The average marketing budget has stalled, holding steady at just 7.7% of company revenue in 2025, according to Gartner’s latest CMO Spend Survey. That’s flat year-over-year and one of the lowest points in nearly a decade.
But expectations? They’re higher than ever.
Boards are asking tougher questions about performance, efficiency, and ROI. Marketing teams are expected to produce more campaigns, sharper content, and measurable impact, all without a bigger marketing budget.
So how are CMOs closing the gap?
When Your Marketing Budget Is Flat, But Workload Isn’t
Enterprise CMOs are being asked to deliver growth without seeing their budgets increase. While many expected AI to provide instant relief, the real productivity gains come from workflow transformation, not new tools.
Smart leaders are rethinking:
- What “work” actually means: fewer disconnected tasks, more unified programs.
- Where automation delivers the biggest lift, from research to content routing.
- How to build repeatable systems that scale knowledge, not chaos.
This is where AI becomes more than a shiny object, it becomes a new operating model.
From Budget Management to Speed Management
When your marketing budget isn’t growing, the question shifts from “Where do we cut?” to “Where can we move faster?”
That’s why more CMOs are focusing on speed management, reducing the time between research, creative, and launch. The goal isn’t to cut spend; it’s to reduce opportunity cost.
Making Every Marketing Dollar Work Harder
The 2025 CMO playbook isn’t about slashing your marketing budget — it’s about reallocating it. Leaders are concentrating spend where it amplifies performance:
- Data & analytics: Turning siloed reports into unified boardroom insights.
- AI-enabled ops: Automating coordination, not just reporting.
- Modular content systems: Reusable creative that cuts production time.
- Revenue alignment: Proving contribution to pipeline and cost-to-serve savings.
The Opportunity for B2B Teams
For B2B CMOs, a flat marketing budget is forcing reinvention. Those who modernize how research, strategy, and creative flow together with AI will multiply output and prove ROI faster, without growing spend.
At Demand Frontier, we see this every week in our AI in B2B Marketing briefings. Once leaders visualize how to orchestrate campaigns using AI across the full demand cycle, they unlock new speed, precision and campaigns that took months now ship in days.
The Bottom Line
Your marketing budget may be stuck at 7.7% of revenue, but your growth doesn’t have to be.
The real lever isn’t more money, it’s smarter systems and sharper execution.
When AI is structured around clear strategy and connected workflows, it turns your budget into a multiplier, not a limitation.