Chaotic marketing teams see burnout & stalled deals

Marketing teams in the UK and US are operating in a "chaotic" environment that is harming commercial performance and employee wellbeing, according to new research from B2B marketing agency tmp.

Based on responses from 1,000 marketers and tech buyers, the study found that more than half of marketers describe their working environment as chaotic. The results point to fragmentation across teams, processes and technology, with knock-on effects for deal progression, content quality and the buyer experience.

More than a third of marketers reported burnout and fatigue, and the same proportion cited heightened stress. Sleep was also a concern: nearly three quarters said they were not sleeping properly or rated their sleep as only average.

The findings suggest that day-to-day coping mechanisms are becoming routine. Respondents reported working extra hours and skipping breaks, leaving less space for long-term planning and more reliance on short-term firefighting.

Commercial impact

The report links internal disorder to lost revenue opportunities. One in three marketers said chaos is directly causing missed opportunities, stalled deals and inconsistent output quality.

The research also points to inefficiencies in revenue operations. It found sales cycles are 30% longer and customer acquisition costs are 36% higher, linking this to organisations struggling to adapt to buying behaviours shaped by AI tools and an abundance of information.

Disconnects were reported across several parts of marketing. Product marketing was cited as the most disconnected area, followed by partner marketing and demand functions, suggesting gaps in planning, handovers and execution.

Buyer experience

On the buying side, the research describes larger, more complex decision-making groups. Deals now involve 11 or more stakeholders, increasing the number of opinions and approval steps during evaluation and procurement.

Buyers identified several obstacles during the purchase journey. The most common were too much content, unclear vendor messaging and a lack of trust. The findings suggest that more information is not translating into greater clarity for buying groups.

Buyer perceptions also appear to track closely with how well vendors coordinate internally. The study found that 97% of buyers notice when vendors operate coherently, and it links that to higher trust and faster decision-making.

AI pressure

The report positions AI as a source of added strain rather than an immediate remedy for workload and complexity. It found AI tools already influence purchasing decisions for most buyers, with nearly half describing the impact as major.

For marketing teams, the pace of change may prompt organisational redesign. The research found that 70% of marketers expect AI to drive team restructuring within the next 12 months.

It also highlights a gap between the promise of AI-driven speed and the reality of execution. Many organisations, it argues, are using AI in ways that increase content volume and fragmentation, weakening message coherence and adding to buyer confusion.

Coherence focus

The research frames "coherence" as a differentiator, defined as alignment across strategy, data, technology and teams. It links that alignment to a 50% increase in sales efficiency and up to 20% growth in opportunities with existing customers.

The report includes input from senior figures across technology and marketing, including Nathalie Dorricott at Palo Alto Networks, Tricia Stinton at Capgemini and Claire Louise Green at Adobe.

Ali Hussain, chief strategy officer at tmp, said marketing leaders need to address root causes rather than symptoms.

"CMOs and other revenue leaders need to stop playing whack-a-mole with surface-level symptoms and address the underlying challenges. Namely, that an increasingly chaotic environment is constantly pulling people, organisations, brands and customer journeys apart. As the research shows, marketers are losing sleep. Teams are misaligned. Brands are being diluted and buying groups are struggling to reach consensus.

"In 2026, marketing teams are being asked to do more with less, to use AI, to move faster. That's exacerbating the problem - they're scaling fragmentation. Instead, marketers need to focus on creating coherence across data, strategy, creative, media and sales, from reputation-building to revenue and through retention. It's better for brands, and 97% of buyers agree it's better for them. Scale chaos, and you scale pain. Scale coherence, and you scale revenue."

The study was conducted by Censuswide among marketing leaders and tech buyers in the UK and US.