Busy Marketing, Flat Pipeline: What to Look for in Your Next Marketing Leader

By David Honig, MarketSearch Executive Search · September 24, 2026

The short answer: If your marketing team is busier than ever and pipeline isn’t moving, look at the leadership seat first. The marketing leaders making a difference in 2026 tie campaigns to closed deals, understand how buyers find companies through AI search, and adjust within a quarter. Hire for those three things, and measure for them too.

A question I heard this morning

My CEO client asked me this morning: “Why does our marketing feel busy but not better?”

They bought just about every AI tool on the list. The team is shipping more content than ever.

Pipeline is flat.

I hear some version of this almost every week now.

Why so many marketing teams are busy but not growing

He’s not alone. Forrester reported in August 2026 that 88% of B2B marketing organizations now use AI tools. The gaps leaders keep pointing to are strategy and measurement.

That matches what I see. The tools made output cheap. Nobody told them which output matters.

Budgets aren’t helping. The CMO Survey puts marketing budgets at 7.7% of company revenue, the lowest in over three years. Headcount is tight. Every senior marketing seat has to earn its keep, and fast.

The marketing leadership job is being rewritten

Spencer Stuart’s CMO Tenure 2026 study puts average S&P 500 CMO tenure at 4.1 years, compared to 5.0 years for the C-suite overall. And 31% of those companies don’t have a CMO at all.

Below the C-suite, demand is concentrating. Director and VP marketing roles saw the strongest hiring growth of any level in Q1 2026, according to Taligence’s U.S. Marketing Jobs Report. Companies aren’t building big teams. They’re betting on one senior person who can move the number.

The job is getting rewritten faster than the job descriptions.

What to look for in a VP of Marketing in 2026

Three things stand out in the leaders getting hired right now.

They can tie a campaign to a closed deal. Ask them to walk you through one, start to finish, with the numbers.

They know how buyers find you today. That means Google, and it means AI search too: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews. GA4 fluency and a working knowledge of AEO should be a given.

They can change course in a quarter without a reorg. Ask about a time something wasn’t working and how fast they moved.

The best hires I’ve placed this year also asked the CEO the harder question first. They wanted to know how the board measures marketing before they pitched their plan.

Time for a new scorecard

If your scorecard for a VP of Marketing still looks like it did two years ago, it’s time to update it. Here’s where I’d start:

Pipeline contribution. How much qualified pipeline marketing sources or influences.

CAC payback. How many months it takes to earn back what it costs to win a customer.

Win rates on marketing-sourced deals. Volume means little if those deals don’t close.

Speed to learn. How quickly they test, read the results and adjust.

Where a retained search partner fits

A senior marketing hire is one of the few decisions that shows up in revenue within a year, good or bad.

That’s all we do at MarketSearch Executive Search. We’re 100% retained, with 20+ years and hundreds of marketing placements behind us, and I’m personally involved in every search. Our average is about four weeks from signed engagement to a signed offer, and 99% of our placements are still in the seat after year one. Every placement is guaranteed for the first year. If it doesn’t work out, we run the replacement search free.

We work with PE-backed, founder-led and family-owned companies across SaaS, CPG, energy, manufacturing and more, in both B2B and B2C.

Before we source a single candidate, we help you define what the role should deliver and how you’ll measure it. That’s usually where the search is won.

Hiring a senior marketing leader this year?

Let’s talk before you write the job description. Email me at Info@marketsearch29.com or visit marketsearchrecruiting.com.

And I’m curious: what’s on your scorecard for your next marketing leader?

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FAQ

Why does our marketing feel busy but pipeline is flat?
Usually because output went up and direction didn’t. AI tools make content cheap to produce, but someone still has to decide which work drives revenue and measure it. Forrester reported in August 2026 that 88% of B2B marketing organizations use AI tools, and the gaps leaders cite are strategy and measurement. That’s a leadership problem more than a tools problem.

What should a VP of Marketing be measured on in 2026?
Start with pipeline contribution, CAC payback, win rates on marketing-sourced deals, and how quickly they test, read results and adjust. If the scorecard still counts activity like content volume or impressions, update it.

Should we hire a CMO or a VP of Marketing?
If growth has stalled and you need someone to own the full funnel and tie marketing to revenue, a hands-on VP of Marketing is often the better fit. A CMO makes more sense when you need a C-suite voice on brand, portfolio strategy and a larger organization. Spencer Stuart’s 2026 study found 31% of S&P 500 companies don’t have a CMO at all.

How long does a retained search for a senior marketing leader take?
At MarketSearch Executive Search, the average is about four weeks from signed engagement to a candidate’s signed offer, with 99% first-year retention. Timelines depend on the role, the market and how clearly the mandate is defined up front.

What’s the difference between retained and contingent search?
A retained firm is engaged exclusively and paid in stages to run the full search, from defining the role to closing the offer. A contingent recruiter is paid only if their candidate is hired, often competing with other firms. Retained search is typically used for senior, confidential or business-critical roles.

How important is AI search experience for a marketing leader?
Very. Buyers now find companies through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews as well as traditional search. A senior marketing leader should understand answer engine optimization (AEO), be fluent in GA4, and use AI tools to work more efficiently.