Ian Bruce

For years, “performance marketing” approaches have operated as if buyers start a purchase process with blank minds empty of preconceptions. The logic is simple: Detect who is in market (via intent signals), engage these prospects, influence their evaluation, and win the deal. The problem is that B2B buyers don’t behave that way today (if they ever did). In reality, most B2B buying journeys are not exercises in selection — they are exercises in confirmation. Buyers are active practitioners.

For years, the chief marketing officer (CMO) has been one of the most scrutinized roles in the C-suite, and that scrutiny isn’t easing, according to Forrester’s third annual analysis of CMOs in the Fortune 500. But the data suggests the prevailing narrative of CMO decline masks the real story – reinvention. That reinvention is being shaped by increasing pressure to drive growth, to foster customer engagement, and to demonstrate marketing’s commercial accountability.

Here’s a harsh truth: Most B2B marketing teams are chasing deals they’ve already lost because, for decades, B2B marketing has operated with a fragmented approach — brand and demand teams often functioning independently, with separate budgets, campaigns, and metrics. While this separation may have seemed practical (e.g., each team could focus on specific objectives), new research reveals that it’s now a major obstacle to growth.