While CEOs tend to like and trust their chief marketing officers, they have declining confidence in the ability of the CMOs to drive business growth, according to a new report from Boathouse, a marketing-performance consultancy. The report asks: “Are CMOs too busy being popular and not enough of a profit driver?”

The report, based on a survey of 150 CEOs from top U.S. companies, shows patterns from four years of data collection about the role and performance of CMOs. On one hand, 66% of CEOs view marketing as more relevant than three years ago, the report said. But the execution of their departments is often falling short. “While 79% of CMOs are now involved in financial goal setting, many remain on the periphery of growth strategy, limited by a focus on metrics that don’t directly tie to the metrics that CEOs prioritize. To elevate their strategic role, CMOs must deepen their financial fluency and align marketing metrics with business outcomes,” the report said.

“Increasingly, we are seeing the CMO is in no-man’s-land,” said John Connors, CEO of Boathouse, as reported in Ad Age, noting the divergence between the CMOs’ grades and the understanding of what the department accomplished. “CMOs are getting smarter about how to build a better relationship with CEOs but marketing overall is losing credibility.”

The report’s statistics make the point in showing rising relevance for marketing, but lack of confidence in results.  “As CMOs align more closely with CEOs and Boards (e.g., 76% show commitment to the C-Suite, up from 44% four years ago), you’d expect this proximity to better channel CEO strategy to marketing teams. Instead, the gap between CMOs’ performance (45%) and marketing’s overall capability (37%) suggests a breakdown in execution,” the report said.

In its analysis of how CMOs can do better, the report suggests that they can help bridge the gap between the CEO focus on financial results and the need to foster a corporate culture that can produce growth. “Data shows 87% of CEOs acknowledge their transformation strategies have not fully succeeded, with top private concerns including employee morale, culture, and reputational risk—areas which are often sidelined in favor of financial metrics,” the report said. “Marketing leaders have a unique opportunity to bridge this gap by aligning brand messaging with internal culture, fostering employee engagement, and brand integrity as pillars of sustainable growth.”

In other findings, the survey found that marketing departments are missing the boat when it comes to AI because of an ambivalence about embracing it. “CEOs are enthusiastically adopting AI across their organizations, but marketing lags behind functions like customer service and operations,” the report said. “Marketing must leverage AI for efficiency, insights, and innovation—or risk losing ground to more agile functions. In a technology-led economy, CMOs who don’t lead with AI will watch others claim the spotlight.” Boathouse CEO Connors noted that many marketers are talking about pilot programs, but none are making “bold bets on AI,” he told Ad Age, which is leading CEOs to think their CMOs play it too safe.

Stephen Koepp is From Day One’s editor in chief.

(Featured illustration by Creatival Images/iStock by Getty)