For years, CMOs were taught a certain way to do marketing.
It worked.
Until it didn’t.
Modern marketing hasn’t evolved in small steps — it’s fundamentally shifted.
But many leadership teams are still operating off old playbooks that quietly limit growth.
Here are 3 outdated marketing beliefs CMOs still cling to — and what actually works now.
1. “Brand and performance should be separate teams.”
The old belief:
Brand builds awareness. Performance drives conversions. Keep them separate to stay focused.
Why it’s broken:
Today’s buyers don’t move in straight lines. They discover you on social, see a founder clip, read reviews, get retargeted, then convert weeks later. Separating brand from performance creates blind spots — and internal friction.
The modern replacement:
Brand is performance.
The best-performing ads look like content.
The strongest brands are built through distribution.
Creative, messaging, and performance live in the same feedback loop.
If it doesn’t convert and compound brand equity, it’s not modern marketing.
2. “We just need better attribution.”
The old belief:
If we can perfectly track every touchpoint, we’ll know what’s working.
Why it’s broken:
Attribution is getting noisier, not cleaner. Privacy changes, dark social, and platform limitations mean perfect attribution is a myth.
Obsessing over it slows decisions and kills momentum.
The modern replacement:
Directional data + pattern recognition.
Great marketing teams:
Look for trends, not perfection
Pair qualitative signals with quantitative data
Make fast bets, then double down on what compounds
Speed beats precision in an environment that’s constantly changing.
3. “Consistency means staying safe.”
The old belief:
Stick to the brand guidelines. Don’t rock the boat. Consistency builds trust.
Why it’s broken:
Safe is invisible.
Algorithms reward relevance, not restraint.
Audiences reward honesty, not polish.
Playing it safe might protect the brand — but it rarely grows it.
The modern replacement:
Consistency of point of view.
The best brands today are:
Clear on what they stand for
Willing to be opinionated
Comfortable being misunderstood by some to be loved by others
Memorable beats neutral every time.
The real shift CMOs need to make
Modern marketing isn’t about control.
It’s about adaptability.
The CMOs winning today:
Think like media companies
Ship faster than they debate
Treat marketing as a living system, not a fixed plan
The job isn’t to defend the old playbook.
It’s to rewrite it — before someone else does.