Chapter 01:
Measuring the long-term impact of marketing
With marketing teams pressured to deliver a stream of warm leads to the sales team, many businesses focus too much on short-term demand generation activity, at the expense of longer-term brand development – which itself delivers leads in the mid-to-long term. LinkedIn's research in 2019 showed that the average marketing budget split was 45% brand, 55% demand activation - this exactly reflects the results of this 2021 survey. The LinkedIn report suggests marketers should use the 50:50 rule when considering the budget split. LinkedIn also reports that only 4% of B2B marketing teams measure the impact of marketing campaigns beyond six months, making it difficult to secure executive buy-in for campaigns that might not generate meaningful returns for one or two years, if not longer.
A heavier focus on demand activation had been driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, argues Ashish Babu, Chief Marketing Officer for Europe & UK at Tata Consultancy Services. Before Covid, the split between demand generation and brand building was more even, but the pandemic forced the tech sector to reimagine how to engage with clients and prospects in the virtual environment. “Everyone was focused on short term goals, and it was literally one week at a time. It helped bring in the rigor and better understanding between sales and marketing teams,” he says.
That’s not to say that longer-term brand building activity has gone away. Many of the marketing executives we spoke to for this eBook said there was an increasing focus on brand development, even if it was harder to get business buy-in for such projects. For example, at Cognizant, the marketing team is typically focused
I’m talking about looking at the next six months, but really I’m looking 18 months out and creating leads where we want to be selling in the future, versus where we’re selling right now.
on 18 months out, says Diana Buxton, Chief Marketing Officer, Banking, Capital Markets & Insurance at Cognizant. “I’m talking about looking at the next six months, but really I’m looking 18 months out and creating leads where we want to be selling in the future, versus where we’re selling right now.”
Diana Buxton
Chief Marketing Officer, Banking
Capital Markets & Insurance
Cognizant