Marketing leaders have never had more technology, data, or tools at their disposal. So why does it sometimes feel like we have less control over the things we’re actually accountable for?

That’s the question behind Awin’s latest CMO research with Business of Marketing, and some of the answers are pretty interesting. We found an industry that is confident in its performance but less mature when it comes to building a marketing operation that can adapt when the market changes. Fifty-one percent of organizations are still operating in “reactive” mode, while just 2.5% have reached the highest level of marketing maturity. So, while we might feel like we’re winning, are we actually building organizations that are set up to keep winning?

More ways to win

Take customer acquisition. Seventy-percent of marketers say half or more of their new customer acquisition comes from just two channels. We understand why. If something works, you invest more in it, but there’s a difference between focus and dependency. When two channels account for most of your acquisition, your growth is also exposed to their algorithms, costs, policies, and changing economics. You’re not completely in control of your growth strategy since those platforms have a vote too.

The answer isn’t to spread your budget across every channel you can find. It’s to build more resilience into how you reach and acquire customers, reducing your dependence on any single route to growth.

Your customers don’t follow your channel plan

Fifty-three percent of marketers say half or more of their new customers first encounter their brand outside search and owned channels, through creators, publishers, marketplaces, communities, and increasingly, AI-generated answers. Yet 62% still believe their own advertising and owned media have more influence on brand perception than third-party voices.

That feels like a pretty significant disconnect. Customers are discovering brands in more places, while marketers are still giving the most weight to the channels they control.

Your customer doesn’t care whether they discover your brand through search, social, retail media, or an AI answer. They care whether the experience is useful, credible, and relevant. The customer journey has become an ecosystem, but many marketing strategies are still organized around individual channels.

That’s why we think partnership marketing deserves a much bigger seat at the table. Affiliate isn’t a channel to add to the marketing mix; it’s an ecosystem of partnerships that can work across the mix, helping brands reach customers, influence decisions, and make other channels work harder.

Give partnerships a bigger role

Affiliate has spent years being treated as a conversion tool, but partnership marketing strengthens the entire marketing ecosystem. It can help brands show up earlier in the journey through the creators, publishers, communities, and third-party voices shaping discovery and consideration while giving marketers a more measurable way to understand what’s driving results. Done well, affiliate doesn’t just capture demand; it can create, influence, and amplify demand across the entire funnel.

There’s a reason this matters. Organizations with structured, resourced partner programs are more likely to be ahead of target and more confident in connecting marketing spend to results. Partnerships aren’t a magic button, but they can give marketers something increasingly valuable: more routes to customers, stronger relationships, and greater visibility into what’s working.

Want to know more? Download the report, "Are Today's CMOs Really Winning?"