Eighty-eight percent of B2B marketing organizations have adopted AI tools or developed their own. Yet, marketing leaders continue to report unclear AI strategy, difficulty measuring impact, data infrastructure challenges, and uncertainty about where AI should be applied. In other words, many marketing teams are moving quickly to adopt new capabilities before establishing or firming up the foundations required to generate value from them.
But, our findings from Forrester’s Marketing Survey, 2026 (based on responses from more than 1,000 B2B marketing decision makers), reveal a larger issue: marketing’s ambitions, priorities, and accountability are expanding faster than the underlying capabilities required to support them. Simply stated, marketers are building and scaling critical innovation on top of weak foundations.
Knowing What To Do Isn’t Enough
AI is only one example of this broader disconnected pattern. Eighty-five percent of marketers now say they run integrated campaigns, and 90% report they deliver more value than separately executed programs. Yet these same marketers also cite challenges of siloed budgets, competition among product groups, insufficient executive sponsorship, and operational complexity as major barriers to execution.
The pattern is consistent: While the strategic direction may be clear, the operating environment makes execution difficult. Organizations that pursue important strategic priorities before foundations are properly set are not able to reliably execute at scale and demonstrate business impact. Successful execution depends on ensuring aligned responsibilities, reliable data, credible measurement, and sufficient executive support. The gap is not a lack of strategic awareness. It is a lack of organizational capability. The findings from our analysis point to a significant disconnect between identifying the right priorities and ensuring the organizational capabilities required are in place to achieve success.
Foundational Weaknesses Put Priorities At Risk
The source of these challenges becomes clearer when marketers identify the obstacles that continue to hold them back. In our same survey, marketing leaders cited poor data quality or accessibility among their top challenges. And they cited difficulty measuring marketing performance effectively and insufficient insight for decision-making as key challenges too.
These findings are not separate from the aforementioned AI and integrated campaign challenges. They help explain them. Data quality affects whether AI can produce reliable outputs. Measurement determines whether integrated execution can demonstrate greater business value. Insight, alignment, capabilities, and technology influence whether marketing can turn strategic desires into coordinated actions.
Marketers repeatedly identify improvements in these same areas as necessary to advance their priorities. The issue, then, is not simply whether leaders understand what must change. It is whether organizations are willing to invest in these foundational capabilities strategically rather than half-funding them as “nice-to-have” operational improvements.
Foundations Are Now A Strategic Advantage
CMOs and other marketing leaders that make these strategic investments will gain more than operational efficiency. Strong foundations not only allow marketing to adopt new capabilities more quickly, but to execute priorities more consistently and demonstrate business value more credibly. As priorities evolve, data, measurement, alignment, insight, skills, and technology become multipliers that support each new initiative and enable greater adaptability as market conditions change.
Forrester clients can read the full report, B2B Marketing’s Top Challenges And Priorities For 2026, and schedule an inquiry or guidance session with me to discuss the report’s findings in greater depth.
