What's Really Keeping CMOs Up at Night?
key Takeaways:
1. CMOs are under relentless pressure to prove impact across every dimension of the business.
2. Technology is both a powerful opportunity and a growing source of risk.
3. Sustainable business growth requires balancing short-term performance with long-term brand strategy.
The field of marketing is shaped equally by creative expression and analytical insight, where art and science work side by side. As a result, the role of the Chief Marketing Officer has never been more complex!
Within a company, CMOs sit at the intersection of revenue, brand, technology, and customer experience, all while navigating both economic uncertainty and constant executive scrutiny. With newly invented tools and platforms promising endless opportunity, the pressures to execute behind the scenes are intensifying.
So what keeps CMOs up at night in today’s marketing landscape?
Here are the core issues that are truly keeping CMOs up at night.
CMOs need to prove ROI to the Board and CFO
For most CMOs, nothing brings more pressure than needing to prove the direct impact of marketing efforts on revenue. Marketing is no longer measured by creativity or visibility alone, it’s measured by results! Board members and CFOs want clear, concrete proof that every dollar spent in marketing will produce upward growth for the company.
This becomes especially challenging when it comes to long-term investments: brand building, market positioning, and customer trust. These strategies are essential, but they rarely deliver instant dollar signs. As a result, CMOs often find themselves defending initiatives that are critical for future success but harder to justify in a short-term, numbers-driven environment. And when revenue slows, marketing is often the first budget placed under the microscope. For many leaders, this constant pressure is a central part of what keeps CMOs up at night. But even when ROI is clearly established, the rising cost of acquiring new customers follows close behind.
It costs more to acquire new customers
Across nearly every industry, the cost of acquiring customers is rising. Paid media platforms are more competitive, organic reach is harder to earn, and audiences are increasingly resistant to traditional advertising.
CMOs are being asked to generate more demand while facing higher costs. Every campaign carries more risk, and every underperforming channel is more difficult to justify. For CMOs, the margin for error continues to shrink. As acquisition becomes more expensive, proving which channels actually work becomes even more critical. This growing financial pressure is another major contributor to what keeps CMOs up at night. This leads directly to another major source of frustration: attribution.
There can be trust issues with the data and attribution
Modern customer journeys are fragmented and spread across a plethora of touchpoints: search, social, email, paid media, referrals, and offline interactions. With every path looking different, it’s increasingly difficult to pinpoint where a customer truly came from. Add in necessary privacy regulations and the loss of third-party cookies, and attribution becomes even murkier.
This creates the expectation for CMOs to make multimillion-dollar decisions based on data that is often incomplete, delayed, or contradictory. When the data is unclear, confidence erodes. And when confidence erodes, so does the ability to defend strategy at the executive level. The uncertainty around the data is one of the most persistent elements of what keeps CMOs up at night. These data challenges are complicating today’s marketing landscape at the same time newly invented software is rapidly reshaping how CMOs operate.
CMOs feel pressures of AI and Tech disruption
Artificial intelligence has moved from hype to expectation almost overnight. Now, CMOs face pressure to implement AI-driven tools for content creation, personalization, analytics, and automation often without a clear strategic roadmap.
The concern isn’t just whether to adopt AI, but how to do it responsibly and effectively. Many marketing leaders worry about choosing the wrong tools, overwhelming their employees with new platforms, or damaging brand trust through over-automation. At the same time, moving too slowly feels just as risky. This tension is increasingly part of what keeps CMOs up at night. With AI proving to be such a powerful asset, CMOs need to consider how to balance short-term pressures and long-term expectations.
How does one juggle short-term revenue vs. long-term brand growth?
CMOs live in constant tension between short-term performance demands and long-term brand building. Executives want immediate revenue, quarterly returns, and fast wins. But meaningful differentiation, customer loyalty, and brand equity take time to develop.
Too often, CMOs are forced to prioritize short-term revenue at the expense of long-term strategic positioning. This creates a cycle where growth becomes harder to sustain, even though short-term numbers may temporarily look positive; this is a large part of what keeps CMOs up at night. Facing these internal pressures can be hard when you’ve already found yourself in a crowded, competitive marketplace.
CMOs must differentiate in saturated markets
Whether it be probiotic soda, hair supplements, or yet another fried chicken joint, most industries are overcrowded with similar offerings, similar messaging, and similar digital experiences. Even well-funded brands struggle to stand out in a sea of sameness!
Despite aggressive spending, CMOs worry that their brand still blends into the noise. True differentiation requires more than just louder advertising. Customers seek a clarity of positioning, strong storytelling, and a deep understanding from the brand. Executing all three at the same time is difficult, and that is why this juggle is part of what keeps CMOs up at night.
So….. what keeps cmo’s up at night?
What truly keeps CMOs up at night is not a single tactic or channel, but a pile of business plates they’re expected to juggle all at once. They’re expected to drive revenue, protect the brand, adopt emerging technology, and prove impact with imperfect data, all at the same time. When you look closely at what keeps CMOs up at night, the common thread is pressure without pause. If you’re feeling this same pressure, BYU Marketing is here to help! Our students and work side-by-side with brands to turn complex marketing challenges into clear, data-driven strategies. Connect with the BYU Marketing Lab, and let’s talk about what’s keeping you up at night.
CMO FAQs
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What keeps CMOs up at night most today is the constant pressure to deliver immediate revenue while also building long-term brand value, all while navigating rising acquisition costs, uncertain data, and rapid technological change.
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Proving ROI is difficult because many of the most impactful marketing activities—like brand building, positioning, and trust—don’t generate instant revenue. At the same time, fragmented customer journeys and privacy restrictions make accurate attribution harder than ever.
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AI is reshaping the CMO role by accelerating content creation, personalization, analytics, and automation. While this creates massive opportunity, it also adds pressure to adopt the right tools responsibly without overwhelming teams or compromising brand trust.
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Brand differentiation is harder because most industries are saturated with similar products, similar messaging, and similar digital experiences. Standing out now requires more than ad spend—it demands clear positioning, authentic storytelling, and a deep understanding of the customer.