Famous last words. Six months later, your top marketing talent has left for competitors. Your brand message has splintered into confusion. Your sales pipeline has dried up. And those “temporary” savings have cost you millions in lost opportunities.

Getting the Basics Right First

You need marketing leadership. But before you rush to hire, let’s get the fundamentals right. Transforming your financially or operationally driven company into a marketing-driven company won’t happen overnight. This mindset shift needs to start at the very top.

So first make sure you have the whole C-suite and, if applicable, the company owner, supervisory board chair, or your PE investor on board. Everyone needs to be convinced and live by the belief that marketing is a strategic business function that will be crucial to succeed in the market.

On top of that, the head of marketing needs a seat at the table and the mandate to strategically repurpose and invest corporate dollars or business unit dollars into winning branding, marketing, and communication strategies. Because we all know that budgets usually don’t grow automatically, but they can and should be spent smarter. Turn your back on the old perception of marketing being the department that turns ugly presentations into pretty ones or crafts nice leaflets or websites.

Who Is Your Current Marketing Team?

Second, take a hard look at your current marketing team. Do they really understand your business, or are they just executing tactics? Can they explain why you’re positioned differently from competitors? Do they know what customers need, not just what you want to sell them?

Your marketing team needs to be businesspeople first, creative professionals second. They should be financially literate, data-driven, and able to tell compelling stories. Most importantly, they should be true sparring partners for your business leaders and sales teams, not just order-takers.

If your current team doesn’t measure up, you have three options:

First, look within your business units. You might have talent with the right business acumen who could transition into marketing roles.

Second, if your current marketing leadership has potential, invest in their development. Set clear expectations and provide training opportunities.

Third, if neither option works, look outside. Yes, top marketing talent is expensive. The best candidates are usually with executive search firms, not posting on job boards. But remember: you’re not buying a service; you’re investing in growth. The right marketing leader can be one of the most profitable investments you’ll ever make.

The CEO as Interim CMO? Think Again

I still have savings targets to hit. The CEO can oversee marketing for a few months while we delay the hire.

This logic seems sound. The CEO knows the company, the market, the customers, and the overall strategy. Why not have them lead marketing temporarily? Delaying the CMO hire for three, six, nine months would reduce costs immediately.

Here’s why this backfires: Your CEO already has a full-time job. Adding marketing leadership means something gets neglected. Either marketing suffers from part-time attention, or the CEO’s actual responsibilities slide. Neither outcome justifies the “savings.”

Plus, knowing the market isn’t the same as knowing marketing. Can your CEO optimize programmatic advertising? Build content strategies? Manage marketing automation? Probably not, unless marketing was their background. Strategic vision doesn’t replace tactical expertise.

External Opportunity Costs

Without marketing leadership, external damage accumulates quickly.

Market opportunities pass you by. Competitors launch new products while you’re still debating who approves the campaign. Customer needs shift, but without proactive market research, you don’t notice until sales drop.

Your messaging becomes chaotic. Different teams create their own communications without coordination. Sales says one thing, customer service says another, your website says something else entirely. Customers notice the inconsistency and lose trust.

Your brand presence weakens. Without someone maintaining consistent brand management and channel presence, you gradually disappear from view. Competitors fill the vacuum, capturing mindshare and market share you used to own.

When crisis hits, the damage multiplies. No one has clear decision authority. Every response requires multiple approvals up a long chain of command. By the time you respond, the narrative is already set—usually not in your favor.

Internal Damage You Don’t See Coming

The internal costs are harder to see but equally damaging.

Without marketing leadership, every decision takes longer. Simple approvals become committee debates. Days turn into weeks. Your team loses momentum waiting for direction that never comes.

Your marketing team operates without clear goals or strategy. They don’t know what success looks like because no one has defined it. They don’t get feedback because no one has the expertise to provide it. Eventually, they stop trying to excel and just go through the motions.

Your best people leave first. They see the leadership vacuum and recognize what it means for their careers. When they go, they take institutional knowledge with them. Replacing them costs more than their salaries. You lose productivity during hiring, training, and ramp-up time.

Even hiring replacements becomes harder. Without a qualified marketing leader to assess candidates, you make poor hiring decisions. New hires struggle without proper onboarding. Many quit within months, forcing you to start over.

Meanwhile, your remaining budget gets wasted. Teams make decisions in isolation without coordinating with sales, product development, or other departments. Marketing dollars get spent on random tactics rather than integrated strategies. Your return on marketing investment plummets.

The True Cost of Empty Leadership

Leaving marketing and communication teams without qualified leadership will be more costly than you think. Not just because of the things that might go wrong during leaderless times but especially because of the things that don’t happen at all: missed proactive communication opportunities, a lack of innovation and distinctiveness, a loss in market share as well as a significant slowdown of internal engagement, motivation, advocacy, and trust.

In order to not waste time or compromise on candidate quality, invest in the right partner to help you find the best candidate. At Stanton Chase, we understand this calculation. Our global network and decades of experience help identify marketing leaders who combine business acumen with creative vision. These aren’t just creative directors with MBAs. They’re business leaders who happen to be exceptional marketers. The kind of talent that doesn’t appear on job boards but makes all the difference in boardrooms. Finding them requires more than posting openings. It requires understanding what separates marketing managers from marketing leaders. Because in today’s market, the right marketing executive doesn’t just fill a seat. They secure your company’s future.

This is the final article in our three-part series on why marketing matters. Click here to read the first article, “When Crisis Hits, Smart Companies Double Down on Brand.” Click here to read the second article, “The Trust Economy: Why B2B Buyers Are More Emotional Than You Think.”

About the Authors

Gabriel Kiefer is a Partner at Stanton Chase Düsseldorf with over 10 years of experience in executive search and consulting across Germany. He specializes in placing executive and senior-level roles in industrial, life sciences, healthcare, and technology sectors, supporting both leading German mid-sized companies and global stock-listed corporations. Gabriel joined Stanton Chase after many successful years as a Senior Consultant and Partner at a German executive search company, bringing expertise in providing tailored solutions while leveraging Stanton Chase’s global infrastructure for comprehensive search and consultancy solutions.

Kathrin Sauter is a seasoned marketing and communications executive with over 13 years of experience building brands into growth engines within complex B2B and technology-driven environments. Most recently serving as Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications at MANN+HUMMEL, reporting directly to the CEO, Kathrin has proven expertise in strategic brand development, marketing transformation, and leading teams through change. Currently working as a Senior Marketing and Communications Consultant, she brings deep expertise in B2B marketing, corporate branding, and organizational development to help companies translate technology into purpose.