You’ve heard the 50 year old quote “Half of our advertising is working. We just don’t know which half.” Yet, it’s astonishing how many CEOs at B2B companies still accept vague marketing performance as a fact of life.

Batting 500 may be great in baseball, but not in marketing or sales. CEOs have to demand that every marketing activity has a measurable ROI. No more strikeouts. No more pop ups. Marketing objectives like branding and positioning are simply a means to an end. The true measure of marketing success has to be sales success.

In today’s Internet-enabled world marketing has to be held accountable. Why? Because B2B buyers have changed. They no longer wait for sales people to inform them about products. They are more independent. According a July 2007 survey of buyers in the chemical industry, less than 28% said they rely on sales people for information on new products. Buyers are out there on the web beginning the buying process long before your sales people call. Without marketing, you will be left on the bench. So be aware. Be demanding. Be a winner.

Related posts:

1. New media or old media, the debate rages on
2. 2008 B2B Marketing Budgets- Spend More on Online Marketing
3. The Marketing Imagination
4. Recession regression? Creative marketing can be the difference between a “good job” and a “goodbye”…
5. Is your marketing suffering from the “7 Year Itch”?

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About the author:

Joe Schubert is the founder and CEO of Schubert Communications. He takes great pride in the agency’s B2B Sales-Centric Marketing™ approach based on many years of B2B client support. Joe keeps busy flying his Cesna, golfing, skiing and reading up on the industry’s latest trends.