How Much Should Marketing Contribute to the Sales Pipeline?

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1. 17% report that paid social delivers 21–40% of the total sales pipeline, 10 points higher than that of organic social “The data clearly shows that results vary for different companies by channel or tactic.” Source

   In Channel conversion rates

2. Company size and industry. Larger enterprises and niche industries often see higher marketing contributions due to their sophisticated campaigns and broader market reach. “Go-to-market strategies. Inbound and product-led strategies rely heavily on marketing expertise to attract and engage prospects. As a result, marketing is expected to play a larger role in contributing to the sales pipeline in these scenarios.” Season.In a down economy or recession, marketing will be expected to contribute more to the sales pipeline. However, if a company hasn’t built its brand prior to the economic downturn in question, marketing won’t be able to do much.

   In Inbound and outbound mix

3. Revenue maturity “The revenue maturity of a company can impact what executives expect marketing to contribute to its sales pipeline, as well as their perspective on how to build a pipeline.” LeanData estimates the marketing contribution for enterprises making over $50M to be 28%. Dave Kellogg, a former director of companies with revenue reaching millions and a billion, disagrees. According to Dave, a reasonable marketing contribution for a $50M company should be 50% (plus or minus 10%). However, this figure can vary widely.

   In Stage-based channel mix

4. Company stage “The percentage of a marketing-sourced pipeline also depends on the company’s stage.” When we started Belkins in 2017, our founders had to source the pipeline and rely almost solely on their outreach efforts. Marketing’s role was minimal and performed a support function because of the limited resources we had available.

   In Stage-based channel mix

5. 17% report that paid social delivers 21–40% of the total sales pipeline, 10 points higher than that of organic social “As the business grows, you’ll saturate each tactic and channel and have increased revenue to explore others.” Source

   In Stage-based channel mix

6. At Belkins, the marketing contribution to the sales pipeline is almost 70%, but it hovers at around 25–59% for most other companies. “I’m positive you’d have preferred a single and direct answer. However, giving one is impossible since, as our experience of working with hundreds of companies shows, marketing’s contribution to the sales pipeline depends on various factors.” Key influences include:

   In Outbound pipeline targets

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