If your marketing team isn’t directly tied to pipeline, it’s time to rethink how things are measured. Marketing today is expected to drive revenue, not just impressions or clicks. That means focusing on sourced pipeline, tracking attribution clearly, and making sure sales and marketing are always aligned.
The first step is visibility. Marketing-sourced pipeline should be a regular metric reviewed by both teams. This includes leads that convert into opportunities and opportunities that actually close. Attribution tools need to go beyond first and last touch. Multi-touch attribution gives a better picture of what actually influenced a deal. If your system can't clearly show what marketing channels are generating real business, you’re flying blind.
Alignment between sales and marketing isn’t just about having the same goals. It’s about having shared workflows and feedback loops. If sales doesn’t trust the leads they’re getting, they won’t follow up quickly. And if marketing doesn’t know what happens after a handoff, they can’t improve. The best marketing orgs treat sales like a core customer and work closely on everything from lead scoring to messaging.
B2B buying cycles are long, but they don’t have to be slow. The best way to shorten the cycle is through targeted messaging that addresses buyer needs earlier. This means investing in persona-specific content, mapping messaging to each stage of the journey, and using intent data to personalize outreach. When buyers see relevant, specific content at the right time, they move faster.
One area where many teams fall short is nurturing middle-funnel leads. These leads aren’t ready for sales, but they also don’t want more surface-level content. Instead of generic newsletters, think about retargeting ads, email sequences tied to behavior, or even direct mail to re-engage high-value accounts. Speeding up the funnel doesn’t always mean adding more to the top. It’s often about removing friction in the middle.
On the operations side, make sure your systems are speaking the same language. CRM and marketing automation tools should be integrated, with agreed-upon definitions of a lead, MQL, and SQL. Without a shared source of truth, measurement gets messy and finger-pointing follows. Tight ops alignment makes it easier to trust the data and act on it.
Ultimately, marketing should be a growth engine. That means owning a percentage of pipeline, working from shared dashboards with sales, and continuously optimizing based on conversion data. Attribution isn’t just about reporting success; it’s about figuring out where to double down and where to shift strategy.
If your marketing team is focused only on brand or awareness, you’re likely missing revenue opportunities. With the right focus on pipeline, attribution, sales alignment, and personalized messaging, marketing can become one of the most powerful levers for growth in a B2B business.
Sam Khoury
Founder, Cedar Consultants
Creative consulting solutions for Adtech