wrong, failing to account for the complex decision-making that today's consumers go through when making a purchase. Today's CMOs must use deep behavioral, quantitative, and qualitative insights to drill into customer psychology, identify trends, and inform strategic business decisions across the organization, from marketing to revenue to product development.
By turning customer insights into actionable cross-functional strategies, CMOs can strengthen a customer-centric culture across all aspects of the organization, breaking down silos and increasing alignment between marketing, product, sales, finance, and other functions. Aligning buyer signals helps all departments deliver a consistent and reliable experience. The CMO becomes the custodian of credibility and trustworthiness.
4. Break through the clutter and deliver exceptional creativity
Today's CMOs need to be both data and creative savvy, delivering detailed and meticulous insights as well as “wow” positioning and experiences. Innovative creative is developed with rigorous analysis that supports and proves its direction, driving market differentiation.
Does this mean all CMOs have to be creative geniuses? Unlikely. However, you must be willing to take calculated creative risks that may push your brand outside of its comfort zone. Consider the most talked-about campaigns today. That breakthrough creativity is empowered, not disabled, by data. And perhaps most importantly, CMOs at these brands can now identify and trust creative partners to make this happen with them.
5. Reframe marketing as an AI transformer
Of course, AI is at the top of the priority areas for both CMOs and CEOs in 2026 and is one area where common ground can be achieved. This is an opportunity for CMOs to nail down their three-year vision and declare their goals and the role AI will play in shaping the CMO/marketing/corporate agenda. It is critical now to answer questions such as where can AI help us move faster? Where can we unlock previously inaccessible value? How can AI help disrupt current workflows? How can CMOs unlock net new growth opportunities through all the AI tools and assets available to them?
Whether it's tightening plans, campaigns, and spending, or eliminating and expanding hyper-personalized content experiences, recognizing and celebrating the idea that marketing is the ideal test lab for AI, CMOs must promote both the need and application of AI as a transformative “agent” across the organization. If done well, this will help reimagine marketing into both an AI changer and a growth leader.
6. Become famous for your accomplishments, not your awards.
CMOs are under intense pressure to increase revenue and improve efficiency. But traditional marketing KPIs of reach, engagement, and brand lift feel meaningless to CEOs and CFOs whose primary concerns are profits, stability, and capital allocation. If marketing's main job is to fill the entire funnel and drive demand, the CMO must be able to demonstrate success with KPIs aligned to business metrics. Even volatile metrics like engagement and brand loyalty that predict future success need to be tied to specific business outcomes.
Simply put, CEOs want to know what is driving growth. CMOs can gain trust by providing data that provides these answers without the need for translation. You must be able to explain your world by understanding what is important to the CEO. Please bring the data. bring results. That's what earns trust.
