Marketing euros only work after sharp strategic choices.

WHITE PAPER · COMMERCIAL STRATEGY

Why better campaigns do not solve your problem, and which strategic decisions do raise your commercial return.

Summary

This paper is written for executives, CCOs and commercial directors in B2B SME+ companies who do not want to buy more marketing, but want to make better strategic choices so that the existing commercial budget becomes more productive.

Many B2B SME+ companies feel that their marketing budget should work harder. The reflex is often: a better campaign, a new channel or sharper measurement. But in our conviction, the biggest loss of return usually sits earlier in the chain: in segment choices, proposition, follow-up and customer value.

This white paper first describes three recognisable patterns. They show why marketing euros leak away while no one appears to be doing anything wrong. We then introduce the return tree: four elements that together determine how much commercial value a marketing euro delivers.

1. Recognisable? Three patterns we see again and again

When marketing return disappoints, the problem often looks operational. The campaign is not performing well enough. Lead quality is disappointing. Sales does not follow up quickly enough. All observable, but rarely the whole explanation. Beneath the surface we see three patterns that bring the conversation back to the boardroom table.

Pattern 1: the campaign reflex

The return disappoints, so a new campaign appears. More creative, a sharper channel plan, an extra agency or a new message. Sometimes the result rises briefly, but then it drops back again. The real problem was not the campaign, but the absence of sharp choices: which segments do we focus on, which customers do we want to win, and which proposition is genuinely relevant to them?

Recognisable by: marketing budgets rise, but the return stays the same or falls slightly. Every review ends with optimisations, but rarely with the question of whether the commercial focus is right.

Pattern 2: the funnel with gaps

Marketing optimises for reach and leads. Sales optimises for deals. Customer success optimises for retention. Everyone does their job, but no one owns the whole. As a result, the biggest losses arise precisely at the transitions: leads are followed up too late, the sales story does not match the marketing promise, or existing customers receive too little attention once the deal is closed.

Recognisable by: marketing and sales reporting do not line up. There are plenty of figures, but little insight into where exactly the euro leaks away.

Pattern 3: the unspoken proposition

The organisation roughly knows what it does, but never says it in one sharp way. In presentations, proposals and sales conversations, different versions of the same story emerge. Marketing then cannot build a strong message, because there is no hard choice underneath it: who are we mainly here for, why are we better for that customer, and what do we deliberately say no to?

Recognisable by: customers get a different story depending on who they speak to. Claims such as quality, reliability and customer focus sound familiar, but are not distinctive enough to build preference.

These three patterns share one common cause: marketing is judged on visible output, while the return is determined by strategic choices that often remain implicit.

2. The structure beneath the problem

To discuss marketing return well, it helps to make the chain simple. Every marketing euro must do four things right before it comes back as margin: (1) reach the right people (reach), (2) say something that matters (resonance), (3) turn interest into customers (conversion) and (4) attract customers who deliver sufficient value (customer value).

The return tree captures this in four elements: reach, resonance, conversion and customer value. It is not a mathematical exercise, but a way to hold the boardroom conversation sharply. If one element is weak, return leaks away, even if the other elements are professionally organised.

2.1 Reach: are we reaching the right market?

Reach is not about maximum visibility, but about visibility among the right customers. For B2B SME+ companies this means that segment choices must be explicit. Which sectors, types of customers or application areas fit our ambition and profitability? And which do not? Without that choice, marketing buys attention in a market that is too broad.

The boardroom conversation: which segments do we want to win over three years, where are we already strong today, and how do we divide our commercial investment between building and harvesting?

2.2 Resonance: does our message land?

Resonance arises when a customer recognises themselves in the problem, the language and the promise. That does not work with general claims. A message only works when the underlying proposition is sharp: for which customer do we solve which problem better than the alternative?

The boardroom conversation: can our main competitors make the same claim? If they can, marketing does not have a creative problem, but the board has a choice problem.

2.3 Conversion: what happens after interest?

Conversion is broader than a website form. It is about the full transition from interest to customer: follow-up, sales story, proposal, evidence and decision-making. In B2B this is often the weakest link. A strong campaign loses value if the follow-up is slow or if sales tells a different story than marketing promised.

The boardroom conversation: who owns the transition between marketing and sales, how quickly do we follow up qualified interest, and where do prospects drop out?

2.4 Customer value: are we winning the right customers?

A new customer is not always worth the same. The value is determined by margin, repeat purchases, length of the relationship, upsell and retention. If customer value is too low, marketing has to buy ever more cheaply to make the business case add up. Often the better solution is precisely this: to choose more sharply which customers we want to win and how we extract more value from existing relationships.

The boardroom conversation: which customer segments deliver the highest lifetime value, do we deliberately invest more there, and who owns retention and growth within existing customers?

3. What the board must do

The return tree only works if it is not placed with a single department. Reach, resonance, conversion and customer value touch marketing, sales, proposition, pricing, customer success and sometimes even operations. That is why the conversation belongs in the boardroom.

Step 1: make explicit choices

Start with segments. Choose where you want to win and where you will no longer put energy. That sounds simple, but is often the hardest conversation. Without a no, every marketing strategy is too broad.

Step 2: sharpen the proposition before the campaign

A campaign can amplify a strong proposition, but cannot repair a weak one. So first formulate for whom you are relevant, which problem you solve, why you are credible and what makes you recognisably different from the alternatives.

Step 3: steer the whole commercial chain

Do not judge marketing only on leads and sales only on deals. Steer on the whole: from market choice to customer value. Assign one owner per element, but discuss the total as a leadership team.

Step 4: hold the conversation with figures and choices

Four questions help to make the conversation concrete:

• Reach: what share of our budget goes to segments where we strategically want to win, and who chose that split?
• Resonance: can our top five competitors make the same promise as us?
• Conversion: where do we lose interested prospects between first contact and signed engagement?
• Customer value: which customer groups deliver the most value over time, and are we investing the most there too?

If there is no sharp answer to these questions, that is not a measurement problem. It is a strategic conversation that has not yet been held.

4. How Jester Strategy helps

Jester Strategy helps B2B SME+ companies make commercial choices explicit and translate them into growth. We start with a diagnosis of the return tree: where does value leak away, which choices lie underneath, and which lever delivers the biggest improvement?

We then work with the board and management team on the choices that are needed: segment focus, proposition, commercial architecture, ownership and KPIs. Not as a marketing exercise, but as a strategy trajectory that connects marketing, sales and customer value.

A trajectory can be extensive (a number of months) or compact (a number of sessions over a few weeks). The result is a validated commercial strategy with a concrete translation into steering, governance and execution. The goal: to make marketing euros work because the strategic choices beneath them are right.

Would you like to test where your marketing euro is currently leaking away, or discuss what such a trajectory could look like for your organisation? Get in touch with Marie-Claire de Koning (m.koning@jester.nl, +31 6 21 45 63 73).

About the author

Marie-Claire de Koning · Senior Strategy Consultant, Jester Strategy

Marie-Claire de Koning has been a Senior Strategy Consultant at Jester Strategy since July 2023. She studied International Business Administration and Strategy & Innovation at Maastricht University. Before joining Jester she worked in the private sector, with roles at a large industrial corporation and at a dynamic start-up in the data and retail market. Her expertise lies at the intersection of strategy development, commercial strategy and design questions (governance models and organisational design). Recent engagements include Jaarbeurs, Brabantia, Woodside Australia, Qlip, Terberg Special Vehicles and Esri. Marie-Claire can be reached at m.koning@jester.nl.

Sources and background

For general background on the spread in marketing return and commercial effectiveness: publications by the LinkedIn B2B Institute and Bain & Company on B2B marketing effectiveness and commercial excellence. Specific observations in this white paper are based on Jester's own practice.

• John Dawes, "95-5 Rule: How In-Market and Out-Market Buyers Differ", Ehrenberg-Bass Institute / LinkedIn B2B Institute, 2021.
• Jenni Romaniuk and Byron Sharp, "How Brands Grow: Part 2", Oxford University Press, 2015. Applied to B2B in publications by Les Binet, Peter Field and the LinkedIn B2B Institute.
• Frederick F. Reichheld and W. Earl Sasser Jr., "Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services", Harvard Business Review, September-October 1990; Frederick F. Reichheld, "The Loyalty Effect", Harvard Business School Press, 1996.

© 2026 Jester Strategy. This white paper was written by Marie-Claire de Koning (Jester Strategy) and may be shared with attribution. For citations or reuse of parts of this piece: get in touch via info@jester.nl.