CORE
May 2025
B2B marketing leaders are under increasing pressure to deliver results that map directly to business outcomes. That means moving beyond tactical execution to build data-informed strategies capable of adjusting in real time as market dynamics shift.
In our March episode of Arketi Live in ’25, “Marketing is All Dials,” Arketi Vice President Dan Earle and Deposco CMO Todd Craig explored how marketers can move from activity-based reporting to a performance-driven mindset.
The conversation underscored a critical evolution in modern marketing: the need for precision. Success depends on knowing which levers drive revenue, which tactics move pipeline, and how to forecast with confidence. In this month’s edition of Core, we distill our top takeaways from their conversation to give you a roadmap for thinking in terms of marketing dials, not dashboards.
If you had to defend your marketing strategy today, could you?
Too many marketing teams operate without a real playbook, which makes execution a guessing game at best. That’s why we published The Definitive Guide to B2B Marketing, a no-fluff roadmap to ensure marketing is an engine for growth.
Marketing performance can no longer hinge on surface-level indicators like clicks and open rates. These vanity metrics may reflect activity, but they don’t reflect impact – especially in B2B, where quality matters far more than quantity. The focus is shifting from channels that generate the most engagement to those that deliver the most sales-qualified leads. It’s not about which campaigns make the most noise. It’s about which ones move real business opportunities forward.
As Todd likes to say, B2B marketing is a lot like baseball. Home runs get the headlines, but it’s the singles and doubles that win the game. High-performing teams focus on reliable plays that consistently advance pipeline, rather than swinging for splashy one-time wins. That’s what earns marketing credibility.
This shift requires marketing to rethink what it’s measuring and why. When KPIs are aligned with business priorities, CMOs gain the clarity and confidence to invest in what’s working – and walk away from what’s not. This can range depending on industry and model, but all things being equal, CMOs who align their KPIs with top-level business priorities see greater credibility, influence, and most importantly, funding amidst their c-suite peers.
Buyers are doing their homework. In fact, they’re often deep in the weeds of researching a solution before ever engaging with a brand directly. That’s a reality for us B2B marketers, and it reinforces the importance of having systems and content in place to meet buyers where they are − before they ask for support.
An integrated martech stack − combining sales platforms, intent data, and marketing automation − enables marketing teams to identify engagement throughout the funnel and uncover how buyers begin their decision-making process. Engaging during this often-invisible phase creates a more informed, accelerated buying cycle. It also positions your brand and sales team to lead when it’s time for the buyer to act.
We asked four generations of B2B technology buyers about their buying habits, preferences, and what resources they turn to throughout the sales funnel. Their responses revealed how marketers can best reach and engage those who matter most: buyers who sign checks.
The idea of “marketing dials” is rooted in predictability. When you know which programs reliably produce results, you can confidently plan, forecast, and adjust without flying blind.
This is especially important in a world where plans shift quickly. Whether scaling up or navigating cuts, CMOs need clarity on what’s performing, what’s scalable, and what’s dispensable. Treating marketing like a portfolio, with tested plays and reliable channels, allows teams to act, not react as change occurs (which is inevitable in the world of B2B, even today).
Marketing’s role today extends beyond reach or activity. It’s about influence, alignment, and accountability. When marketing is evaluated based on the outcomes it enables, and not just the tactics it delivers, we demonstrate our role as a core driver of business performance.
That shift requires a shared understanding across the organization. From finance to sales to the boardroom, leaders need visibility into how marketing moves the business forward. That means linking campaigns to commercial goals, speaking in terms of business values, and showing how each initiative contributes to what matters most.
Todd said it best during “Marketing is All Dials,”: Treat marketing like a portfolio. Know where to invest, when to divest, and how to dial up what works. That level of clarity and control is what transforms marketing from a cost center into a strategic advantage and positions CMOs as true stewards of growth.
You can watch the full “Marketing is All Dials” episode of Arketi Live in ‘25 here. It’s packed with insights for CMOs working to make marketing more accountable, adaptable, and aligned with business priorities.
And be sure to check out our most recent episode, “$h!t Hits the Fan in B2B, Too,” where Erica England, Vice President at Arketi, and Terrie O’Hanlon, CMO at Agilysys, unpack how marketing leaders manage through disruption, pivot under pressure, and keep strategy steady when things don’t go to plan.
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