Marketing’s Value Crisis: Why Marketers Feel Undervalued

In 2023, the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) released a rather sobering statistic: 54% of marketers believed their function was poorly understood within their organisations, while 40% struggled to explain marketing’s role to colleagues[1]. Even more concerning, 10% felt their colleagues had absolutely no understanding of marketing’s value to the business at all[1].

As someone who’s spent years helping businesses understand the true value of marketing, these figures didn’t surprise me. But they did make me wonder: Is this perception problem getting worse? What’s happened since then? And perhaps most importantly, is marketing partly responsible for its own credibility crisis?

In this post, I’ll examine whether marketing’s value perception problem has grown since the CIM’s 2023 report, explore how marketers are addressing this challenge, and consider whether the rise of performance marketing is both a symptom and a cause of this issue.

The Growing Perception Problem

The short answer is yes, marketing’s perception problem appears to be worsening. Marketing Week’s exclusive 2024 Career & Salary Survey revealed that marketing strategy is still considered the most undervalued skill by businesses, according to over half (53.7%) of the 3,000 marketers surveyed[4].

Statista’s 2024 research confirms this pattern, showing that data analysis skills in marketing are considered undervalued by approximately 33% of UK marketers, while advertising and marketing technology skills are seen as undervalued by 16% of respondents[8]. These figures suggest the perception gap hasn’t narrowed since the CIM’s original report.

What’s particularly telling is that this perception problem exists across both B2B and B2C sectors. In B2B businesses, marketing strategy is considered slightly more underappreciated at 57.1%, while in B2C it stands at 53.8%[4]. This widespread undervaluation indicates a systemic issue rather than an isolated problem.

The Boardroom Disconnect

One of the most significant factors contributing to marketing’s perception problem is the disconnect between marketing departments and the boardroom. Marketing Week’s 2025 Career & Salary Survey revealed that 73% of CMOs believe their businesses undervalue marketing strategy[18]. For the third consecutive year, marketing strategy was identified as the most undervalued function by peers[18].

This disconnect is further evidenced by the declining tenure of Chief Marketing Officers. According to Spencer Stuart’s annual study, the average tenure for CMOs at the top 100 advertisers in the US had fallen to just 39 months (3.3 years) in 2022, the lowest level in more than a decade[37]. While CMO tenure at Fortune 500 companies was slightly better at 51 months (4.3 years), this still represented a decline from 54 months in 2021[37].

The Conference Board’s C-Suite Outlook 2024 survey highlighted that CEOs expect marketing and communications functions to be strong drivers of growth, yet there’s a fundamental misalignment in how performance is measured and understood[17]. The lack of key performance indicators (KPIs) that effectively indicate revenue growth or profit is identified as a key challenge, with inflated performance numbers potentially leading to broken trust between marketing and the C-suite[17].

Marketing’s Self-Inflicted Wounds

Is marketing partly responsible for its own perception problem? The evidence suggests it might be. Over the past decade, marketing has suffered what some experts describe as a “self-inflicted decline,” descending into “tactical quicksand” through[18]:

1. An overemphasis on digital metrics at the expense of broader strategic considerations[18]
2. A shift from generating strategic insights to merely tracking tactical metrics[18]
3. Prioritising tools over growth, with excessive focus on impressions, ROI, and technical platforms rather than fundamental business growth drivers[18]

McKinsey’s research points to a “murkiness” in who is responsible for marketing in the C-suite, a lack of knowledge about the increasingly technical, data-driven world of marketing, and a misalignment between marketing measurement and business impact[22]. Their survey found that while 90% of CEOs believe the role of marketing is well-defined, only half of CEO-CMO pairings gave the same answer on the topic[22].

This disconnect is exacerbated by marketing’s own communication failures. As StrategiQ aptly puts it: “Clicks, likes and shares – sorry, CMO, but no-one cares”[39]. When marketers speak in their own jargon rather than the language of business outcomes, they further alienate themselves from the boardroom conversation.

The Rise of Performance Marketing: Cause or Solution?

The growth of performance marketing, particularly PPC and Google Ads, can be seen as both a response to and a contributor to marketing’s perception problem. Performance marketing’s appeal lies in its perception of easily tracked results and immediate, short-term impact[23]. During difficult economic conditions, this is amplified by an even stronger need to identify and quantify whatever impact can be provided immediately[23].

Google Ads has become a dominant force in the marketing landscape, with 98% of PPC professionals using it for their campaigns and between 80% and 85% of PPC budgets allocated to the platform[11]. The appeal is clear: according to Google, businesses can expect to make $2 for every $1 they invest in Google Ads, translating to a return on investment (ROI) of 200%[11].

This focus on immediate, measurable results is particularly appealing to financial directors and CFOs who are under pressure to demonstrate clear returns on marketing investment. As The CFO notes, digital marketing spend has increased by 50% year-over-year, with a significant focus on impressions-led channels including social media platforms and video streaming services[12].

However, this shift towards performance marketing often comes at the expense of brand marketing. Analytic Partners’ research demonstrates that brand marketing and messaging almost always outperforms performance marketing, doing so 80% of the time[23]. Moreover, brand marketing must be awarded some of the credit for any performance marketing success[23].

The Impact on Brand Marketing and Long-Term Value

The overemphasis on performance marketing is indeed having a detrimental effect on longer-term “soft” marketing activities like branding and relationship building. According to Gartner’s CMO Spend Survey 2023, companies spend an average of 40% of their overall budget on long-term brand building and 60% on short-term performance[30]. However, most CMOs report that they would ideally spend about an equal amount on each category[30].

This imbalance is concerning because brand marketing drives both short-term sales and long-term value. Research by Les Binet and Peter Field suggests that the ideal ratio should actually be 60% brand marketing and 40% performance marketing, based on their analysis of over 600 companies between 1998-2016[30].

The consequences of underinvesting in brand marketing can be severe. As marketing budgets continue to be squeezed—falling to just 9.1% of total revenue in 2023, the lowest in seven years according to Gartner[27]—marketers are reallocating more of their limited resources to advertising in an attempt to generate leads or revenue faster[27]. While this may yield short-term results, it’s a risky strategy that neglects the sustainable growth that comes from brand building.

How Marketers Are Addressing the Perception Gap

Despite these challenges, marketers are finding ways to address the perception gap and demonstrate their value more effectively. Here are some of the key approaches:

Speaking the Language of Leadership

Successful marketers are learning to translate marketing activities into direct commercial impact[36]. This means avoiding jargon like “engagement,” “brand equity,” or “reach” unless they’re clearly tied to business goals, and instead talking in terms of pipeline growth, conversion rates, revenue contribution, or customer retention[36].

For example, instead of reporting on social media engagement metrics in isolation, effective marketers are connecting these metrics to customer acquisition costs, conversion rates, and ultimately revenue[36]. This approach helps bridge the gap between marketing activities and business outcomes that the C-suite cares about.

Improving Measurement and Attribution

Marketing attribution remains one of the biggest challenges for marketers trying to demonstrate their value[21]. The inability to observe the whole customer journey, tracking restrictions and cookie use limitations, and difficulty in picking the right attribution model all contribute to this challenge[21].

To overcome these obstacles, marketers are investing in more sophisticated attribution models that go beyond last-click attribution. Multi-touch attribution, which takes into account all the various touchpoints and assigns them varying levels of influence on the final sale, helps provide a more accurate picture of marketing ROI[13].

Balancing Performance and Brand Marketing

Forward-thinking marketers are working to find the right balance between performance marketing and brand building. According to Rain for Growth, the ideal ratio depends on many factors, but there’s a growing recognition of the importance of both types of marketing[30].

Some businesses are adopting a more collaborative approach between brand and performance teams. By breaking down silos and ensuring that brand and performance marketers work together towards common goals, they’re able to create more cohesive and effective marketing strategies[19].

Upskilling and Professional Development

Marketers are also addressing the skills gap that contributes to the perception problem. The Oxford College of Marketing’s 2023 alumni survey found that 96% of graduates agreed that their qualification had better equipped them for their job role, demonstrating the practical value of professional development[6].

The survey also revealed that 9 out of 10 graduates were offered a pay rise or secured a promotion within 12 months of completing their qualification, highlighting the tangible benefits of investing in marketing skills[6]. Additionally, 86% of participants cited feeling more confident in the workplace after obtaining their qualification[6].

Is Marketing Creating Its Own Problem?

There’s a strong case to be made that marketing has contributed to its own perception problem. The shift towards digital marketing has led many marketers to focus too heavily on metrics that don’t necessarily translate to business value. As Matt Thompson, a CIM Fellow, argues, marketing has suffered a self-inflicted decline by overemphasising digital metrics, shifting from insight to measurement, and prioritising tools over growth[18].

This focus on tactical metrics rather than strategic outcomes has made it difficult for marketers to articulate their value in terms that resonate with the C-suite. When marketers talk about clicks, impressions, and engagement rates without connecting these metrics to business outcomes, they reinforce the perception that marketing is a cost center rather than a value driver.

Moreover, the proliferation of marketing roles and responsibilities has created confusion about who is responsible for what. McKinsey’s research found that less than a third (32.7%) of companies have one role reporting to a CEO that’s focused on growth and customers, while 30.7% have two and 36.6% have three or more such roles[22]. This fragmentation makes it harder for marketing to speak with a unified voice and demonstrate its strategic value.

The Path Forward: Reclaiming Marketing’s Strategic Position

To address the perception gap and reclaim marketing’s strategic position, marketers need to focus on several key areas:

Demonstrating Business Impact

Marketers must get better at connecting their activities to business outcomes that the C-suite cares about. This means moving beyond marketing-specific metrics to focus on how marketing contributes to revenue growth, customer acquisition and retention, market share gains, and ultimately profitability[36].

For CFOs in particular, it’s important to frame marketing spend as an investment rather than an expense. As Corvidae.ai notes, how you frame your marketing spend to your CFO is crucial for justifying spend[29]. This means showing not just how many conversions are associated with a campaign in a given time frame, but also how marketing activities contribute to the overall customer journey and long-term business growth[29].

Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Metrics

While performance marketing provides valuable short-term metrics, marketers need to balance these with longer-term measures of brand health and customer loyalty. According to Analytic Partners, brand marketing must be awarded some of the credit for any performance marketing success[23].

This means developing measurement frameworks that capture both immediate results and longer-term impacts. By showing how brand marketing drives both short-term sales and long-term value, marketers can make a stronger case for balanced investment across both areas[23].

Breaking Down Silos

The artificial divide between SEO and PPC, or between brand marketing and performance marketing, is counterproductive. As Stickyeyes argues, “It’s an approach that doesn’t reflect the brands that we are there to market, it’s an approach that doesn’t reflect how our audiences behave and its an approach that doesn’t reflect the C-suite’s demand for greater levels of transparency, efficiency and effectiveness”[44].

By breaking down these silos and adopting a more integrated approach to marketing, teams can demonstrate how different activities work together to drive business results. This not only improves marketing effectiveness but also makes it easier to communicate marketing’s value to the rest of the organisation[44].

Developing Business Acumen

To be taken seriously in the boardroom, marketers need to develop stronger business acumen. This means understanding the financial, operational, and strategic aspects of the business, not just the marketing function[36].

By speaking the language of business and demonstrating how marketing contributes to overall business objectives, marketers can position themselves as strategic partners rather than tactical executors. This shift in perception is essential for marketing to reclaim its seat at the strategic table[36].

The Future of Marketing’s Value Perception

Looking ahead, there are both challenges and opportunities for marketing to improve its value perception within organisations.

On the challenging side, the economic environment continues to put pressure on marketing budgets. According to Econsultancy’s Future of Marketing survey, only 10% of marketers predicted a significant increase in budgets over the next two years in 2023, down from 17% in 2022[26]. This financial pressure makes it even more important for marketers to demonstrate clear returns on investment.

Additionally, the media landscape is becoming more complex and fragmented. PQ Media’s research indicates that media usage across both digital and traditional channels increased 2.4% globally in 2024, for an average of 57.2 hours a week[35]. However, growth is expected to decline 0.3% in 2025, the first drop since 2009[35]. This changing media environment requires marketers to be more strategic and selective in their channel choices.

On the opportunity side, the growing importance of data and analytics presents a chance for marketers to demonstrate their value more effectively. According to Econsultancy, 75% of marketers predict that data, analytics and measurement will become increasingly important over the coming two years[26]. By mastering these skills, marketers can provide more robust evidence of their impact on business outcomes.

There’s also an opportunity to leverage the increasing focus on customer experience. The CIM’s Impact of Marketing report highlighted that the majority of marketers (59%) find it harder to predict changing consumer priorities, with nine in ten (91%) claiming their brand and business model will need to evolve to keep pace[1]. By positioning themselves as customer champions and experts in understanding changing consumer needs, marketers can demonstrate their strategic value to the organisation.

My Perspective: Time for Marketing to Step Up

As I reflect on marketing’s value perception problem, I can’t help but feel that we’re at a critical juncture. The evidence clearly shows that marketing is undervalued within many organisations, but it also suggests that marketers have contributed to this perception through their own actions and communication failures.

The rise of performance marketing, with its emphasis on immediate, measurable results, has provided a partial solution by making it easier to demonstrate short-term ROI. However, it has also exacerbated the problem by shifting focus away from the longer-term, strategic value that marketing can provide through brand building and customer relationship development.

To address this challenge, marketers need to take responsibility for changing the narrative. This means developing stronger business acumen, improving measurement and attribution capabilities, breaking down silos between different marketing disciplines, and most importantly, communicating marketing’s value in terms that resonate with the C-suite.

The good news is that there are signs of progress. The increasing focus on professional development, the growing recognition of the need to balance performance and brand marketing, and the emergence of more sophisticated attribution models all suggest that marketers are taking steps to address the perception gap.

Ultimately, marketing’s value perception problem is not insurmountable. By demonstrating how marketing activities drive business outcomes, speaking the language of leadership, and positioning marketing as a strategic partner rather than a tactical executor, marketers can reclaim their seat at the strategic table and ensure their function is valued appropriately within their organisations.

The question is not whether marketing is valuable—it undoubtedly is. The question is whether marketers can effectively communicate that value in ways that resonate with the rest of the organisation. That’s the challenge we must address if we want to change the perception of marketing from a cost center to a growth driver.

References and Further Reading

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Kevin Harrington

I’m a UK-based B2B marketing consultant, specialising in strategic advice for SME business owners. I bring extensive hands-on expertise to every client engagement. Senior leadership roles across technology, media, payments, and publishing have shaped my practical approach. Highlights include serving as Chief Marketing Officer at The Panoply plc (now TPXimpact), Chief Commercial Officer at Tungsten Network, and Global Marketing Director at BBC Worldwide. Over the years, I’ve guided numerous SMEs through transformation and value creation. Helping businesses evolve and thrive is a genuine passion. Practical marketing insights and succession planning strategies are at the heart of what I do, as I believe growing a business’s asset value should be a rewarding and positive journey for every entrepreneur.

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