Three quarters of B2B chief executives and senior business leaders do not believe marketing drives business growth, despite acknowledging its organisational importance, according to new research from Propolis.
The CEO Blind Spot report surveyed 150 UK CEOs and business leaders at B2B organisations to examine how they perceive marketing’s contribution to commercial success. The research found that 84% see marketing as a support function rather than a commercial growth driver.
The report identifies what it calls the “CEO blind spot”: a tendency for organisations to attribute growth when revenue is recognised, while overlooking the earlier demand creation and brand building that often makes sales possible.
The findings show that 77% of business leaders believe sales is a bigger driver of growth than marketing, while 67% believe marketing is less accountable for business results than sales. The research was conducted in June 2026 among CEOs and senior leaders responsible for companies with annual revenues exceeding £20m.
The perception gap appears to be affecting investment decisions. More than a third of business leaders, at 35%, said marketers are being held back at board level because investment is increasingly directed towards innovation and AI.
Richard O’Connor, CEO of Propolis, said: “Too many CEOs say they value B2B marketing, but our research suggests they still don’t value it as a commercial growth function. If you believe marketing matters but doesn’t drive growth, it’s difficult to argue you’re recognising its full contribution to the business.
“The challenge is that much of marketing’s commercial contribution happens long before revenue appears on a dashboard, making it far less visible than that of functions operating closer to the point of sale. As CEOs face growing pressure to deliver short-term results while increasing investment in AI, there is a real risk that a critical engine of sustainable growth becomes an easy target for budget cuts unless this blind spot is addressed.”
The research highlights a long standing tension inside B2B companies. Sales activity is often easier to connect to revenue because it sits closer to contracts, pipeline conversion, and account ownership. Marketing’s contribution can appear earlier and less directly, through market visibility, positioning, category education, buyer trust, lead quality, customer understanding, and long term demand creation.
That makes measurement difficult but not optional. B2B buying cycles are often lengthy, involve multiple stakeholders, and include long periods of research before direct supplier contact. Marketing influence may therefore occur months before a sales team records an opportunity. If companies measure only the final point of conversion, they risk underinvesting in the activity that created the conditions for the sale.
The AI investment point is particularly important. Many companies are increasing spending on AI tools, automation, data platforms, and productivity technology. Those investments can be commercially valuable, but they also compete for budget and executive attention. If marketing is viewed mainly as a cost centre, it may lose investment at the moment when customer insight, brand trust, content quality, and differentiated positioning become more important.
There is also a risk that AI reinforces the support function perception. If boards associate marketing AI mainly with faster content production or lower agency cost, they may treat the function as an efficiency engine rather than a growth discipline. The stronger use of AI in B2B marketing is likely to sit in segmentation, customer intelligence, journey analysis, message testing, sales enablement, retention, and account prioritisation.
Brand measurement is part of the same boardroom problem. Gartner research has already pointed to failures in proving brand’s effect on enterprise growth, leaving marketing leaders exposed when budgets are under scrutiny: Gartner flags brand measurement failure.
The findings also place pressure on chief marketing officers. If CEOs are sceptical, marketers need clearer operating models that connect activity to revenue quality, customer lifetime value, pricing strength, win rates, category share, sales velocity, and strategic priorities. Awareness and engagement metrics may still matter, but they need to be linked to business outcomes that boards recognise.
Sales and marketing alignment remains central. Treating sales as the growth engine and marketing as support can create short termism, where all attention goes to near term pipeline and insufficient investment goes into future demand. Conversely, marketing teams that cannot show commercial relevance may struggle to defend budgets when growth slows.
The research suggests that the next phase of B2B marketing leadership will be less about asking for recognition and more about proving contribution through better evidence. That does not mean reducing marketing to last click attribution. It means building a stronger account of how brand, demand, customer insight, content, events, partnerships, and sales enablement combine to generate sustainable growth.
At a time when AI is competing for board level investment, the marketing function has to show where it creates demand, not only where it supports sales activity already in motion.
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