If revenue is strategic and your marketing team isn’t focused on revenue, ask them why.

Car wrecks occur when drivers are distracted from the task at hand. Similarly, someone is going to get hurt when the team isn't keeping its attention focused on the road ahead.

If you believe that revenue is strategic for your business (and if you don't, read no further) then generating income is not just a byproduct of your day to day, but a fundamental objective crucial for your business. But if your marketing team isn't aligning its efforts with this strategic imperative but is instead concerned about brand positioning and design guidelines instead of focussing on growth metrics, it creates a significant problem. Ask your team if they have their priorities straight.

Marketing is typically responsible for creating awareness, generating leads, and engaging both potential and actual customers. The funnel. If these efforts aren't ultimately contributing to revenue generation, it signifies a misalignment of priorities. Instead of solely focusing on metrics like website traffic or followers, the marketing team should also prioritize initiatives that directly impact revenue, such as conversion optimization and customer retention. Ask them what they are focused on and how its being tracked.

Without this alignment and data, you may have beautiful videos and presentations, but your resources will be misallocated, resulting in wasted time and money on activities that don't drive the bottom line. Moreover, it can lead to a disjointed approach within the organization, with different departments pulling in conflicting directions. Do they get it?

At the end of every quarter when sales is trying to make or exceed their goals, marketing shouldn't be writing blog posts and updating one pagers. Instead, two weeks before the end of a quarter, they should be using analytics to determine what potential clients are warm and informing the sales team. Is this how your quarters end?

Ultimately, the lack of laser focus on revenue by the marketing team undermines the business's ability to achieve its strategic objectives and may hinder its long-term success and competitiveness. In other words, is your marketing team focused on pretty pictures or driving the business to success?