Balancing Revenue and Brand Growth in Marketing

I've been in marketing nearly 15 years now—primarily in B2B environments, helping companies scale at different stages of growth, and most recently at Trulioo and Maximizer.

Throughout my career I’ve taken on various roles, including copywriting and PR, but ultimately focusing on go-to-market (GTM) strategy, revenue and operations. I encourage new marketers to explore different disciplines early on; it’s a great way to discover what you truly enjoy and where your strengths lie.

What I love about marketing is how dynamic and fast-evolving it is. There are no fixed playbooks. Marketing requires constant adaptation and acumen building —whether it's shifts in buyer behavior, new technologies like AI, or emerging go-to-market motions.

It's the true "what got you here won't get you there" profession. That pace of change keeps me energized. And also the breadth and strategic impact. Juggling different priorities—from positioning in the market and thought leadership to customer acquisition and supporting those long-term partnerships that transform businesses —makes it a constantly evolving challenge, and I thrive on that. I've also been fortunate to work with and learn from incredibly bright people that have really made the work rewarding and meaningful.

When determining top marketing priorities and goals, I start by aligning with the organization's overall objectives and North Star metrics.

Revenue is often the primary focus, so I prioritize marketing activities that drive pipeline, accelerate sales velocity, and expand customer lifetime value. This means aligning closely with revenue leadership to ensure marketing efforts—whether demand generation, account-based strategies, or messaging and positioning—are directly contributing to acquisition and expansion goals.

However, marketing priorities extend beyond just revenue. My perspective on the importance of brand in B2B has evolved over time, particularly in the current market. I now see defined short-term and long-term brand priorities as essential for building trust, with brand encompassing an operational visual identity, your company's unique points of view and thought leadership in the market, and the consistency in education and content that you bring to your ideal customer profile (ICP).

The biggest challenge in demand generation today is cutting through the noise in an increasingly crowded digital landscape. With generative AI transforming buyer journeys and traditional funnels becoming outdated, we're seeing new content types and media emerge. While this creates exciting opportunities for more impressive marketing, it also makes it harder to reach our ICP in meaningful ways.

The key challenge is providing value when many others can now do so at scale. We need to find innovative ways to grab attention and deliver personalized experiences at the right time to the right person - a goal that remains elusive despite advances in AI technology.

My ideal marketing team structure starts with content creation as the foundation. Demand generation is critical, and I prefer having the sales development organization within marketing to unify quality and entry points into the funnel.

As the team scales, product marketing becomes essential for supporting content and internal enablement. In-house design is preferred for brand consistency if you can make that work in your budget. Once you have structured campaigns, it’s time to bring in marketing operations to increase campaign velocity and measurement. After that, a project manager or campaigns person to unify the team, oversee delivery, and scale events.

While social media management is important, its placement can vary depending on the team's structure and needs.

I determine this on a case-by-case basis, depending on company goals and available resources. Typically, I outsource paid advertising and SEO. These areas often require specialized and diverse expertise that's challenging to maintain in-house.

For PPC specifically, finding someone with the necessary breadth of experience across industries and platforms is difficult and often outside of budget for a full-time role. My preference is to keep as much in house as possible to maximize alignment to company priorities and contextual efficiency.Ultimately, the decision comes down to the specific needs and budget of the organization.

When I'm looking for an agency, I really value those who genuinely care about my organization and goals as their own. Green flags for me include suggesting alternatives that don’t benefit them, showing real integrity and a strong moral compass. Recommendations from trusted marketers who've had success with the agency are crucial too.

Most importantly, it's about working with good people—those who are committed to results, continual improvement and enriching my team. Dos Lados truly embodies these qualities in a way that's rare and refreshing. It's palpable and unique compared to other agency experiences I've had.

A red flag is constant changes in account management or the people executing work on the account. That’s where we see risks of losing context between those changes and negatively impacting results. . Another is pricing that's not all-inclusive, where every little thing costs extra. But the biggest red flag is when the agency relationship feels stunted and can't evolve naturally. Business goals evolve - strategic and execution needs are dynamic, a reality that usually leads someone to pursue agency support in the first place. If progressing together seems challenging, it usually means the agency is not used to long-term partnerships. They might be more focused on short-term agreements at scale rather than growing with clients. That's a clear sign they're not the right fit for a lasting, evolving relationship, which I think should be the goal when seeking out an agency.

When engaging with an agency, my key expectation is that they resolve a well-defined gap without creating more work for my team. Success is measured differently depending on the contract. For PPC and SEO, it's very metrics-based – I look at ROI figures and customer acquisition costs, ensuring they align with our goals. I also expect continuous optimization and new ways to meet business objectives.

For other contracts, I focus on project completion and quality of work. I'm delighted when agencies provide unexpected strokes of brilliance or quick turnarounds on ad-hoc requests, showing their ability to support us beyond the usual scope.