Challenges facing CMOs in 2025: flat budgets, rising expectations. Marketing budgets in 2025 account for just 7.7% of company revenue on average—the same percentage as the previous year. For comparison, three years ago, this figure stood at 9.5%, illustrating a shrinking share of marketing in overall corporate spending. At the same time, the pressure to deliver results is greater than ever—boards are expecting increases in sales and market share despite stagnant investment levels.

As many as 59% of CMOs admit that their current budget is insufficient to meet the goals outlined in their marketing strategy. While this percentage has slightly decreased (from 64% in 2024), it still means that nearly 3 out of 5 CMOs feel forced to “do more with the same” amount of resources. As a result, marketing departments must improve their efficiency and productivity to meet business expectations.

There is also a growing internal narrative within organizations that marketing should be treated as a profit center rather than a cost center—61% of respondents declare that their organizations now view marketing this way, up from 53% the year before. In response, CMOs are working to prove their value, aiming to translate spending into measurable results more quickly while also seeking operational efficiencies.

What top marketers are doing to boost productivity

Based on data from Gartner’s 2025 report, the article explores strategic and media-related approaches such as data usage, automation (AI), marketing department reorganization, and media budget management.

Key Initiatives for Improving Marketing Productivity
The first step for many CMOs is to reorganize priorities and allocate investments toward the most effective areas. The latest research identifies four leading initiatives in plans to enhance marketing efficiency:
1. Data and analytics utilization
2. Automation (including AI)
3. Integration of advanced technologies (AI)
4. Marketing department reorganization

Data, analytics, and measurement: the leading driver of marketing productivity

As the data shows, the use of data, analytics, and performance measurement is the most frequently cited action to improve marketing productivity—41% of CMOs indicate this as a key initiative, and 12% even rank it as their top priority. Leveraging data and analytics enables marketers to continuously optimize campaigns and budget allocation, focusing spend on the most effective channels.

Automation and AI: eliminating repetition, enabling strategy

Process automation (including AI-based automation) ranks second, cited by 40% of CMOs (with 11% ranking it as their top priority). Automation eliminates time-consuming, repetitive tasks and enables teams to focus on more strategic work.

Third is the implementation of advanced technologies (e.g., AI platforms) to enhance efficiency, selected by 37% of respondents. Interestingly, reorganizing the marketing department to reduce role duplication is less commonly mentioned (31%), but 11% of CMOs identify it as their most impactful initiative for improving effectiveness. This suggests that for some marketers, structural change—such as merging teams or simplifying processes—is critical to boosting productivity.

Automation and AI as the engine of efficiency

Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are playing an increasingly central role in making marketing more efficient. Two of the top four initiatives—process automation and integration of advanced technologies—are directly linked to AI, which is used for both task automation and data-driven decision-making.

Virtually all marketing leaders plan to invest in AI—only 1% of respondents said generative AI is not a priority. In other words, 99% of CMOs view AI investments as important, underlining the high expectations placed on this technology.

CMOs expect AI to deliver time and cost savings as well as the ability to scale marketing operations. Currently, they identify three core areas where investments in generative AI yield ROI:
1. Improved team time efficiency
2. Reduced costs
3. Increased production capacity (e.g., content creation)

According to the research, nearly half of CMOs see AI primarily as a time-saver—it accelerates campaign performance analysis, report generation, and even content creation. Four in ten highlight cost savings enabled by AI (e.g., more affordable content development, media buying optimization). More than a quarter emphasize AI’s scalability—generative AI enables marketers to produce more materials and manage a larger campaign volume with the same resources. Additionally, 22% of CMOs say AI tools have made them less dependent on external agencies, especially in the areas of creative and strategic work. This trend is already visible in the market—more marketers are using AI to create content themselves instead of outsourcing to agencies.

In summary, AI has become to marketing what factory automation was to manufacturing—a way to boost productivity and lower costs. Leading marketers are investing in AI algorithms and tools to extract more value from data, accelerate decision-making, and free up their teams from routine work.

Media budgets under scrutiny

Despite stagnant overall budgets, CMOs are not scaling back investments in paid media—on the contrary, they are working to maximize the demand-generation potential of media spend. According to Gartner, paid media remains the largest component of marketing budgets, currently accounting for 30.6% of total spending (compared to 27.9% a year ago, and 23.2% in 2018). The chart below (not included here) illustrates this upward trend in media budget share over the past several years.

In 2025, nearly one-third of marketing budgets are being directed toward advertising and other paid media. This illustrates the importance CMOs place on scaling marketing communications despite financial constraints. Notably, the 30.6% share of the marketing budget translates into roughly 2.5% of company revenue being invested in media.

At the same time, CMOs are fully aware that budget effectiveness matters more than its size. Unfortunately, media cost inflation means that the same budget now buys fewer ad impressions than it did a year or two ago. This reality is intensifying the pressure to optimize media spending, which is why data and analytics have become essential. Leading marketers are increasingly developing advanced attribution models and ROI dashboards to ensure that every dollar spent on advertising delivers maximum return.

Cost-cutting and team reorganization

Where can CMOs find the funds for investing in new technologies and media initiatives within a flat marketing budget? The answer lies in internal cost optimization. More than one-third of surveyed CMOs plan to reduce spending on external agencies and vendors. Specifically, 39% intend to cut agency budgets—for example, by discontinuing underperforming partnerships, reducing the number of agencies in their portfolio, or renegotiating fee structures. Similarly, 39% are seeking savings in personnel costs, primarily by eliminating overlapping roles or reducing headcount.

These decisions are often accompanied by restructuring within marketing departments. CMOs are analyzing team structures to identify where different groups perform similar tasks, then consolidating functions to eliminate inefficiencies. As noted earlier, 31% of marketing leaders are considering organizational redesign as a path to higher productivity.

It is important to emphasize that cost optimization does not mean cutting for the sake of cutting. The most effective marketers reallocate saved resources toward initiatives that yield better returns. For example, reducing agency fees may enable the hiring of in-house specialists or the deployment of martech and AI tools, which, over time, can increase team independence and operational performance. Likewise, streamlining the organizational structure can reduce campaign lead times (fewer decision-making layers) and improve internal collaboration—delivering better outcomes without additional spending.

Key recommendations for CMOs seeking higher efficiency

Based on the above analysis of top-performing marketers, the following strategic recommendations can be made for CMOs focused on maximizing efficiency:
– Invest in data and analytics
Build a data-driven culture that enables faster, evidence-based decision-making. This allows for more agile campaign optimization and more effective allocation of budget to high-ROI channels.
– Automate wherever possible
From simple tasks like database segmentation and reporting to advanced AI-driven processes, automation saves team time and reduces operational costs.
– Explore the potential of AI in marketing
With 99% of companies treating AI as a priority, ignoring this technology means falling behind. CMOs should experiment with generative AI for content creation, message personalization, and data analysis to boost team productivity and foster innovation.
– Continuously review organizational structure
Identify and eliminate duplicate roles or unnecessary hierarchical layers. A lean, well-structured team can work faster and more efficiently—often at a lower cost.
– Optimize media spending through continuous testing and measurement
Direct more budget toward proven, high-performance channels and formats, and reduce investments in underperforming areas. With rising media costs, maximizing the return on every dollar spent is more crucial than ever.

A call for strategic discipline

Improving marketing efficiency requires strategic discipline—focusing resources on what delivers results, and having the courage to adopt new technologies and organizational changes. The most forward-thinking CMOs are already paving the way, combining data, automation, flexible team structures, and disciplined budget management to drive stronger performance—even in resource-constrained environments.

With this approach, marketing becomes not only more productive, but also more influential within the organization—proving its ability to fuel business growth, even amid challenging market conditions.