Confession time: I’m a marketer whose superpower lies in brand and product marketing. Crafting compelling stories about who you are, what makes you special, and why people should care? That’s been my bread and butter, professionally speaking, for the better part of the past two decades, and I love taking on those types of challenges.
I deeply believe in the power of brand marketing.
It can shape industries, command premium pricing, and drive sustained growth.
But, I also believe that marketing must be accountable for moving the needle on business outcomes. Metrics and data should back this accountability. Unfortunately, this is where I see parts of the marketing profession, especially in B2B sectors, cornering themselves.
This isn’t a new realization for me, but it’s fresh in my mind after reading an article titled “Why ROI Is Undermining B2B Marketing Effectiveness.” Its core argument, that marketing should be treated as a strategic investment rather than merely an operational cost, is valid and something I fully support. However, the article’s broader tone suggested that ROI and marketing, particularly brand marketing, are mutually exclusive. The implication, although not explicitly stated, is that marketers should reject ROI discussions, brush off metrics, and focus, like Jake and Elwood from The Blues Brothers, solely on their “mission from God.”
Clickbait headline? Perhaps, and kudos to the author if so. But the bigger issue here is the narrative that, whether serious or not, marketing should sidestep accountability is a dangerous one. That mentality, no matter how it’s framed, reinforces the damaging view that marketing is a fluff job rather than a business-critical function.
Here’s a universal truth for marketers to chew on: if you can’t measure it, it won’t be valued. And that’s on us.
Why Are We Still Fighting the Wrong Fight?
Throughout my career, I’ve always challenged the perception that marketing is akin to interior design for businesses. Nice to have if you can afford it but skip it if budgets are tight. It’s seen as a luxury, not a necessity.
I’ve witnessed this across startups, Fortune 50 companies, and everything in between. Examples pop up again and again.
- Marketing teams resisting any attempt to tie their work to revenue or pipeline metrics.
- Leaders pointing to meta-studies about the value of brand work instead of rolling up their sleeves to measure their brand’s direct business impact.
- Teams asking for freedom to do “great work” without proving it drives meaningful change.
And look, I get it. Measuring marketing’s impact can be tricky. Relying on short-term ROI alone as a measure of success is incomplete at best, and destructive at worst. Narrow ROI-focused thinking often risks overemphasizing immediate wins through lead generation while underinvesting in long-term brand equity.
But the answer isn’t to shun metrics altogether. We don’t have the luxury of ignoring accountability. By raging against measurement or treating it like the enemy, we make ourselves irrelevant at those critical decision-making tables. It’s like throwing out the compass because the path to measuring results seems foggy. Clarity doesn’t come by opting out.
Brand vs. Demand Is a False Choice
Too often, the marketing industry pits brand and demand against one another, as if they’re rivals in a zero-sum game. But this is flawed thinking. This isn’t a “choose one” situation. It’s a “yes, and.”
Yes, marketers need to demonstrate their contribution to the business with measurable results.
And yes, not everything worth doing neatly fits into a last-click attribution model.
Yes, brand-building takes time to show results.
And yes, thoughtful brand measurement through initiatives like brand tracking, competitive analysis, or measuring aided/unaided awareness can link brand investments to outcomes.
Yes, there are limits to attribution models.
And no, this does not give us license to reject measuring impact altogether
To stay relevant, marketing must balance both sides of the equation. Brand and demand are two sides of the same coin. Together, they create a marketing engine capable of delivering both short-term agility and long-term growth potential.
Marketing Must Earn Its Seat at the Table
If we want a seat at the decision-making table, where strategy and budgets are shaped, we need compelling proof that we belong in the room. Not just theories. Not just frameworks. We need hard numbers and insights that prove our contribution.
That doesn’t mean falling into the trap of obsessing over short-term ROI. It does mean demonstrating tangible business impact. Metrics like revenue growth, market share, pipeline contribution, and brand salience should all form part of the marketing narrative we present to C-suites and boards.
There’s a simple truth here that we can’t ignore. The more we resist accountability, the more we sideline ourselves from major business decisions.
Use Measurement as a Tool, Not a Burden
Measurement shouldn’t feel like a burden. It’s a means of making the case for what marketing can truly achieve. It doesn’t have to kill creativity or undermine brand-building work. In fact, it should empower you to amplify both effectively.
Here are a few actionable strategies to move the needle on marketing accountability:
- Prioritize Strategic Dashboards
Move beyond vanity metrics. Create dashboards that showcase how your marketing efforts tie to key business priorities. Highlight trends in repeat purchase rates, pipeline acceleration, or category growth. Move the conversation from clicks and impressions to improvements in things like sales velocity, lifetime value, and churn.
- Build Robust Brand Tracking Studies
Measure and evaluate long-term shifts in brand awareness, customer perception, and competitive positioning. Use changes in customer behaviour and satisfaction to connect brand-building efforts to business performance.
- Educate the C-Suite on Marketing’s Role
Speak the language of business leaders. Show how customer sentiment shifts or category leadership impacts margin, and use attribution models alongside competitor analyses to tell the full story.
- Test and Scale What Works
Experiment to strike a balance between short-term lead generation and long-term brand growth investments. When something moves the needle, amplify it.
- Lead Open Dialogue Within Your Organization
Transparency builds trust. Discuss the limits of attribution models with your leadership team, but come prepared with alternative metrics that reinforce the value of brand investments.
The Final Word
Marketing today isn’t just an art. It’s a balanced combination of creativity and science. Those who lean too heavily on one side risk irrelevance.
For the CEOs and CFOs reading this, what do you wish your marketing leaders better understood about your business and how it operates? I’m guessing that if you’ve made it this far in the article, your answer to that question is: More than what they currently understand. If so, start by having that conversation. If you want your marketing organization to be more than a “deli counter” waiting for “the real drivers of the business” to pull a number and place an order, invite them into the broader discussion. My guess is that they’ve been clamoring for it. If your marketing leader isn’t ready or able to hold their own, that’s an entirely different conversation.
And, to my fellow marketers, do you want to elevate your role, and the perception of marketing? If so, be prepared to champion the message of accountability. Embrace it. Not as a threat, but as a tool to demonstrate marketing’s true value. Because if we want to be part of big business decisions, we need compelling proof that we belong in the room.
It’s time to stop fearing metrics and start using them.
Let’s raise the bar on what marketing can be.
Who’s with me?
About The Author
Chris Burns is an Operating Partner with Sunstone Management Advisors and the Founder of Mend Growth Advisors. He is a marketing executive and business operator with a track record of helping growth-stage to Fortune 50 companies scale smarter, position more clearly, and turn marketing into a strategic growth engine. His career spans B2B, B2B2C, and B2C across the healthcare, SaaS, and services sectors, and is unified by a focus on brand storytelling, product marketing, and building high-performing teams. He has launched and repositioned companies, designed go-to-market strategies that deliver measurable outcomes, and led transformational business change from the front lines.
