Can Marketing Be Your Company’s - Revenue POWERHOUSE ?

Meet Jeff Pedowitz, President and CEO of The Pedowitz Group, and a Forbes Bestselling Author.

Under Jeff’s leadership, The Pedowitz Group has built a strong reputation in the global marketing community.

As a sought-after keynote speaker, Jeff has shared his expertise on prominent stages across more than 10 countries, helping shape the future of B2B marketing.

I’ve had the privilege of connecting with Jeff in my professional network over the past few years, and today, I’m thrilled to have him as a guest in this newsletter. Together, we’ll dive into the latest trends in B2B marketing and explore how businesses are evolving to become revenue-driven engines.

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Bhawna : With your rich experience in marketing working with global companies, can you please share your initial thoughts on latest marketing shifts in B2B industry

Jeff: In the world of B2B marketing, change is the only constant. For years, marketers focused heavily on lead scoring and attribution models—trying to identify the “perfect” lead and figure out which touchpoints contributed most to their eventual conversion. But now, the conversation is shifting. Businesses are realizing that these old metrics, while still valuable in certain contexts, are no longer enough to drive growth in today’s market. What’s taking their place? A new focus on account-based metrics, pipeline contribution, and, most importantly, revenue. It’s a trend that’s not only gaining momentum, but it’s fundamentally changing how we think about marketing’s role in the broader business ecosystem. And for good reason: at the end of the day, it’s not just about generating leads; it’s about contributing to the bottom line.

Bhawna : With so much been evolved in marketing over the years, do you think Lead Scoring and Attribution have run their course and are they still playing a critical role entire customer buying journey?

Jeff: Let’s start by acknowledging that lead scoring and attribution weren’t bad strategies. In fact, they were groundbreaking in their time. Lead scoring helped us prioritize prospects based on their behavior and demographic information. Attribution allowed us to trace a buyer’s journey and see which marketing efforts were most effective in getting that buyer to convert. These metrics offered insight into the customer journey and helped us optimize campaigns. But as marketing became more sophisticated, a few flaws in these models started to show. First, lead scoring often treated prospects as isolated individuals, rather than part of a larger buying group, which is especially problematic in B2B where purchase decisions are made by multiple stakeholders. You might score a lead as highly qualified based on their engagement, only to find out that they don’t have any real decision-making power within their organization. And then there’s attribution. As helpful as it is to understand the buyer’s journey, it’s become harder to accurately assign credit in an age where buyers interact with your brand across dozens of touchpoints. What part of the journey should get the credit for a sale? The first touchpoint? The last? All of them? The answers are murky, at best, and don’t necessarily give you an accurate picture of marketing’s true impact on the pipeline. In short, these models were fantastic in helping us understand parts of the buyer’s journey—but they didn’t tell the whole story.

?Bhawna: Fully agree with you on partial or limited scope of lead scoring in capturing customer engagement, so what do you see as alternate and more promising metrics to create and capture right demand generation?

?Jeff : The Rise of Account-Based Metrics!

Enter account-based metrics. If you’ve been in B2B marketing for any length of time, you’re already familiar with account-based marketing (ABM). It’s a strategy that focuses on targeting specific high-value accounts rather than casting a wide net. But ABM has evolved beyond just being a marketing tactic. It’s now the lens through which we view everything from sales strategy to customer success. In this new paradigm, the focus shifts from scoring individual leads to tracking engagement at the account level. This approach recognizes that in B2B, multiple people within an organization influence purchase decision. Instead of worrying about one lead’s actions, you’re now tracking how the entire account is engaging with your brand. Are they visiting your website? Engaging with your content? Attending your webinars? These collective actions across the account give you a much clearer picture of whether that business is likely to convert. More importantly, it allows for better alignment between sales and marketing. If you’ve ever dealt with the friction between sales and marketing teams, you know that it often boils down to how marketing defines a “qualified” lead. When the focus shifts to account engagement, it’s easier for both teams to agree on which accounts should be prioritized and why.

Bhawna : With elevated focus on need of alignment between Sales and marketing, how do you see new practices followed by marketing folks that can help striking that alignment ?

Jeff : Moving Beyond Attribution: Pipeline Contribution as the New North Star

While attribution models helped marketers understand which campaigns were working, they didn’t always paint an accurate picture of pipeline contribution. After all, what good is it to know that a prospect interacted with your white paper if that interaction didn’t actually push them closer to a purchase?That’s why pipeline contribution is becoming a far more valuable metric. Pipeline contribution measures how much marketing efforts directly influence the sales pipeline. It asks a more critical question: did marketing help move the deal forward? Instead of simply focusing on which campaigns generated clicks or downloads, pipeline contribution digs deeper into revenue generation and deal progression.This shift forces marketing teams to work more closely with sales, which is, frankly, long overdue. No more operating in silos where marketing is focused solely on generating leads, and sales is focused on closing deals. In this new model, both teams share responsibility for moving accounts through the funnel.In practical terms, tracking pipeline contribution means evaluating:?

? Which accounts were influenced by marketing campaigns??

? How did marketing accelerate the sales cycle?

?? What percentage of deals in the pipeline can be attributed to marketing efforts?

This is where you start to see real alignment between marketing and sales, because both teams are now focused on the same goal: moving deals forward and driving revenue.

Bhawna : What according to you can ensure Marketing gets a seat on the strategy table?

Jeff: Revenue, The Ultimate Measure of Success!

At the end of the day, the only metric that really matters is revenue. For years, marketing teams have been measured by metrics like leads generated and conversion rates, but these metrics don’t always correlate with actual business growth. You could generate 1,000 leads, but if none of those leads turn into paying customers, what’s the point? That’s why the shift toward revenue-based metrics is so critical. It’s not enough to generate leads or track account engagement—you need to understand how your efforts are contributing to the bottom line. This is where B2B marketing is heading, and for good reason: when marketing is held accountable for revenue, it drives better decision-making. By focusing on revenue, marketing teams are more likely to:?

? Align their strategies with sales goals.

? Invest in campaigns that drive high-quality leads.?

? Optimize the buyer’s journey to reduce friction and accelerate deal closures.

It’s a natural evolution that ties marketing more closely to business outcomes and ensures that marketing’s efforts are seen as directly valuable to the organization’s success.

Bhawna : Jeff would welcome your final thoughts and take away message for the Marketers who are reading and referring to this insightful conversation

Jeff : B2B marketing is moving beyond the era of lead scoring and attribution models to embrace a more account-based, revenue-driven approach. This shift isn’t just a trend—it’s a long-overdue correction that better aligns marketing with sales and business objectives. By focusing on account engagement, pipeline contribution, and revenue, marketing teams can deliver more value to their organizations. It’s about being more strategic, more aligned with sales, and ultimately, more impactful. So, as we move forward in this ever-evolving marketing landscape, the key takeaway is clear: it’s not just about leads anymore—it’s about driving business growth. The time to make this shift is now. Whether you’re already embracing these changes or just beginning the journey, the future of B2B marketing is here, and it’s looking a lot more like sales than ever before.

In Closing:

A heartfelt thank you to Jeff for his invaluable insights and for taking the time to contribute to this edition. And to you, my readers, I truly appreciate your continued support and for taking the time to explore these reflections with me. Your engagement makes this journey all the more meaningful.

Until next time, keep striving, learning, and making an impact. I look forward to sharing more thoughts and ideas in our next edition. Thank you again for being part of this journey!

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