Your CFO just approved $10 million for marketing. Six months later, pipeline is flat. "We need more budget!" you cry. Meanwhile, your competitor generated twice your pipeline with half your spend. The problem isn't your budget. It's where you're burning it.
Every year, B2B companies light billions on fire in the name of "marketing investment." Trade shows nobody attends. Sponsorships nobody notices. Tools nobody uses. Campaigns nobody remembers.
The money isn't missing. It's just dead.
74%
of Revenue Marketing leaders track ROI on every dollar spent—while others can't even tell you where half their budget went.
Source: Revenue Marketing Index 2025
$500K for a booth at a conference. $50K for the "platinum sponsor" package. $100K for travel and entertainment. Result: 47 business cards from people who wanted your free t-shirt.
27 different tools. 3 actually used. The rest? Zombie subscriptions eating budget while your team uses spreadsheets.
$2M to an agency for "brand transformation." Six months of strategy decks. Zero pipeline impact. But hey, nice PowerPoints.
Your logo on a stadium. Your name on a conference room. Your brand on a NASCAR. Your pipeline? Still flat.
$250K for a "brand video" that looks like a Super Bowl ad. 10,000 views (8,000 from your own employees). Zero leads.
Every dollar in the graveyard is a dollar not driving pipeline
Events & Trade Shows
40% of budget
Brand & Awareness
30% of budget
Unused Tools
20% of budget
Pipeline Programs
10% of budget
ROI: Negative
Pipeline Programs
45% of budget
Customer Marketing
30% of budget
Sales Enablement
20% of budget
Testing & Innovation
5% of budget
ROI: Measurable & Positive
Spending on things that make the CMO look good, not things that generate pipeline. Big splashy campaigns. Executive pet projects. Anything that gets you mentioned in AdWeek.
"We've always done this trade show." "We can't cancel—we're a platinum sponsor." "We've invested too much to stop now." Throwing good money after bad because you can't admit failure.
New tool! New channel! New agency! New strategy! Constantly chasing the next thing instead of optimizing what works. Your budget scattered across 50 experiments, none properly funded.
"Brand building doesn't have ROI." "It's about long-term awareness." "You can't measure everything." The refuge of marketers who can't prove value. If you can't measure it, don't fund it.
"Our competitors are there." "Everyone in our industry does this." "It's table stakes." Spending money because others do, not because it works.
Every budget sin is a pipeline opportunity lost
Most companies are bleeding 30% of budget through hidden waste
Every dollar starts at zero. Last year's budget irrelevant. Every expense must prove future ROI. No sacred cows.
Every investment must show pipeline impact within 6 months. Can't prove it? Cut it.
Invest in what multiplies: Customer advocacy. Sales enablement. Partner programs. Things that scale without linear cost.
Same budget. Double the pipeline. Just stop wasting money.
Every dollar wasted on vanity is a dollar not driving growth.
Your CFO doesn't care about your spending. They care about your return.
You don't need more budget. You need better allocation.
The 20% with Revenue Marketing maturity generate more pipeline with less budget because they treat every dollar like an investment, not an expense.
They've learned that the path to growth isn't spending more—it's wasting less.
Stop feeding the budget black hole. Start feeding the pipeline.
Discover where your budget is bleeding and how to redirect it to revenue