A lot of CMO’s describe the range of strategies and tactics they deploy as “plate spinning“ – a suitable analogy for the tremendous effort it takes to create and sustain the various programs and activities in Marketing’s broad charter. In addition to not being sustainable, “plate spinning” approaches are destined to fail over time because of both the effort involved just to maintain success or because what worked previously is not as effective as before. Because of this flawed approach, many, if not most, CMO’s struggle with proving the value of Marketing for due to a lack of resources (people and/or budget), a lack of agreement on the metrics of success, or inadequate data structures, processes and reporting that can attribute pipeline creation and other key outcomes to Marketing.
I created the Marketing Performance Index and Assessment (MPI) in 2023 to help Marketers better align on key success measures, and objectively demonstrate Marketing’s tangible impact. The MPI includes up to 24 key metrics for increasing Market Presence, building Brand Strength and improving Pipeline Health. It is based on B2B benchmarks and industry’s best practices, and is supported by quantitative data from several independent sources including Benchmarker.ai. I’ve written a dozen blogs on how to conduct a baseline measurement in as little an hour, how to quickly diagnose current performance, and offer a variety of strategies and tactics to drive stepwise improvements.
Today I’m introducing a streamlined approach to Marketing Performance Assessment and Tracking. The CMO Marketing Operating System creates a simplified marketing performance measurement discipline that aligns leadership on outcomes, tracks a small set of high-leverage indicators, and drives quarterly improvement. This approach can be easily tailored for all B2B companies (especially SaaS) and can be implemented quickly.
How to implement a CMO Marketing Operating System
Here are 6 key Indicators to include in a Marketing Performance North-Star Scorecard.
Track one primary KPI per indicator (plus 1–2 diagnostics if needed). These roll into an overall “marketing performance or marketing scorecard” view.
- Reach (How many target accounts/people can you access?)
- Primary KPI: Target account coverage (% ICP accounts with known contacts + reachable channels)
- Recognition (Are you showing up in the category?)
- Primary KPI: Share of voice / share of search (category + competitor set)
- Engagement (Are buyers interacting meaningfully?)
- Primary KPI: High-intent engagement rate (demo/pricing/product pages, webinar attendance, intent signals)
- Loyalty (Do customers stay and advocate?)
- Primary KPI: Net Revenue Retention (NRR) (or churn if earlier-stage)
- Pipeline (Are we creating enough opportunity?)
- Primary KPI: Qualified pipeline created ($) per month/quarter
- Progression (Does pipeline move efficiently?)
- Primary KPI: MQL→SQL→Opp→Win conversion or stage-to-stage velocity
Output: a single scorecard page with current, target, trend, and owner.
Outcomes That Must Be True (Business Alignment)
Agree (in writing) with CEO/CRO/CFO on:
- Revenue targets (ARR/bookings), ACV, sales cycle expectations
- CAC / payback guardrails (or burn multiple)
- Pipeline coverage expectations (e.g., 3–5x target bookings)
- ICP + positioning + primary use cases
Cadence (The “Operating Rhythm”)
Weekly (30–45 min) – Growth Standup
Attendees: CMO + Demand + RevOps + SDR/BDR + Product Marketing + Sales leader
Agenda:
- Last week’s pipeline created + blockers
- Top 3 experiments in flight
- Conversion/velocity red flags (Progression)
- Decisions needed this week
Monthly (60 min) – Performance Review
Attendees: Exec sponsor + CMO + CRO + RevOps
Agenda:
- Scorecard: the 6 KPIs + commentary
- Budget burn vs plan; forecast next 60–90 days
- What’s working / what’s not (double down / stop)
Quarterly (90 min) – QBR + Improvement Plan
Attendees: ELT (CEO/CRO/CFO/CMO/Product)
Agenda:
- Scorecard trend + business outcomes
- 3 priorities next quarter (and what you will NOT do)
- Resource plan (people, spend, tooling)
- Risks + mitigation plan
The Dashboard (What gets updated, and by whom)
Owner: Marketing Ops / RevOps
Rule: If it’s not in the dashboard, it’s not “real” for decision-making.
Minimum dashboard sections:
- Demand: spend → leads → MQL → SQL → opps → wins
- Funnel health: conversion rates + velocity by stage
- Market presence: share of search/voice + key channel signals
- Customer: NRR/churn + NPS/advocacy signals (if available)
- Efficiency: CAC/payback/burn multiple (as applicable)
Quarterly Improvement Plan (The 3×3 Template)
Pick 3 bets, each with clear hypotheses and success metrics, and run 3–6 experiments per bet.
Bet #1 (example): Increase Market Presence → improve pipeline efficiency
- Hypothesis:
- Success metric:
- Experiments (3–6):
- Owner + due dates:
Bet #2: Improve Progression (conversion + velocity)
- Hypothesis:
- Success metric:
- Experiments:
- Owner + due dates:
Bet #3: Improve Pipeline creation in ICP segment(s)
- Hypothesis:
- Success metric:
- Experiments:
- Owner + due dates:
Stop-doing list: 3 things you will pause to free time/budget.
Decision Rules (Guardrails)
- Budget: reallocations > X% require monthly review decision
- Quality: do not scale a channel until lead→opp conversion meets threshold
- Focus: no more than 3 major initiatives per quarter
- Proof: double down only after 2 consecutive periods of positive signal
Roles & Accountability (Simple RACI)
- CMO: owns scorecard, prioritization, quarterly plan
- Demand leader: pipeline created + channel execution
- PMM: ICP, positioning, narrative, sales enablement
- RevOps/Marketing Ops: data integrity, dashboard, attribution hygiene
- Sales leader: SLA adherence, feedback loop, pipeline progression partnership
- CS leader: retention/expansion/advocacy inputs (Loyalty)
The “90-Day Start” (If you’re implementing from scratch)
- Establish baseline for the 6 KPIs (week 1–2)
- Align on targets + guardrails (week 2–3)
- Launch 3 quarterly bets + first experiments (week 4)
- Run the cadence relentlessly; refine KPIs (weeks 5–12)
What approaches are you taking to prove Marketing’s value in 2026? If interested, I’m happy to help you set up a baseline measurement at no cost. Just send me a note at grantejohnson1@gmail.com to schedule a time. Keep improving and proving the value of Marketing.
CMO Mentor 