Forget vanity metrics, here’s what tells you if marketing is really driving growth.
Let’s be honest: marketing can look impressive on a dashboard and still do absolutely nothing for your bottom line.
If you’re a CEO or Founder reviewing slide after slide of impressions, likes, clicks and “engagement” rates, and still wondering where the actual growth is, this one’s for you.
Here are the marketing metrics that actually matter if you’re serious about aligning marketing with revenue.
If marketing isn’t contributing and influencing pipeline, it’s not performing.
This is the single most important metric to gauge whether your marketing efforts are generating real, qualified opportunities, ones your sales team actually want to close.
Ask:
If the answer is vague or missing entirely, it’s time to re-evaluate how campaigns are being planned, tracked, and reported.
Not everything will be sourced by marketing, but if marketing isn’t influencing late-stage deals or accelerating close rates, it’s still underdelivering.
Think:
Track where marketing has a role in progressing deals, even if it didn’t originate them.
How much does it actually cost to acquire a new customer, and is that sustainable? For example; you might want to go after Enterprise businesses, but are you ready for the price tag that comes with that.
Marketing should be part of that equation. A wildly inefficient paid strategy can tank your CAC quickly, especially if it’s feeding low-quality leads into sales.
Compare CAC over time and by channel. The goal: steady or decreasing CAC as your strategy matures.
CLTV is what gives marketing permission to spend. If your customers stick around, upsell, advocate, and renew, you can justify the upfront investment.
Marketing should actively contribute to CLTV by:
Are your campaigns helping shorten the sales cycle, or dragging it out?
Great marketing does more than generate interest. It answers questions, builds trust, and gets buyers ready to buy faster.
If your sales cycle is growing while marketing spend increases, it’s time for a strategic reset.
Are leads actually converting? Or are you just paying to feed a black hole?
This metric cuts through the top-of-funnel theatre and shows you whether marketing is attracting buyers, not browsers.
If conversion is low, the problem isn’t just sales. It’s probably targeting, messaging, or the offer itself.
It’s one thing to know your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) individually, but the real insight comes from understanding the ratio between them.
A healthy CAC:LTV ratio tells you if your marketing spend is justified. Too low, and you’re underinvesting in growth. Too high, and you’re likely burning cash for minimal return.
Rule of thumb:
If your ratio is out of balance, your marketing is either inefficient or not aligned with the right audience—and scaling will only amplify the problem.
Pipeline velocity tells you how quickly your leads are converting into revenue, across the whole sales cycle. It’s where sales and marketing alignment gets real.
It’s not just about volume, it’s about speed and quality.
The formula (simplified):
(# of qualified opportunities × average deal size × win rate) ÷ sales cycle length
If your velocity is sluggish, it’s time to ask:
Great marketing doesn’t just fill the funnel, it speeds up your ability to win.
❌ Impressions
❌ Likes
❌ Email opens
❌ MQL volume without context
❌ Marketing attribution that is only last or first touch – attribution is messy and that’s good!
These aren’t bad, they’re just not decision-maker metrics. They’re useful for channel optimisation, not boardroom conversations.
If you’re not getting clear answers, your marketing isn’t aligned with your business goals. Period.
That’s what we do at Advocitude. We help B2B companies connect marketing to revenue, with the data, direction, and execution to back it up.