Jason M. Lemkin argues that SaaS marketing in 2023 has become myopic, driven by board/CEO pressure to fund only activities that generate immediate revenue. He warns that leaders are cutting longer-term marketing because only a small subset ("funnel assist") reliably converts prospects who are nearly ready to buy, risking insufficient pipeline when market conditions improve later in the year.
Marketing has become myopic. What can I spend to get more revenue this quarter? I'm under pressure from my board. My revenues are down in some cases and my burn rate has to last longer. So the CEO is only approving these marketing expenses that create revenue immediately. And they do exist out there. But the problem is it's such a small part of marketing that pays off. The only part that really pays off is like funnel assist. Like taking someone that's almost ready to buy and then they hear about someone on 20 B.C. and that magic moment gets them to buy the next week. And so we're cutting too much in marketing. Everyone's going to not going to have an enough pipeline at the end of the year when I think things will be better.
