A chaotic customer journey has flipped much of the sales action to the top of the funnel, making marketers responsible for nearly half of a company’s revenue. It’s a big ask with even bigger challenges to overcome. Among them, marketers face great expectations undermined by a scarcity of resources and a skeptical CEO. 

Companies simply haven’t caught up to the fact that marketing drives the sales motion. Sales organizations still command culture, commissions and capital. Meanwhile, marketers are trying to figure out what levers to pull to get revenue flowing through the digital channel while navigating the landmines with senior leadership.

All of this puts marketers at serious risk of missing their revenue mark. Not everyone will be able to rise above the fray and right the revenue ship. This means many marketers will continue to experience short tenures and career burnout, while a reputation of failure awaits.

Some marketers have taken up a defensive posture by fixating on customer retention instead of customer acquisition, mainly because it’s easier and less taxing on resources. However, this puts them in jeopardy of losing touch with new customers — the lifeblood of a business.