That rockstar marketer you hired three years ago? The one who crushes campaigns and knows every feature of your MarTech stack? They're now part of the problem.
The Pedowitz Group's Revenue Marketing Index 2025 just revealed a truth that should terrify every CMO: Only 34% of marketing organizations believe they have the skills to compete effectively in 2025.
That means 66% of marketing teams—including yours—are operating with yesterday's skills in tomorrow's battlefield.
Marketing has undergone more change in the last 2 years than the previous 20. But most teams are still hiring for skills that mattered in 2019:
The Problem: Your team celebrates MQLs while the board asks about pipeline. They think in campaigns, not customer lifetime value.
The Impact: Marketing remains a cost center, not a growth engine. Budget cuts inevitable.
The Fix: Tie every role to revenue metrics. Make pipeline contribution part of performance reviews.
The Problem: Using AI for content is kindergarten. Your team can't interpret predictive models or optimize AI-driven campaigns.
The Impact: Competitors using AI for revenue forecasting while you're writing blog posts.
The Fix: Mandatory AI certification. Focus on revenue applications, not content generation.
The Problem: Your team produces reports, not insights. They show data, not what it means for revenue.
The Impact: Executives tune out. Marketing's strategic value questioned.
The Fix: Train on executive communication. Every metric must tie to business outcomes.
The Problem: Marketing operates in a silo. No real alignment with Sales or Customer Success.
The Impact: Leads die in handoffs. Customer insights never reach marketing. Revenue leaks everywhere.
The Fix: Embed marketers in revenue teams. Create shared KPIs and compensation.
The Problem: Your team obsesses over new logos while ignoring retention and expansion.
The Impact: CAC through the roof. Churn eating growth. NRR below 100%.
The Fix: Assign ownership for full lifecycle. Measure on retention, not just acquisition.
Average cost to replace a senior marketer
6-month ramp time • 18-month average tenure • Zero revenue skills
Here's what the data reveals about your current team:
Your instinct is to hire new talent. Here's why that's a trap:
The solution isn't replacement—it's transformation. Here's how leaders are doing it:
Transformed 5,000 marketers through mandatory "Revenue Academy." Six-month program covering AI, data analytics, and revenue operations.
Marketers spend 3 months in Sales and Customer Success. Learn the full revenue cycle firsthand.
Every marketer certified in AI for revenue applications. Not content—forecasting, attribution, optimization.
Stop hiring. Start transforming. Here's your roadmap:
Not everyone will make the transition. The data is clear:
Your job as a leader isn't to save everyone. It's to build a team that can compete in 2025 and beyond.
Forget traditional marketing departments. Here's what winning teams look like:
Reports to CEO, owns pipeline and revenue targets
Data, analytics, tech stack, attribution
Retention, expansion, advocacy, NRR
Acquisition, demand gen, ABM, pipeline
AI strategy, predictive models, automation
Technology can be bought. Strategies can be copied. But a team with Revenue Marketing skills? That's your moat.
Right now, 66% of marketing teams lack the skills to compete. They're still playing the 2019 game in a 2025 world. They measure MQLs while the board demands pipeline. They use AI for blog posts while competitors predict revenue.
You have a choice:
Keep your current team. Hope they figure it out. Watch competitors pull ahead with revenue-skilled marketers.
Invest in your team's transformation. Build Revenue Marketing capabilities. Become indispensable to your organization.
The skills gap won't close itself.
Every day you wait, it gets wider.
Get the complete talent transformation playbook and turn your team into revenue champions.
From The Pedowitz Group's Revenue Marketing Index 2025—revealing why 66% of marketing teams are already obsolete.