--- title: "Aligning Business Objectives with Marketing Strategy: Easier Said than Done" description: Growing topline revenue can be achieved in a multitude of pathways. But, here’s why it’s so important to determine the role of marketing in that growth plan. image: https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/hubfs/Blog_images/rubiks-cube-g409238506_1280.jpg --- [![White Space Marketing Group](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ws-logo-header.png?width=253&height=80&name=ws-logo-header.png "White Space Marketing Group")](https://www.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/) ![blogbanner](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blogbanner.png?width=1500&name=blogbanner.png "blogbanner") [Gray Matter at White Space](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com) [B2B Marketing Strategy for Small and Mid-Sized Companies](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com) # [Aligning Business Objectives with Marketing Strategy: Easier Said than Done](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/aligning-business-objectives-with-marketing-strategy-easier-said-than-done) ![Ilene Rosenthal, CEO](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/hubfs/IHR%20BioPIc%20643x703.jpg) by [Ilene Rosenthal, CEO](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/author/ilene-rosenthal-ceo) on Jul 21, 2022 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) Marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics—oh my! This is always the first step in a discussion about marketing. On “paper,” not so confusing. In B-school, it was crystal clear. An “objective” was a quantitative metric: ![Aligning Business Objectives with Marketing Strategy: Easier Said than Done](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_images/rubiks-cube-g409238506_1280.jpg?width=300&name=rubiks-cube-g409238506_1280.jpg) - Increase new customers by 5% - Grow revenue in new markets by 10% - Increase website traffic by 15% If the objective was the goal, a strategy was what needed to be accomplished to achieve it, and tactics constituted the “how.” Enter the real world. ### **What Is “Growth,” Really?** When I work with [EOS companies](https://www.eosworldwide.com/), they’ve already worked hard to define their business objectives. While there’s traction in the business growth path, often the specific role of marketing gets muddied. [![Watch the Webinar: How to Avoid Random Acts of Marketing ](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/176305/4bc9c144-bd7b-4532-b493-f9d3ceed0abf.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/176305/4bc9c144-bd7b-4532-b493-f9d3ceed0abf) In one strategy session, the [objective was declared](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/ceos-have-you-really-defined-what-success-means-for-your-business) as “Growth.” Well, let’s see how many interpretations we can come up with to define that objective. - *An increase in topline revenue* - *An increase in unit sales* - *An increase in profit margin across a franchise* - *An increase in visitors to an ecommerce platform* ### **Determine the Role of Marketing** We can’t really define a *marketing *strategy as a driver for growth until we determine the role of marketing in a growth plan. For example: Growing [topline revenue](https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/bottom-line-vs-top-line) can be achieved in a multitude of pathways. Some reside in the marketing organization, others in sales, and still others in finance. Your task is to decide which of these deserves the marketing resources to make it happen. Focusing on one path, and doing it well, is better than dabbling in all of them, particularly if you have limited marketing dollars in your plan. For example, decide that the role of marketing is any one of these:  1. Increase the sales pipeline 2. Increase average order value per new customer 3. Upsell existing customers to a new product 4. Improve loyalty and frequency of purchase among first time customers Then, drive marketing programs toward the one that makes the [most sense](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/before-can-be-the-most-important-planning-word-in-marketing) in the nearterm. ### **Same Objective, Different Strategies** Let’s presume you land on a marketing objective designed to increase unit sales. That objective can be supported by a number of different strategies and tactics: 1. Reduce pricing to compete more effectively in a crowded market. 2. Expand marketing into a new geography. 3. Bundle sales of different product offerings into a single package (it costs less to service a single new customer with multiple products than it does to support more customers with bite-sized offerings). > *Growing topline revenue can be achieved in a multitude of pathways.*  As you can see, depending on what the specific marketing objective is, there are different strategies (and therefore tactics) that relate to that goal. Let’s blow this out a bit more with the mother of all marketing objectives: increasing topline revenue. Take a look… ### ***Objective: Increase topline revenue.*** - Strategy Alternative #1: Increase your sales pipeline with high intent leads.  - Tactical Options:  ### ***Objective: Increase topline revenue.*** - Strategy Alternative #2 : Increase the number of new customers per year. - Tactical Options:  ### ***Objective: Increase topline revenue.*** - Strategy Alternative #3 : Decrease churn of existing customers so new revenue remains truly incremental. - Tactical Options:  ### **We’ve Got to Do the Work** Sometimes my clients think about this and groan. It’s hard work to refine a marketing objective to this level of specificity. But if we don’t, we’re boiling the ocean. And we don’t have the budget to do that. Want to explore this topic a bit further? Here are some resources to help:  See our entire [YouTube channel](https://c16sx04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/LQ+113/c16sX04/MW5HxDVx3vlW1zkkwM1sybhgW6y9Q694K-JnGN58csQ33q90pV1-WJV7CgC1NVMppTw8DLKQLW1Fs79N2-LGwSW4pFpCN2HRg2hW5Q5F0h4kpPqvW902GTN7Wr0ZLW5fBVns6R3X_bVFqwPJ3SnyBlW5v-wwj6npxW0W8Hk58F8zF35pW22n1gC4ZbvnTW17vR3b6bh30_N5--tTVnNQR1W2ncrLh7v7hvLW36_XJM7YXrzyW3WHd1K5PbsRTW8G1kBd9cSkX1W8dwt8S2rhTWpW8FwL-k3hkwNgW9bsVCN5HTns0W7PRxhZ2FvwHQW3rG15b5RtjmWW56cbtw89f4YtW5hVh1V33ZNtkW41C4dc8b2m_XW3znHxJ5-CjNdW1gV-nH7Dj_5_3nd81), *Marketing Air-Cover*, for additional guidance on marketing strategy for small business. You can find more about the Marketing Strategy Lab for small businesses [here](https://c16sx04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/LQ+113/c16sX04/MW5HxDVx3vlW1zkkwM1sybhgW6y9Q694K-JnGN58csQ33q90pV1-WJV7CgTGMW7pdtMv8Y8F2gW7rbfTY4Lx2FFW26YVvn1FkbMTW9gms118NKqr3W1KWdMq7M0bKHW4lVyB-77qY1fW2Vk-np6j6H20VP1QzT4f830VN8m4P41g3TcCW5f0Dk44k1Z7JN84nQpvJpVxyW7DgLfJ8n9lZDW3pYchh1GlR2ZN3q1g61KPzPHW1tP2CQ1qh3W1W2BVJ5b4rTBSnW37JkVz5rTqrjW5zs87H5mnYmdW5wY_Ct4n_Yw9W91h8pl4kb-yZW4ZbHtD9gJ2WQN464LqNGTCVkW6jZS2j6NLHNpVspkjt72Mf8fW2YqVj-2F93S7W6lHLQS8bjtRP3q2D1).  Learn more about hiring a fractional CMO [here](https://whitespacemarketinggroup.com/fractional-cmo-services/).   [![WATCH THE WEBINAR: HOW TO AVOID RANDOM ACTS OF MARKETING](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/176305/3f922af3-7be7-49bd-b481-abfeeaf64f50.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/176305/3f922af3-7be7-49bd-b481-abfeeaf64f50) Topics: [marketing strategy](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/marketing-strategy), [strategy](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/strategy), [marketing](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/marketing), [business strategy](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/business-strategy), [CEOs](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/ceos), [B2B marketing](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/b2b-marketing), [Founders](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/founders), [B2B](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/b2b), [small business](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/topic/small-business) About The Author ![Ilene Rosenthal, CEO](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/hubfs/IHR%20BioPIc%20643x703.jpg) [ Ilene Rosenthal, CEO ](https://blog.whitespacemarketinggroup.com/author/ilene-rosenthal-ceo) Ilene Rosenthal is the CEO of White Space Marketing Group, fulfilling her aspiration to bring hybrid marketing expertise to the mid-market. 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