When executive teams determine how to deliver on critical business goals, too often marketing isn’t seen as a leading contributor. Megan Heuer believes a big problem is reporting that doesn’t make a clear connection between marketing outcomes and top business objectives, especially when those outcomes aren’t sales leads. Marketing leaders have an opportunity to adapt reporting to better align to business objectives and clarify the impact of their work, starting with account-based programmes.
Today’s marketing measurement doesn’t tell the right story
Marketing leaders increasingly express concern about how other leaders view their business contributions, and they have reason to worry. The 2024 Gartner Senior Executive Views of CMO Leadership Survey found that 47% of CMOs report marketing is considered an expense rather than an investment in their companies. The same study reported that only 14% of CMOs are seen by their peers as “very or completely effective at market shaping.” At the same time, Gartner’s 2024 Marketing and Narrative Impact Study reported that 84% of business leaders said “our company’s identity must completely or significantly change” to successfully achieve their company’s objectives. That’s clearly a marketing mandate. Why so much distance between marketing and other functions when it comes to perceived value?
Measurement is a big part of the problem. What we track (or don’t) has a direct impact on what gets done, including the budget to fund it. Measures need to correlate with actual financial performance, and metrics must keep pace with go-to-market (GTM) changes. When they don’t, marketing leaders are the first to feel the impact of resource reduction. To change this, it’s marketing’s responsibility to define how the function contributes to what boards, investors and customers expect from the business.
Marketing leaders must move beyond lead volume to define impact
With the scope of marketing influence only increasing as the B2B customer lifecycle evolves, it’s clear internal perception and market reality are out of step, and it’s hurting our business results. Much of the disconnect between marketing and other functions stems from lack of clarity about the role of marketing in major business outcomes. In Forrester’s 2024 Marketing Survey, 61% of B2B marketing leaders admitted their measurement and analytics are not well aligned with their organisation’s objectives or strategies for growth. At the same time, 64% acknowledged they don’t trust their organisation’s approach to marketing measurement for decision-making.
The major culprit is a persistent belief that B2B marketing’s primary (sometimes only) impact is to deliver a high volume of new sales leads. If demand creation is the only work that matters because it’s the only thing executive teams and boards want measured, it holds marketing back from realising its full role in a changed B2B lifecycle. When companies change their GTM strategy to better reflect market conditions and their strategic goals, such as shifting to an account-based model, reporting doesn’t always change with it. Account-based programmes find themselves struggling with this demand-centric bias because their goals require a holistic approach that doesn’t usually show up in traditional demand reporting.
For example, Inflexion Group’s 2024 Benchmark Study found the top objective for ABM programmes is to grow business in existing accounts. Tracking lead volume cannot accurately reflect marketing support for these retention and expansion plays, which include support for high value reputation and relationship outcomes. ABM programmes are direct contributors to growing accounts that contribute the largest share of revenue for B2B companies, but most marketing reporting isn’t designed to show that connection.
This challenge gets even bigger when we place marketing reporting in the context of how other functions define impact. While sales and product results easily show up in traditional financial reporting, marketing measurement can seem disconnected from general business performance. This is true even when we report on lead volume, conversion and pipeline contribution. How many marketing teams have claimed victory based on their pipeline contribution volume, while the company overall missed revenue targets? What about other marketing contributions that are essential to realising strategic goals, or delivering transformation? Our current approach doesn’t build confidence in marketing’s ability to deliver what matters to the business.
Better measurement starts with a few essential questions
To make the right changes to marketing reporting, we first need to question what we do today. This doesn’t mean how accurately we count volume output from marketing activity. Most marketing reporting looks backward, while sales and other reporting requires both a look back and a forecast of future results. How well does current reporting predict business results and diagnose performance improvement opportunities? A better measurement system helps marketing leaders ask and answer the right questions to clarify goals, track progress, prove impact, and improve performance, all in clear alignment with overall business goals.
The good news is that the act of updating measurement can do all this, if the approach is based on facts. A recent study in the MIT Sloan Management Review reported: “Companies that algorithmically improve their KPIs are reconsidering the purpose of performance measurement, the function of KPIs, and the strategic value of metrics. Our research demonstrates that these reconsiderations frequently lead to new processes for transforming both KPI design and how organisational behaviours align with strategic outcomes. Strengthening strategic alignment is both an objective and an outcome of smart KPIs.” With the application of AI and other analysis tools, it is easier than ever to use data to identify smarter measures.
Start the journey to better measurement with these questions:
- How does the impact you have – and the way you measure and report it – align with broader marketing’s approach, and the goals of the business overall?
- How do other functions perceive marketing performance? What are the questions you commonly get about marketing’s contribution?
- What are ways performance data could help you plan improvements to marketing programmes in 2025?
We’ll be back in future posts with more advice on how to improve marketing reporting. For now, would you like help with your account-based marketing performance measurement? Our highly experienced, practitioner-led consulting team can help you. Email hello@inflexiongroup.com for more information. Want to learn more about all things account-based? Check out our Resources for data, advice, and more to help you on your journey.
