Marketing often operates in the shadows, silently working to make sure your brand is seen, remembered, and trusted. But too often, when a deal closes, sales takes the bow. Let’s set the record straight: no B2B deal is won by sales or marketing alone. It’s a partnership, one with 100s of invisible touchpoints that pave the way for that final handshake.
Marketing’s Real Impact
Here’s what marketing does that often goes unnoticed:
- Makes people see the brand
- Drives visits to the website
- Inspires prospects to read case studies
- Encourages them to listen to podcasts
- Keeps your social media buzzing with content
- Sparks conversations about your company among peers
- Fills webinars and events with engaged audiences
- Builds trust over time
This isn’t a one-and-done operation. Marketing nurtures potential buyers repeatedly—sometimes for months or even years—before a lead ever calls sales.
Then What Happens?
One day, that prospect calls sales directly, and sales gets the credit for closing the deal. That’s not just unfair—it’s bad business.
Let’s talk numbers:
- 80% of B2B buyers have already picked their winning vendor before they ever contact a sales rep. How did they decide? Through marketing.
- Those invisible touchpoints—ads, blogs, case studies, social content—are what made the difference.
Yet, without clear communication of marketing’s contribution, marketing gets relegated to a “sales support” role. It’s time to fix that.
The Marketing vs Sales Argument Is Dead in 2025
Let’s stop the internal turf war. Here’s the truth:
- Marketing is a sales channel.
- Sales is a marketing channel.
Both teams are responsible for creating awareness and driving revenue. Pretending that we can pinpoint exactly which of the 800 touchpoints sealed the deal is ridiculous. The buyer’s journey is a mosaic, not a straight line.
What Marketing Needs to Do
If you’re in marketing, your job doesn’t stop at creating campaigns. You need to:
- Communicate your impact internally. Use data to prove how B2B buying actually works. Highlight those invisible touchpoints.
- Show how marketing drives revenue. Whether it’s first-touch attribution or multi-touch models, make sure your efforts are tied to business outcomes.
- Collaborate with sales. Build a shared understanding that it’s a joint effort. Sales teams close deals faster and with higher win rates when marketing does its job well.
Why It Matters
Until marketing gets the recognition it deserves, it will stay in a reactive, secondary role. That’s not just unfair; it’s inefficient. When marketing and sales work in silos, you lose sight of the bigger picture—revenue growth.
Marketing deserves a seat at the table. But first, it has to prove it belongs there by showing its influence on the pipeline and the deals that close.
Takeaways
The future of B2B isn’t about who gets the credit. It’s about building a seamless buyer experience that drives trust, value, and long-term relationships. So, marketers: stop staying silent. Make some noise. Your business depends on it.
