The flaw in the entire GTM motion starts at the foundation. We split digital roles at the entry level into paid search and paid social - why? When paid social became a thing, was it because paid search managers didn’t want to learn paid social, or because lazy marketing leaders didn’t figure out how search and social were interconnected? This fraction begins with having paid search and paid social handled by separate people. Then, we give different goals to paid search and paid social. That leads to separate paid and organic pipeline goals. And eventually, we end up with separate inbound and outbound goals. Now here we are, with a broken GTM motion where teams work in silos, fighting for credit. Lately, I’ve been trying to deconstruct marketing - to understand how it’s perceived, how reports are done, and how teams are structured. Working with 15+ companies has given me the perspective to step back and see things more clearly. And what I see is there’s a fundamental issue in how companies think about growth, measure success, and structure teams and goals. Given all this, I haven’t found a better approach than demand generation. At its core, it remains the most revenue-efficient motion. But demand gen shouldn’t just be a marketing motion - it should be the entire GTM strategy. Maybe that’s what’s been missing. The success of this motion should be measured not just by the total pipeline generated, but also by sales velocity, sales cycles, and conversion rates between stages. This means there should be one pipeline: no inbound vs. outbound, no paid vs. organic, no paid search vs. paid social. And what does that mean for digital marketing? Marketers will need to learn to take a step back and see the bigger picture from the entry level—they’ll need to focus on more than just channel-specific performance. They’ll have to understand the relationship between direct conversions and influence, as well as unit economics. Is it hard? Yes. Impossible? Absolutely not. Think you are, or you can be one of these marketers? If so, I’m hiring full-time executors: nice base + 1% revenue share every month.
Interestingly, this is a very common issue. In my opinion, it doesn’t require deconstructing marketing itself — the deconstruction needs to happen at the department-level OKRs. The measurable, SMART-driven culture of OKRs often forces teams to focus on the wrong priorities, creating disconnections and fragmenting the funnel. The funnel concept, over 125 years old, originally centered on the buyer. However, it has shifted to a process of herding objects to the next stage, with stage conversion now being seen as a measure of success. In reality, the only stage that matters is the “show me the money” stage. Great work on highlighting this!
Totally agree - we need more connectivity! https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/ben-jones-b802263a_b2bmarketing-demandgen-activity-7248678637175025664-Mf-x?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android
You are absolutely right! I think this is especially a problem for larger organizations, where all the functions you mentioned are seperated in different teams with different reporting lines. Smaller orgs often don‘t have the ?beauty“ to have a dedicated paid social and paid search team. Also you see more often that SDRs sit in the same team as makrketers for having a more aligned G2M approach!
Commenting for ?????? working with Canberk Beker would be an incredible opportunity for any marketer and you'd learn from the maestro ?? ??
I think the tech that enables this type of thinking are HockeyStack or DreamData type of companies that merge all the efforts into one customer journey view.
Watching marketing teams fight over attribution is like watching kids argue about who picked up their toys first. Nobody wins and the room's still a mess. The reality is that channels work together like instruments in an orchestra. A solo violin might sound nice but you need the whole ensemble playing together to create something remarkable.
Marketing in general needs to be looked at in its totality to understand how things work together. What one team is doing will 100% have an impact on another team. Very few things are linear so direct effect whiles not impossible it rare.
Well said, Canberk Beker. Companies should prioritize an integrated marketing approach across all channels to align sales and marketing efforts. This not only strengthens brand and product positioning but also drives demand and keeps the brand top of mind for buyers.
I'd say we do measure Paid Search vs. Paid Social differently. We want the conversion or the pipeline generated of course, but we don't treat them the same because the goals of the platform are different. Paid Social is for consumption and distribution. Empower independent buying journeys. Of course we'd hope SRA is implemented to really see the pipleine impact, but at the end of the day, if we use each platform for what it's intended for, they'll be measured differently. Also, I think it is important to split out these pipelines by sources. Not all pipeline sources are created equal. Deploying the same playbook, engagement strategy, and resources to any lead agnostic of source is a waste. But I do agree with not siloing Search and Social, and also the fact that marketers have to learn unit economics.