ROI in B2B marketing was meant as a noble metric to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing investments. But in our quest to prove the return to our CEO and CFO, we’ve tried to apply metrics to tactical outcomes to justify our budgets.
Complex B2B buying situations take months, involve many stakeholders and rely on things we can’t know or see because buyers choose to self-educate until they refine their shortlist. Therefore, it simply doesn’t make sense to report things like:
- Every dollar spent on email returns $X in revenue.
- Our display ads created #X MQLs.
- Campaign A contributed $X to pipeline.
ROI in B2B marketing is distracting us from what drives effectiveness. Without effectiveness, there is limited ROI to report. It’s not a tactic or two that makes the difference. It’s the entirety of brand plus demand. And each of those plays impacts different timelines — the former impacts the latter.
We consented to the devaluation of B2B marketing
I’m not saying ROI isn’t essential; it is. But the way we apply it today is like short-sheeting our beds.
Once marketing automation systems came along, we had data. We got giddy with the ability to report activity as outcomes — email opens, clicks, content views, time spent on page, depth of scroll, recency and frequency of website visits and growth in website traffic. Then, social media allowed us to count followers, post impressions and comments and more.
These are valuable gauges to evaluate execution. But in isolation, each lacks the story of the buying journey. We use ROI to report on pieces and parts, not the overall impact.
Short-term demand capture effects are simpler than long-term brand investments because they’re closer to revenue and provide data for reporting your leadership team wants. About 71% of CMOs say they pursue marketing tactics they can measure more easily.
Dr. Debbie Qaqish interviewed 31 marketing leaders about the shift from strategy to tactics, a trend she calls “the big squeeze,” detailed in the report “The Big Squeeze in Marketing” (registration required). It includes many quotes from the interviews, including:
- “Every dollar spent on marketing has to show a direct correlation to pipeline. If it’s not measurable, it’s not valuable.”
The mandate for ROI distracts us from finding and pursuing growth opportunities in the market — not all of which are measurable in the short term.
Dig deeper: The effectiveness crisis in B2B marketing
How ROI took over B2B marketing
ROI is the rallying cry of CEOs and CFOs. Executives demand we prove ROI for every marketing program, tactic and strategy a brand uses. However, the metric lacks meaning without a focus on the overall marketing effort. Using data this way, we’ve trained our companies to focus on the short term — ignoring the long term, as if buying complex solutions is straightforward.
We know better, don’t we? We know that without investment in brand to drive demand, there is no demand to capture. Our buyers have changed, taken control, pushed sales reps to the backend of their process and are forcing our hand. Add to this the recognition that a tiny percentage of our potential customers are in-market at any time.
What worked in the past won’t work in the future. The meltdown of growth-at-all-costs in SaaS indicates the need for agility and a call to rethink how we go to market.
But we find ourselves stuck trying to shift ROI thinking in our leadership back to the big picture of marketing impact. We need to revive respect for the fundamentals of marketing and effectiveness, which make for a worthwhile investment in future growth — both for the short and long term.
Dig deeper: Smarter attribution strategies to help B2B marketers prove campaign value
A new way to measure brand investment
The IPA’s recent report, “Marketing is an Investment” (registration required), explores how U.K. and U.S. investment analysts perceive marketing. The research reveals a growing belief that effective marketing — especially brand-building — should be viewed as a long-term investment, not just a short-term cost. The report even suggests rethinking financial accounting practices, proposing that marketing spend be treated more like capital expenditure rather than written off as an operational expense in the period it occurs.
When the IPA asked investment analysts if marketing spend should be treated like technology R&D, where it is capitalized, 50% said yes, and 83% agreed that brand/marketing is very important in their analysis of companies. Both answers say that if brand investment is effective, much of its value will show up in the medium to longer term.
Dig deeper: How B2B marketing is becoming a strategic growth driver
B2B marketers must make the intangible tangible
The real challenge is learning how to market to our CEOs and CFOs — most of whom have limited understanding of marketing fundamentals. That gap and our overreliance on ROI to justify spend, often works against us.
What if we could get our CFO to run an “off the books” comparison that tracks brand investment as capital expense (capex) and performance marketing as operational expense (opex)? Sure, there are details to work out, but it could be an internal validation until accounting rules change.
We include brand assets in the valuation when we sell a company. Why isn’t investment in brand a line item on the balance sheet that bolsters overall company value?
To prove the impact of marketing spend, we need to quit trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Instead, we need to show the ongoing value of brand investment over the longer term as a factor driving both present and future growth.
Another possibility is to benchmark customer acquisition cost (CAC) and customer lifetime value (CLTV) and measure improvements. If brand investment works, you should see lower CAC and higher CLTV over time. CFOs can relate to those metrics. Both outcomes point to higher profits — not operational expenses.
A Wynter survey of CFOs found that 73% are supportive or cautious but open to brand marketing. They’re simply frustrated by vague claims, marketers’ inability to speak the language of finance and brand initiatives without ties to financial outcomes or competitive differentiation.
How are you building support with your CFO for B2B brand marketing?
Dig deeper: A 3-step guide to unlocking marketing ROI with causal AI
The post Why ROI is undermining B2B marketing effectiveness appeared first on MarTech.
**How an Overemphasis on ROI is Reducing the Effectiveness of B2B Marketing Strategies**
In the world of business-to-business (B2B) marketing, return on investment (ROI) has long been the gold standard for measuring success. Marketers are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the tangible value of their efforts, often through short-term metrics that tie directly to revenue. While ROI is undoubtedly important, an overemphasis on this single metric is beginning to erode the long-term effectiveness of B2B marketing strategies.
This article explores how an excessive focus on ROI can hinder innovation, damage brand equity, and ultimately reduce the overall impact of B2B marketing initiatives.
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### The ROI Obsession: A Double-Edged Sword
ROI is a critical component of any marketing strategy. It helps justify budgets, optimize campaigns, and align marketing activities with business goals. However, when ROI becomes the sole or dominant metric for success, it can lead to a narrow, short-term mindset that overlooks the broader objectives of marketing.
In B2B environments, where sales cycles are often long and complex, the impact of marketing is not always immediately measurable. Yet, the pressure to prove ROI quickly can lead marketers to prioritize tactics that deliver fast results—such as paid search or lead generation campaigns—while neglecting foundational efforts like brand building, thought leadership, and relationship development.
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### The Pitfalls of ROI-Driven Marketing
1. **Neglect of Brand Building**
Brand equity is a powerful driver of long-term business success. In B2B markets, a strong brand can reduce perceived risk, shorten sales cycles, and command premium pricing. However, brand-building efforts often don’t yield immediate, quantifiable returns, making them vulnerable in ROI-centric environments. As a result, companies may underinvest in brand awareness campaigns, content marketing, and public relations—activities that are essential for establishing credibility and trust.
2. **Short-Termism**
When ROI is the primary focus, marketing strategies tend to favor short-term wins over sustainable growth. This can lead to an overreliance on performance marketing channels that deliver quick leads but may not nurture long-term customer relationships. Over time, this short-termism can erode customer loyalty and reduce lifetime value.
3. **Stifled Innovation**
Innovative marketing tactics often involve experimentation and risk—two elements that don’t always align with immediate ROI. Marketers may shy away from testing new platforms, creative formats, or messaging strategies if they can’t guarantee a positive return in the short term. This risk aversion can lead to stagnation and missed opportunities for differentiation in increasingly competitive markets.
4. **Misaligned Metrics**
ROI calculations can be misleading if they don’t account for the full customer journey. For example, attributing revenue to a single touchpoint ignores the complex, multi-channel path that B2B buyers typically follow. This can result in misallocated budgets and an incomplete understanding of what truly drives conversions.
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### A More Balanced Approach to B2B Marketing Measurement
To counteract the downsides of ROI obsession, B2B marketers should adopt a more holistic approach to performance measurement—one that balances short-term returns with long-term value creation.
1. **Embrace Multi-Metric Evaluation**
Instead of relying solely on ROI, consider a broader set of KPIs that reflect different stages of the marketing funnel. Metrics such as brand awareness, engagement rates, customer satisfaction, and share of voice can provide a more comprehensive view of marketing effectiveness.
2. **Invest in Attribution Modeling**
Advanced attribution models can help marketers understand how various touchpoints contribute to conversions over time. This enables more accurate ROI assessments and better-informed budget decisions.
3. **Prioritize Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)**
Shifting focus from immediate ROI to CLV encourages strategies that foster long-term relationships, such as account-based marketing (ABM), customer success initiatives, and personalized content experiences.
4. **Foster a Culture of Experimentation**
Encourage innovation by setting aside a portion of the marketing budget for testing and learning. Not every experiment will yield a positive ROI, but the insights gained can lead to breakthroughs that drive long-term success.
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### Conclusion
ROI is an essential metric, but it should not be the sole determinant of marketing strategy. In the complex landscape of B2B marketing, where relationships, trust, and reputation play a critical role, an overemphasis on short-term financial returns can undermine the very foundations of effective marketing. By adopting a more balanced, long-term perspective, B2B marketers can create strategies that not only deliver measurable results but also build lasting value for their organizations.
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