Industry surveyThe CMO Survey, 2026

At US companies, cutting expenses is a more common response than growing revenues when profits are behind plan

Strategy review & optimization

53%

of company leaders prioritize cutting expenses over growing revenue when profits are lower than expected (2026, US survey)

Reader Note:: This question was answered by 164 of the 308, just over half the panel, on a sliding scale running from always growing revenues to always cutting expenses. Cutting is the priority for 53.1%, growing revenues for 26.8%, and the remaining 20.1% weigh the two equally. It describes what executives across the company do when profits miss plan, not what the marketing function itself decides, and it is a recalled pattern rather than a record of decisions.
Evidence:: Self-reported behaviour
Vendor interest:: Low
Sample:: Online survey of 308 marketing leaders at U.S. for-profit companies drawn from a sample of 2,111; 14.6% response rate; 97% were VP level or above.

Good for

A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.

Not for

Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
This is an aggregated or average number that covers very different cases. Real results in a particular segment may differ.

More than half of brands said economic volatility pushed them to focus harder on ROI

How Economic Volatility Has Affected Marketing Strategy, Overall vs Enterprise Brands
Response	Brands overall (%)	Enterprise brands (%)
Increased focus on ROI	51%	56%
Seeking cost saving measures	46%	49%
Budget restrictions	44%	43%
Reallocation of resources to proven channels	38%	43%
Job or role uncertainty	29%	39%

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Planning questions suggested by Gartner: objectives and goals, primary strategies and execution, direction of product lines or services, success measures, long-term success factors, and major obstacles

Template: Strategic Alignment Discussion Guide for Business Partner Conversations
Questions about that business partner's domain	Notes of your business partner's answer
What are your key business objectives and resultant goals for the next two to five years?	—
What are your primary strategies? How do you plan to execute on these strategies?	—
What is the direction of the key product line, supply chain, service offerings, etc.?	—
How will you know if your unit is successful? What will you measure?	—
What are the key success factors that will make or break your unit's success in the long term?	—

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48% of B2B SaaS leaders say aligning affiliate partnerships with sales and marketing shortens sales cycles

Revenue impacts reported from strong alignment between partnerships and other go-to-market teams
Revenue impact	Share of respondents (%)
Shortens sales cycles	48%
Partnerships open doors to customers	31%
Land bigger deals	23%
Drive pipeline growth	12%
Help lower churn	10%

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Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

Lead quality and MQLs are the top KPI marketers track overall

Top KPIs marketers prioritize overall (2026)
KPI	Share of marketers prioritizing it (%)
Lead quality and MQLs	39%
Lead-to-customer conversion rates	34%
Return on marketing investment	31%
Customer acquisition cost	30%
Lead generation volume	29%

34%

of CEOs and CFOs are aligned with their CMOs about how marketing supports growth

1.5x

more likely CMOs who plan 18 months or more ahead are to report high marketing and business performance than those who do not

At US companies, cutting expenses is a more common response than growing revenues when profits are behind plan

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