Marketing Isn’t Linear: Why B2B Tech Needs to Rethink ROI

Happy Tuesday! Razor #39 digs into how marketing isn’t linear like sales. While sales focuses on immediate outcomes, marketing builds long-term value by creating credibility, building mental availability, and earning trust. This non-linear approach requires patience and consistent effort over time to yield results. Augmenting short-term lead generation with long-term brand-building helps you to stay top of mind and reduce risk.

Takeaways

• Marketing operates as a non-linear multiplier, focusing on trust, credibility, and long-term brand value instead of immediate ROI.
• Time lag is inevitable, especially with long sales cycles and high-risk decisions, or when we lack credibility.
• Consistent brand-building reduces risk and positions solutions as “safe bets.”
• Augmenting short-term performance marketing with long-term brand-building is essential for sustained growth.
• Metrics like recall, sentiment, and share of voice matter more for long-term marketing impact than direct attribution to sales.

Marketing and Sales Multiply Results Differently

In B2B tech, marketing often gets treated like an extension of sales—a linear process where input equals output. Generate leads, qualify them, and close deals. Simple, right? Unfortunately, that’s not how marketing works because buyers care about different things at different times and, therefore, make different choices.?

Unlike sales, marketing is a non-linear multiplier where various factors, like market conditions and perceived risk, play a massive role in purchasing decisions. Brands that maintain consistency and frequency, even during downturns, typically stay top of mind and come out ahead of brands that constantly react, switch gears, and change their tune.?

This is common in B2B, especially tech. Organizations double down on sales activation tactics like lead and demand generation and then measure against sales results. And because time lag makes it feel like things are taking too long, many marketing programs are nixed and chalked up as failures.

And so the vicious cycle continues. We stop THIS and start THAT. Rinse and repeat.

All this just adds to more needless frustration and pressure for B2B tech founders and marketers alike. When marketing efforts don’t produce immediate ROI, they’re often seen as failures. The truth is, marketing’s power lies in its ability to multiply how brands build credibility and earn trust. It doesn’t show up instantly on a balance sheet but it’s essential for sustaining growth.?

The Linear Sales Mindset

The sales process is relatively straightforward. Almost every CRM follows a clear, measurable path from prospects to leads to opportunities to closed deals. Add more salespeople, expect more sales, right? This linear logic feels intuitive and controllable, making it the dominant framework in many organizations.

But applying the same approach to marketing doesn’t work. Marketing doesn’t push leads through a funnel or pipeline. Good marketing builds up appeal when the timing is off (95% of the time) and demand when the timing is right (5% of the time). It’s a lot like farming: planting and tending to seeds, not merely harvesting crops.

Why Marketing Is Non-Linear

Instead of following a predictable input-output model, marketing builds mental availability—the likelihood that your brand comes to mind when a buyer has a need. This process doesn’t happen overnight, nor does it follow a straight line. That’s because buyers care about a diverse range of emotions and inputs. It’s non-linear by nature, requiring consistent and frequent effort over time to achieve results.

Think of marketing like investing in a savings account. Each campaign, blog post, or ad deposit builds on the last, compounding over time. But if you’re expecting an immediate payout—like using an ATM—you’ll be disappointed. Marketing’s impact is cumulative, not transactional.

“Marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem. It’s a chance to serve. The magic of ads is a trap that keeps us from building a useful story.” - Seth Godin

The stories Seth is talking about don’t convert instantly. They build familiarity and earn trust, leading to conversions later. This is an important point because when we’re ready to buy, we always think of the best brands—the best for us.

Adding to this, buyers define “the best” based on what aligns with their unique worldview. For some, it may be something like convenience; for others, status. Marketing’s non-linear nature gives us a chance to build mental availability to meet these diverse preferences when the time comes. And that equates to invaluable air cover for your sales team down the road.

The Time Lag Between Effort and Results

One of the biggest impacts on measuring marketing that often gets overlooked is Time Lag. For example, the marketing effort we created in Q1 won’t be realized until Q3 or Q4, or possibly later. And if we sell expensive, complex enterprise solutions, it can take years.?

This lag is especially pronounced where long sales cycles and high-stakes decisions mean buying teams need time to evaluate options and reduce perceived risk. Over 50% of B2B decisions result in no decision because that is typically the safest option. Buyers are often paralyzed by fear of making the wrong choice, especially when their reputation or job security is on the line.?

Consistent brand-building reduces this perceived risk, positioning your solution as the “safe bet” when the buyer is ready to act.

For example, a consistent brand-building campaign might not generate immediate leads, but it creates the conditions for future success.

A good example is SAP’s “Best Run” campaigns.?The initial campaign, “The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP” ran for over 10 years. Variations like the one below ran for another 10 years. SAP is a B2B?Marketing case study in consistency and frequency.

When buyers recognize and trust your brand when they are not ready to buy (95% of the time), they’re more likely to engage when they’re ready to make a decision (5% of the time). Without that foundation, you’re constantly climbing a steep hill, competing on features and price alone.

This time lag also explains why correlation doesn’t imply causation in marketing. Just because a specific campaign didn’t directly lead to a sale doesn’t mean it wasn’t instrumental in building the awareness and earning the trust that made the sale possible.?

Shifting Perspective

Measuring marketing’s non-linear nature requires a shift in thinking.?

• Measure the Right Metrics: Focus on awareness, sentiment, recall, and share of voice. These metrics indicate how a brand’s reputation gains traction, even if ROI isn’t immediate. Check out Proving Marketing’s Value in 2025 and Beyond for more.
• Set Realistic Expectations: Recognize that marketing efforts may take several months to manifest in tangible results. Patience is key.?Check out Understanding Time Lag: The Hidden Driver of GTM Success for more.
• Implement Short- and Long-Term Strategies: While immediate lead generation is important, investing in brand-building ensures sustained growth. Think of sales activation tactics like lead generation as action marketing, and brand building like earning confidence and trust is memory marketing. You need both and both are distinctly different. Check out 5 B2B Brand Questions and Answers After Demand Gen’s Letdown for more.

IBM’s legacy—No One Ever Got Fired for Buying IBM—is another great example of how a strong brand reputation can provide sales teams with invaluable aircover.?

Decades of consistent brand building made IBM the “safe bet” for decades, reducing perceived risk and earning trust. Startups and smaller companies can’t replicate this overnight, but consistent messaging and a focus on building credibility will achieve similar results over time. Where most startups and scaleups fail is a lack of commitment and patience. Without consistency and frequency, a brand’s reputation will always be behind the eight ball.?

“But we need leads now!” Yes, of course. Short-term sales tactics and long-term brand-building can coexist. SAP?and IBM?implemented both. You can also run performance campaigns to generate quick leads while laying the groundwork for future growth through consistent brand-building efforts.

As Jim Collins wrote in Built To Last, don’t get trapped in the “Tyranny of the OR.” The “Genius of the AND” lies in using short-term and long-term strategies together.?

Final Thoughts

Marketing’s non-linear nature is its strength, not its weakness. Performance marketing can be attributed to sales outcomes in the short term. But brand building helps us earn trust and build credibility over the long term.??

We need to rethink how we measure ROI because linear and non-linear outcomes are not the same. When both are done right, both support each other and provide priceless air cover for future deals.

Imagine being able to say “No one ever got fired for buying [your solution].” That hill is way easier to climb than always having to start every sales pitch from scratch to prove your value.

Dive Deeper: If you want to see how I helped a B2B tech company do much of what is covered in this article, check out the BELLIN Treasury case study. It’s a good example of how maintaining consistency and frequency can grow a business exponentially.

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This article is AC-A and originally appeared on Achim’s Razor at KLOR Consulting. If you’d like to share it or refer to it, consider using the original. Thank you!