Here at CaliberMind, we’re obsessed with helping marketers drive results that matter to the business. And as part of that obsession, we put out an annual survey to B2B marketers (with help from our friends at Heinz Marketing). This year, we had hundreds of marketers respond.
So what’s new this year? A whole section on marketing compensation. Because it’s a topic near and dear to most of us.
Marketers are Now Responsible for Pipeline and Revenue.
Accountability for pipeline and revenue grew 7.5% year over year. And we expect that number to continue to climb. Marketers who focus on pipeline and revenue attainment find ways to navigate the terrain and prove value.
And With Higher Expectations, Comes Better Incentives.
With 72% of marketing departments responsible for pipeline/revenue contribution, we expect the number of marketers with a revenue-based incentive in their compensation plan to climb in the future.
The Best Marketers are 2.4x More Likely to Forecast Future Performance.
This mirrors the results we saw from last year’s report in that pipeline velocity and predicting future performance separated the best marketers from the rest. Being able to answer questions that help predict an ability to hit pipeline and revenue targets (much like their counterpart in sales).
Yet, Marketers Lack Confidence and 60% Can’t Measure Their ROMI.
Only 30% of organizations report a high level of confidence in attaining their pipeline/revenue target. With data silos and analytical skills still being cited as major obstacles, we suspect the increasing complexity of the B2B marketing environment is a large factor. And perhaps even more alarming, marketers continue to struggle with showing ROI from their marketing budget.
And 63% Struggle to Deliver the Data and Analysis the C-Suite and Board Expect.
We would expect metric expectations to align with marketer types, however, there are signs the C-Suite’s priorities are either misaligned or they’re getting their metrics from another team. Only 63% of Revenue Marketers reported revenue metrics as the C-Suite’s top priority with 13% still asking for activity metrics. It’s encouraging to see Activity Marketers increasingly asked for funnel and revenue metrics, suggesting their organizations may be pushing them to adopt more advanced tactics.
So, What’s Next?
Read the entire report to find out what our founder thinks is next and dive MUCH deeper into how marketers are compensated and what you can do to get paid more.
