Marketing today is no longer what it was a decade ago. Gone are the days when follower counts, impressions, and likes were the primary evidence of success. The modern marketer faces greater scrutiny—not just to build brands but to drive real business outcomes that impact revenue, growth, and customer acquisition.
Fausta Ballesteros, CMO of Wizeline, offers valuable clarity for today’s marketing leaders. She emphasizes, “No one cares about follower counts. Marketing must connect with the business, so your metrics should speak business: growth, ROI, new clients.”
To enable this evolution, marketers must shift from vanity metrics to KPIs that clearly align with core business objectives. This blog explores three leadership insights that define the new strategic pathway: agile planning, business-centered KPIs, and empowered teams.
Agility Is the New Planning Norm: Embrace Change as Rule, Not Exception
“There's no more yearly planning as we know it. It's monthly or even weekly. Change is not the exception; it's the rule. You have to embrace it and be good with that.”
Traditional annual marketing roadmaps are quickly becoming relics. The modern business environment shifts unpredictably, and marketers must learn to adapt in real time.
This agility impacts what KPIs marketers prioritize. Instead of measuring static goals set months ago, the focus shifts to metrics that prove immediate impact on business objectives. Agile marketing teams continuously monitor lead generation, pipeline contribution, and campaign ROI on weekly or even daily timelines. This responsiveness is vital to maintain relevance and deliver on constantly evolving business priorities.
Speaking Business: Metrics That Matter More Than Social Media Numbers
“No one cares about follower counts. Marketing has to be connected with the business, so your metrics should speak business: growth, ROI, new clients.”
Fausta’s most fundamental insight for marketers is a simple yet profound truth: “No one cares about follower counts.” While social engagement remains valuable for brand awareness, it’s insufficient by itself to justify marketing budgets or influence leadership decisions.
The KPIs that truly resonate reflect how marketing efforts translate into business growth: new client acquisition, revenue generated, return on investment, and lead quality. Metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), and conversion rates become vital. These indicators directly connect marketing activities to sales success and, ultimately, to the company’s bottom line.
This shift also helps marketing teams align better with sales and finance by using a shared language of value and impact. When marketing speaks in business terms, it moves from a supporting role into a strategic growth engine—and proves its worth quantitatively.
The Secret Sauce: Building Resilient Teams That Mix Creativity with AI
“The secret sauce is the team. My obsession daily is how I build a good team, how they evolve, make things happen, and how I mix it.”
The KPIs marketers chase require a strong foundation—the team. Fausta points out, “The secret sauce is the team.” High-performing teams combine human ingenuity with AI-powered tools to unlock the full potential of marketing.
Fausta emphasizes that AI is “like a superpower, but it only works if it’s integrated with the human side. The more you know the craft, the more you’ll get from AI.” Having talented people who are adaptable, curious, and not afraid to experiment can harness AI to scale content, tune targeting, and optimize campaigns in ways that raw data or software alone cannot.
This means KPIs go beyond just output volume or digital footprint—they also reflect innovation, learning agility, and teamwork. As marketing evolves, so too must the measures of success embrace creativity and effectiveness together.
Align Marketing Metrics With What Truly Moves the Business
In today’s marketing world, vanity metrics no longer hold sway. Leading CMOs like Fausta Ballesteros challenge us to align KPIs squarely with business outcomes—growth, ROI, and customer acquisition are the new lingua franca.
Agile planning, business-focused KPIs, and empowered, AI-enhanced teams form a triad for success. Marketing teams that master these elements will not only survive but thrive—turning campaigns into measurable growth engines and conversations into clear results.
The ultimate marketing KPI is none other than the ability to speak the language of business and prove marketing’s undeniable value with numbers the whole company understands.
Past Episodes
Resources for growing your product
