CMOs: If you rely on this in Q3, you're already losing

🧨 CMOs: If you do this in Q3, you’re done.
The Q3 trap that's killing your growth — and how to escape it.

Let’s be honest — Q3 is when most CMOs panic.

The board wants growth.
The CAC is creeping up.
And the knee-jerk reaction?
👉 “Let’s double down on paid.”

More Meta ads.
More Google campaigns.
More spend to hit the quarter.

But here’s the truth:
If you're still treating paid media like the growth engine instead of the accelerant, your strategy is broken.

Paid should amplify your ecosystem — not be the whole damn thing.
Yet too many teams are running on the same tired, expensive playbook:

• Copy/paste Facebook ads with zero narrative
  

• “Set-it-and-forget-it” influencer campaigns
  

• Creatives built for CPM, not conversion
  

• A content calendar that no human would ever actually read
  

Meanwhile, the brands that are winning Q3 (and setting up a monster Q4) are doing 3 things differently:

1. Building durable attention with newsletters, podcasts, and owned media
   

2. Converting demand through story-driven UGC and influencers
   
   

3. Using paid as a force multiplier, not a life raft
   

You can’t buy your way to brand anymore. You have to build it.
The new marketing machine is media-first, conversion-smart, and relentlessly human.

CMOs who get this?
They’ll thrive in Q3.
Everyone else?
They’ll still be blaming the algorithm in October.

Want to see how we build durable, modern growth engines for brands?
Explore how we do marketing at Gossip Media – strategy, ads, newsletters, influencers, and UGC that actually work.

P.S. Q3 isn’t just a quarter — it’s the setup for your end-of-year narrative. Either you’ll be closing the year strong… or explaining what went wrong. Choose wisely.