Combining Brand, Demand, and Performance for Business Impact (w/ Dots Oyebolu)

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Dots Oyebolu on the podcast, where we talked about marketing metrics that matter (LTV, ACV, revenue), his two-dimensional marketing framework of combining Go-to-Market Motions (inbound, outbound, partnerships, community, PLG) with Marketing Approaches (brand awareness, demand generation, performance marketing), and why all three marketing approaches need to work together.

Dots has led marketing efforts across multiple companies and now helps SaaS companies accelerate their growth. Our conversation focused on translating marketing activities into measurable business metrics that drive real outcomes.

Here are the key takeaways from our conversation…

Listen to the interview

Listen to the full interview on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Look beyond “made-up” metrics to what really matters

Dots believes marketers should focus on deeper metrics than what’s commonly shared on LinkedIn. While many marketers highlight vanity metrics (like brand impressions) or even pipeline numbers, Dots advocates for a more business-focused approach.

His favorite metric? Lifetime value (LTV) – understanding how much a customer will spend with you over their entire relationship. As he puts it, “for any brand anywhere on earth, you need to have a picture of how much you can get from this single customer.”

He also recommends looking at lifetime value in two ways:

• Lifetime value per unit (individual product or service)
• Lifetime value per customer (which might include multiple units)

Dots cautions against obsessing over high average contract value (ACV) at the expense of retention: “There is a high correlation between high average contract value and churn rate because people when they have money they give you all their money… and when there’s a slight recession they are looking for the first thing to cut.”

Instead, he suggests aiming for a smaller initial ACV that grows over time – focusing on expansion revenue rather than maximizing the initial deal size.

Understand the two dimensions of marketing strategy

Dots broke down his marketing framework into two key dimensions:

1. Go-to-Market Motions

These are the channels or approaches your company uses to reach customers:

• Inbound
• Outbound (including prospecting/ABM)
• Partnerships
• Community
• Product-led growth

2. Marketing Approaches

These are the strategic objectives your activities serve:

• Brand awareness: Driving familiarity and recognition (telling the brand’s story)
• Demand generation: Driving consideration through educational content
• Performance marketing: Driving conversion through lead gen, free trials, and other decision-stage activities

A critical point Dots emphasized is that all three approaches need to work together. Many companies make the mistake of focusing only on one or two – perhaps running only performance marketing due to pressure for immediate results, or focusing on demand gen while neglecting brand. But Dots insists all three are essential: “It has to be the three.”

He also stressed the importance of both production AND distribution in each approach. For example, many companies create great brand assets but fail to distribute them effectively, or they put all their distribution budget into performance marketing while neglecting brand and demand distribution.

The magic happens when these approaches work together in unison. Dots used Clay (a data enrichment tool) as an example of a company doing this effectively:

“Even if you are not using that app, because they are so good with their brand and demand, especially brand, you recommend them to other people. Even though up until now I’ve not really used Clay as much, I’ve recommended it to at least four or five sales teams to use.”

Bring it all together

Dots emphasized the importance of having good attribution tools: “Get a dashboard… measure what you can, integrate what you can.”

He recommends tracking attribution in multiple ways:

• Attribution by causality (the typical B2B approach)
• Attribution by correlation (borrowed from B2C – “I know if I stop running these TV ads, sales will go down”)
• Self-reported attribution (asking customers how they found you)

Beyond measurement, Dots emphasized that marketers need to develop strong business acumen. The most successful marketers understand:

• Unit economics
• How their efforts impact the bottom line
• The importance of cross-functional collaboration

“I think marketing needs to start having that business acumen,” he said. “Keep your common sense, keep the emotions and all those things that work in neuroscience and all that. Keep all those things, but you need to start to have that business acumen on how does my effort help with your unit economics.”

This business focus isn’t just about survival – it’s about career growth. As Dots noted, marketers with strong business acumen are increasingly moving into broader roles like Chief Customer Officer, CMO, or even CEO positions.