In the competitive world of business, marketing plays a pivotal role to drive revenue generation, brand equity, and overall business valuation. Companies that view branding and advertising as a growth strategy are twice as likely to see revenue growth of 5% or more than those that don’t (source: “Put Marketing at the Core of Your Growth Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, March 2024).
Defining Marketing’s Role
At its core, marketing is the engine that fuels customer acquisition and retention. It involves deeply understanding ideal customers, building brand awareness, and generating quality leads. Effective marketing supports the entire buyer journey, crafting compelling messages and experiences that resonate with the target audience.
When executed well, marketing creates a unique and superior value proposition that sets a company apart from competitors. This differentiation is key to attracting and retaining customers, building brand loyalty, and driving higher customer lifetime value.
Contributing to the Bottom Line
Marketing’s impact on a company’s bottom line is multifaceted and far-reaching. Here are three significant ways in which marketing drives profitability and valuation:
- Efficient Revenue Growth: Marketing efforts scale the work of sales teams, reaching a broader audience faster and more cost-effectively than relying solely on one-to-one sales activities.
- Strengthening Brand Equity: A strong, well-crafted brand commands higher prices and increases a company’s attractiveness to investors or potential acquirers. Marketing lays the foundation for a company’s reputation, fostering trust and credibility among customers, partners, and employees alike.
- Sales Augmentation: Marketing supports sales teams by providing valuable insights, enabling more informed conversations, and ultimately driving higher deal velocities and closure rates.
Measuring Marketing’s Impact
As business leaders become more data-driven, they increasingly demand visibility into the effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) of marketing efforts. Companies that lack this visibility operate at a disadvantage, relying on instinct rather than data-driven decision-making.
To accurately gauge marketing’s impact, businesses should focus on three key metrics:
- Impressions – brand visibility measured by website visits, social media followers, and ad views
- Leads – a conversion at any stage of the prospect lifecycle
- Customers – the quantity and value of new business
While many other marketing metrics exist, companies that can effectively track and optimize these core areas have the foundation for measuring marketing’s effectiveness.
Ultimately, ROI is calculated by taking the gross margin generated from marketing-attributed revenue and subtracting the associated acquisition and fulfillment costs. However, it’s important to remember that marketing’s impact extends beyond quantifiable metrics; intangible factors like customer perception, trust, and reputation are equally critical to a business’s success.
Convincing the Unconvinced
For companies that have yet to fully embrace marketing, presenting case studies, industry benchmarks, and examples of competitors’ successful marketing strategies can help illustrate the potential for growth. Highlighting marketing’s role in supporting sales, entering new markets, building brand equity, and increasing customer loyalty – all of which contribute to a company’s valuation – can motivate investment in strategic marketing efforts.
For example, we helped an industrial seal company increase their leads by 49% and add 41 new customers in 6 months. Read our case study for details.
A pilot program is a great way to get started with evaluating how marketing can support the sales process. Be sure to give the program enough time and budget to be effective. In the B2B environment, it often does not take much to recoup the costs of a successful marketing campaign.
Getting Started
In today’s digital age, businesses that fail to leverage marketing risk being left behind by competitors who effectively tell their story and reach their target audiences. As a trusted advisor, you have the opportunity to guide business owners in recognizing marketing’s potential to drive sustainable growth, profitability, and long-term enterprise value.
Knowmad is here to help you design and build a digital marketing program that gets measurable business results. Reach out to William McKee and discover the potential that a data-driven marketing plan can make for your business.