A diagnostic checklist for marketing leaders
Marketing teams are busier than ever. Campaigns are launching. Content is Shifting. Tools are in place. Calendars are full.
And yet, many marketing leaders still hear the same question from the executive team:
“What is marketing actually driving?”
Across equipment and manufacturing organizations, this tension shows up often. Marketing is doing meaningful work, but the connection to growth, revenue, and business impact is harder to clearly articulate than it should be.
This usually is not an effort problem, and it is rarely a capability issue. More often, it happens when strategy, execution, and measurement are not consistently aligned or reinforced over time.
This checklist is designed to help you pressure-test where your marketing truly sits today. Not tactically. Strategically.
The checklist
As you read through these questions, answer honestly. If a question gives you pause, that is useful information.
- Can you clearly explain how marketing supports the company’s top growth priorities this year?
- Can you confidently connect marketing efforts to revenue influence or pipeline support?
- Do you track metrics leadership actually cares about?
- Are results reviewed consistently, not just at the end of a quarter or season?
- When performance misses expectations, is there a clear process for adjustment?
- Are campaigns connected to a broader narrative rather than one-off initiatives?
- Can you explain why your current mix of channels and tactics makes sense right now?
- Does marketing feel like it is building momentum over time rather than restarting every cycle?
- Are you confident defending marketing decisions in executive conversations?
- Do dealers consistently understand how to position and sell your products?
- Is marketing helping improve adoption and execution in the field, not just producing assets?
- Can you clearly see where messaging breaks down between corporate strategy and dealer reality?
Interpreting your answers
If you answered “yes” to most of these questions, marketing is likely being viewed as a growth engine. Strategy is clear, priorities are aligned, and results are easier to defend and build on.
If many of your answers were “sometimes,” “not really,” or difficult to answer, marketing may be viewed more like a cost center. That does not mean the work lacks value. It usually means the connection between effort and impact is not consistently clear, measured, or communicated.
What we see across manufacturers is that most teams land somewhere in between. Important work is happening, but without enough structure or continuity for that work to compound over time.
Where an outside perspective helps
This is often the point where internal effort alone stops being enough.
Not because the team lacks talent or commitment, but because clarity and accountability require sustained focus across seasons, channels, and dealer realities.
This is where a strategic agency partner can play a different role. Not as an execution arm, but as a long-term extension of the marketing team that helps define strategy, connect work to outcomes, and make impact visible at the leadership level.
The right partnership gives marketing leaders something powerful: a clear story to stand behind, defensible metrics, and momentum that builds instead of resetting each cycle.
