Before you read on, a quick note on what you’re seeing here.
This is a stripped down version of the findings of Considered Content’s Revenue Rift research. If you want more in-depth analysis, prettier deign and a PDF download option, head over to the full report here.
B2B marketers are under more pressure to deliver revenue than at any point in recent memory, and most of them can’t prove they’re delivering it.
More than half (52%) of mid-market and enterprise marketers say they’re under a lot of pressure to produce pipeline and revenue. Some 86% report that pressure has grown over the past year. Yet only 23% feel confident of actually hitting their targets.
That distance between what’s expected and what can be proven is what we’ve come to call The Revenue Rift.
Most of the commentary around this problem treats it as a tactical one. It’s as though the stress boils down to picking between ABM and inbound, or chasing whichever channel happens to be in vogue. That reading misses the point. The real shift is blunter: the C-suite has started asking marketing to hit numbers with hard currency attached, and marketing hasn’t yet worked out how to prove it can.
To understand that gap, we surveyed 150 senior B2B marketers across technology, professional services, financial services, construction and manufacturing, split evenly between the mid-market and enterprise. Here’s what the data shows about the rift between expectation and proof.
The strain is intense, it’s climbing and it falls hardest on the sectors least able to prove their numbers.
| How much pressure | % of marketers |
|---|---|
| Under a lot of pressure to deliver pipeline and revenue | 52% |
| Under a lot of pressure (enterprise only) | 56% |
| Say the pressure has worsened in the last 12 to 18 months | 86% |
| Say it has increased a lot | 49% |
| Expect the pressure to intensify further next year | 59% |
So 52% of mid-market and enterprise marketers feel a lot of pressure, rising to 56% at enterprise level. And a striking 86% say it has worsened over the past 12 to 18 months.
Professional services has seen the sharpest change, leaving 70% of its marketers under a lot of pressure, with technology close behind on 60%. Those same two sectors expect the squeeze to tighten most next year, at 70% and 63% respectively.
In a word: revenue. More and more of it. Given the pressure, it’s no surprise that pipeline and revenue are climbing the priority list. And the larger the firm, the harder that bites.
| Revenue priority | % of marketers |
|---|---|
| Increasing marketing-driven revenue is a key priority | 31% |
| Same, enterprise marketers | 34% |
| Increasing pipeline and revenue is the number one metric | Tops the list |
Across all respondents, 31% name increasing marketing-driven revenue as a key priority, rising to 34% at enterprise level. And increasing pipeline and revenue came out as the single most important metric, just ahead of closed-won rates.
Nor is this confined to the usual suspects. Over half of manufacturing marketers put revenue in the key-priority bucket for the year ahead. What gets measured is what matters. And right now revenue is what matters.
Not yet — and this is the heart of the rift. Marketers are tracking more than they ever have, while proving less than they need to.
| Metric in use | % of marketers |
|---|---|
| Number of qualified leads | 50% (most common) |
| Closed-won sales | 45% |
| Win rate | 42% |
| Email opens and clicks | 40% |
| Net new leads | 39% |
| Marketing-generated pipeline | 37% |
| Social engagement | 32% |
| Return on investment | 27% |
Just 37% use marketing-generated pipeline as a key metric. This trails tactical measures such as email opens and clicks on 40%. And when asked to name their single most important metric, total marketing-generated pipeline and revenue topped the list. However, they accounted for just 14% of responses.
The picture that emerges is of marketers measuring revenue from a dozen different angles while too few track it from the one that actually counts. Faced with a CFO asking to see the numbers, most would struggle to answer.
Because it quietly rewrites your whole strategy.
The measures on offer fall into two camps, and which camp you favour says a lot about how you operate. Outcome metrics (eg, revenue, closed-won, win rate) measure value delivered to the business. Input metrics (eg, qualified leads) measure the activity that feeds sales.
Just over a third of marketers will explicitly pin their success to revenue, while a much larger share falls back on lead volume. Lead counts feel safe because they sit within marketing’s control. But they’re also a way of tossing leads over the wall to sales and calling the job done.
The more useful discipline is to measure what closes rather than what you can simply hand off.
Because it is the fastest lever marketers have, and almost nobody is pulling it. Just 23% of B2B marketers measure pipeline velocity (the speed at which deals move through the cycle).
Well, it’s enormous. 82% of marketers say they need to improve the link between marketing activity and revenue, and a third need dramatic improvement.
There is no single definition of B2B ROI. And the one you choose tells you what kind of marketer you are.
| ROI focus | % of marketers |
|---|---|
| Value of pipeline generated | 27% |
| Customer lifetime value (CLV) | 24% |
| Marketing-generated revenue | 18% |
The most common ROI focus is pipeline value (on 27%), then customer lifetime value (24%) and marketing-generated revenue comes third (18%).
Pipeline is an input measure. It splits marketing from sales. Generate the leads, throw them over the wall, move on. CLV and revenue are value measures that only pay out if everyone along the chain does their part.
On targets, marketers split fairly evenly between aiming for 1:1 to 2:1 returns (27%) and a stiffer 2:1 to 5:1 (28%). The trouble is hitting them. Across the study, marketers hit their ROI targets just under 45% of the time, with technology the best performer on 53%.
Just 23% are sure of hitting their revenue and pipeline targets. In essence, this is the rift captured in a single figure.
| Sector | % sure of hitting targets |
|---|---|
| Professional services | 50% |
| Technology | 40% |
| All B2B marketers | 23% |
| Financial services | 3% |
| Manufacturing | 3% |
That 23% overall is propped up by professional services on 50% and technology on 40%, while financial services and manufacturing sit in something close to a crisis of confidence at 3% each.
Enterprise fares worst of all, with 40% of enterprise marketers either not very confident or not at all confident. Maximum pressure paired with minimum confidence is the profile of an organisation heading for a difficult conversation.
Not budget. Not headcount. Not time. When marketers were asked what would stop them hitting their numbers, the answers were uncomfortable, and every one of them ranked above the usual excuses.
| Rank | Barrier | % citing it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lack of clarity from management | 23% |
| 2 | Unreasonably short timeframes | 22% |
| 3 | Sales and marketing misalignment | 21% |
| 4= | Poor quality content | 20% (41% in financial services) |
| 4= | Underperforming agency partners | 20% (30% manufacturing, 29% financial services) |
The top barrier is lack of clarity from management on 23%, followed by unreasonably short timeframes on 22%, sales and marketing misalignment on 21%, and poor content and underperforming agencies tied on 20%.
None of those are solved by a bigger budget. They are solved by a shared language about what revenue actually means.
Two of those barriers deserve a closer look. Short timeframes collide with the basic reality of B2B: quarterly targets stacked on top of multi-quarter sales cycles. Poor content is an epidemic because it has never been easier to produce, and most thought leadership is anything but.
Today, content has to be outstanding to stand out. Psychopathically focused on the customer, genuinely insightful and tied to a clear next action.
The bar is now very high. That is a problem for many firms and an opportunity for a few.
The report distils everything into three action points:
01. Get on the same wavelength as the C-suite.
The pressure to deliver revenue isn’t going away, so understand what CEOs and CFOs actually care about and where revenue targets come from. Speak their language, not yours.
02. Measure what matters.
You can now measure almost anything, which is exactly the problem. Focus on indicators that point to revenue, in volume, velocity and tactical effectiveness, and get a grip on attribution by moving towards a multi-touch approach.
03. Establish more effective relationships with sales.
Alignment is the floor, not the ceiling. Marketing needs to understand what drives standout sales success and apply its skillset as a multiplier at every stage of the cycle, while sales feeds back the frontline insight that produces better leads.
These statistics come from The Revenue Rift, a study commissioned by Considered Content because the available research was too tactical, too small-business heavy, too sector-skewed or too US-centric.
The research surveyed 150 senior B2B marketers in UK companies turning over more than £7.5m, evenly split between the mid-market (under 1,000 employees) and enterprise (over 1,000 employees), with an even spread across technology, professional services, financial services, construction and manufacturing.
The study was produced by Considered Content, a B2B thought leadership agency. The firm’s view is simple. Out-think the market, do not outspend it.
You can read the full Revenue Rift report or contact the team at hello@consideredcontent.com.
How much revenue pressure are B2B marketers under? 52% of mid-market and enterprise B2B marketers are under a lot of pressure to deliver pipeline and revenue. This rises to 56% at enterprise level. Some 86% say that pressure has grown over the past 12 to 18 months, and 59% expect it to intensify further.
How confident are marketers of hitting their targets? Only 23% are sure of hitting their revenue and pipeline targets. Professional services (50%) and technology (40%) are the most confident, while financial services and manufacturing sit at just 3% each. And 40% of enterprise marketers are not very or not at all confident.
How well do marketers link marketing to revenue? 82% of B2B marketers say they need to improve the link between marketing activity and revenue, and a quarter use no attribution at all. Only 31% use any form of multi-touch attribution. Nearly 60% use an attribution tool, though no single vendor holds more than 10% of the market. (Considered Content’s Revenue Rift report)
What is pipeline velocity, and how many measure it? Pipeline velocity is the speed at which deals move through the sales cycle. Only 23% of B2B marketers measure it, falling to 17% in professional services. This is despite the fact that accelerating the cycle pulls revenue forward, exposes friction points and brings sales and marketing closer together.
What are the biggest barriers to hitting revenue targets? The five largest are a lack of clarity from management (23%), unreasonably short timeframes (22%), sales-and-marketing misalignment (21%), poor quality content (20%) and underperforming agency partners (20%). All five rank above budget, time and headcount.