we control what we pay attention to

There’s always been healthy sparring between marketing leaders and CEO/CFOs with regards to MROI An imperfect yet necessary partnership. Unfortunately, severe cracks are now evident in that partnership as the esprit de corps has evolved into open animosity. An uncertain macro business climate coupled with unprecedented AI innovation is rEvolutionising fundamental economic principals. If a revenue civil war breaks out in your organisation, we all know who wins.

I have spent nearly twenty-five years in enterprise sales, marketing, and operational roles, and take no formal side in this struggle. My goal is to save this imperfect union, even if rEvolutionary action is required. The reality of battlefield demonstrates concessions must be made by marketing first. Are there external and internal obstacles outside of marketing’s control? Absolutely! But the first concession that must be made is “attention”.

We control what we pay attention to. Concentration on soft KPIs and fuzzy attribution must be replaced with an obsession on cause and effect and time to impact. Marketing leaders must directly answer for budget spent. “How much money did we make/lose with the money we spent?” And “how long did it take to make/lose that money?”. These are the questions the c-suite demands answers to and, will keep asking until they find someone who will.

Accountability is a two-way street. I know many of my CMO brother and sisters are yelling, “I can’t measure that! I don’t have the tools/people.” Revenue performance platforms (marketing mix modeling) exist that can close marketing’s ROIgap at the speed of the campaigns and programs that are launched. These platforms can answer to the dollar and day “how much” and ”how long”.

But it’s up to marketing to decide what to pay attention to.