3 techniques for defending ​​your 2026 marketing budget thanks to Marketing Mix Modeling

According to Gartner, marketing budgets are expected to remain stable at around 7.7 % of turnover in 2026… which will not stop marketing management from having to deal with a paradox: Behind this apparent stability, pressures on profitability and justification of ROI are continuing to intensify.

Given this context, CMOs have to justify every euro invested, facing CFOs who are more vigilant than ever. It is no longer a case of “doing more with less”, but of proving—with figures to back it up—the real contribution of marketing to the global performance of the company.

And this is precisely where thorough and business-performance-centred measurement becomes the best marketing ally.

In this article, discover three concrete techniques to effectively defend ​​your 2026 marketing budget thanks to Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM), an approach that ​​allows you to prove the value of marketing and guide budgetary decision-making with confidence.

1. ​​Leverage data to create a common language between marketing and finance with data

Unify, translate, align: Build a shared truth for steering performance

The first step to defending ​​your budget involves creating a ​​collaborative foundation between marketing and finance, using data. The era of “we think” is over: CFOs expect evidence, in a language they understand. The marketing departments that succeed in protecting their budgets are those that transform measurement into a shared steering tool, capable of reconciling business objectives and marketing decision-making.

In practice, this involves three key actions:

• Unify: Centralize marketing and business data in unified dashboards to build a common truth and frame of reference for performance. (On this subject, read the paper by The Business of Fashion and Ekimetrics, about the beauty and fashion sector: The CMO Brief: What's Driving Results in Fashion & Beauty Marketing.)
• Translate: Transform marketing indicators (reach, conversion, acquisition…) into business language (ROI, margin, cash flow…) to bring marketing and financial objectives closer together.
• Align: Rely on this shared foundation to inform shared budgetary decision-making and strengthen collaboration between marketing and finance.

Marketing Mix Modeling plays a decisive role here. Analyzing the real contribution of each marketing lever (TV, search, retail media, social commerce, CTV, etc.) allows CMOs to steer their marketing investment portfolio like a true P&L by quantifying the impact of each decision on the company’s economic performance.

This approach provides both the transparency required by the CFO and the strategic visibility the CMO needs to defend their budgetary decisions. Data is no longer a simple reporting tool: it becomes a common basis of truth that unites marketing and finance around the same value creation objective.

2. Structure ​​your trade-offs with documented business scenarios

Anticipate budgetary trade-offs with several trajectories

To defend their budget, a CMO can no longer just present a global figure. They must provide several possible trajectories, each backed up by concrete ​​forecasts. The most effective marketing departments prepare trade-offs like investment plans, by simulating:

• A conservative scenario: maintaining the minimum necessary to maintain visibility‍
• A median scenario: balance between immediate performance and brand investment‍
• An ambitious scenario: growth acceleration and market share acquisition

Each scenario is based on tangible business indicators, including market share, sales volume, margin, customer loyalty creation, as well as channel productivity and acquisition costs.
These trade-offs must now take into account a media mix undergoing major changes. According to IAB, linear TV should shrink by 14.4 % in 2025, whereas new digital channels (social commerce, retail media, CTV) are establishing themselves as new areas of growth.
Faced with this fragmentation, it becomes essential to objectively compare each lever’s contribution to direct investments where they will generate the most value.

Thanks to MMM, these scenarios are no longer theoretical. It enables the measurement of the impact of these scenarios by simulating channel by channel the consequences of a budget increase or cut: potential loss of visibility, decline in market share, or drops in incremental sales.
The marketing budget becomes a steering and performance scripting lever, rather than an adjustment variable imposed by the finance department.

To dive deeper into how MMM enables simulation and optimization of different budgetary scenarios, read the article “Optimizing MMM in-Housing: Rebuilding Foundations and Navigating Scenarios”.

3. Demonstrate the long-term business value of marketing

Prove that cutting is ​​regressing

In an uncertain economic environment, there is a strong temptation to reduce marketing expenditure. Yet, each euro not invested today weakens tomorrow’s growth, with:

• an increase in acquisition costs
• erosion of customer loyalty
• a lasting loss in competitiveness against competitors who are more present in the market

To demonstrate this business value, the CMO must go beyond immediate performance indicators (CPC, leads, impressions) and show the impact of marketing on medium- and long–term economic results.
This is precisely what Marketing Mix Modeling enables:

• It quantifies marketing’s real contribution to sales and the margin.
• It measures the delayed effect of brand investments, often invisible in short-term performance indicators. As The CMO Brief paper points out, too much attention given to the short term weakens sustainable growth: Investing in the brand today is maintaining tomorrow’s competitiveness.
• It highlights the cost of inaction by simulating future losses linked to a budget cut.

Thanks to this approach, marketing finds its place in the finance department’s language: one of return on investment and sustainable value creation. The marketing budget is no longer seen as a variable expenditure, but as a strategic investment that protects competitiveness and sustains long-term growth.

MMM, the strategic ​​compass of ​​2026 marketing

In 2026, defending ​​your marketing budget is no longer limited to maintaining resources, but to proving the value created for the company. The most successful CMOs have understood that marketing credibility is now based on three pillars:

1. Proving the business impact of marketing by linking every euro invested to tangible economic indicators.
2. Scripting trade-offs to guide decision-making, demonstrating the consequences of each budgetary trajectory, backed up by data.
3. Repositioning marketing as a strategic investment, driver of growth, productivity, and lasting competitiveness.

In this equation, Marketing Mix Modeling establishes itself as the strategic ​​compass of modern marketing. It is no longer simply a question of measuring the past, but of steering the future: understanding what works, anticipating what will perform tomorrow, and speaking the same language as the financial department.
While media mix is becoming fragmented, trade-offs are accelerating, and each decision counts, MMM gives CMOs back their legitimacy as strategists, capable of defending their choices, proving their impact, and guiding the company in its investment decision-making.

Want to go further? ​​Learn how companies facing decreasing marketing budgets maximize their ROI thanks to MMM:

👉 How to maximize marketing ROI when budgets are tight: the role of Marketing Mix Modeling