Jennifer Jackson is Chief Marketing Officer at Actian.
In my experience, the hardest part about marketing isn’t creating the campaigns or generating the leads—it’s making sure the data behind all of it means something to the people making the biggest business decisions. The C-suite doesn’t need dashboards filled with acronyms. They need a clear, compelling narrative that connects what’s happening in the market to the business outcomes they care about.
That’s why I believe marketing leaders have to be translators. We sit at the intersection of customer data, business strategy and revenue impact. If we can’t connect those dots, the business misses opportunities.
Breaking Though The “Sea Of Sameness”
Buying behavior is evolving faster than most companies can adapt. AI is reshaping the way people search, evaluate and decide—and it’s happening at a pace that even seasoned leaders struggle to keep up with. Each week, I learn something new about how AI influences B2B software marketing and how we show up online.
We’re also in what I call a “sea of sameness.” Every technology company is competing for attention, and it’s harder than ever to stand out. Executives know they need differentiation, but how? This is where marketing can help most. In addition to delivering pipelines, we can break through the noise and help the business win.
The question is: how do we actually do this? Marketing leaders must become both educators and data synthesizers. First, we need to retool our organizations for the AI era and ensure everyone understands how prospects now discover and evaluate solutions. Examples include upskilling teams on generative engine optimization (GEO) or training them to create content that AI systems surface.
Second, marketers must leverage our unique vantage point at the intersection of sales, product, and customer success to synthesize insights like behavioral data, conversation intelligence, and market feedback. Smart marketers use this intelligence to place strategic bets that maximize return on investment like owning an underserved content category, pioneering a new channel, or positioning around an emerging buyer concern.
Just keeping pace with change will not suffice. The companies that break through the sea of sameness use marketing’s cross-functional visibility to spot opportunities first.
Marketing In The Age Of AI
I’ve seen AI not just speed things up, but completely shift which metrics matter to the C-suite. Traditional SEO-driven measurements are no longer enough as people increasingly turn to AI-powered search summaries and conversational engines. Bain & Company reports that when traditional search engines include generative AI summaries, 60% of searches end without a click through to another website.That means marketers now have to ask: How do we get mentioned there? And how do we measure success in a world where AI is providing the answers?
In parallel, marketers must serve two audiences: the human buyer, who needs to connect with your brand story and vision, and the AI engines, which need clear, structured content to surface you in results. It adds complexity, but it also creates opportunity if you know how to balance both.
Marketing’s Unique Role As Data Translator
In my experience, CMOs naturally act as data translators because we see the full picture. We work with sales, product, engineering, finance, customer success and more. We understand the end-to-end customer journey, and we know the revenue, growth and pipeline metrics the business is chasing.
Marketing is much less of an art than it used to be, but it’s not pure science either. The best marketing leaders combine both skills: making sense of the data while nurturing the creativity with storytelling that helps the business stand out above competitors. You cannot be all one or the other—it takes a blend of both to be successful.
Focus On Influence, Not Attribution
One thing I’ve learned over the years: Attribution arguments waste time. Instead of fighting over who sourced a lead or closed a deal, I focus on influence. Did marketing touch and shape the customer’s decision? Did we accelerate the deal? Did we make sure our brand showed up in the right places at the right time?
If the business doesn’t win, we all lose. That’s my philosophy. We’re partners across the organization. When we all win together, it’s much more powerful than debating who gets the credit.
A Framework For Better Data Conversations
Being a data translator doesn’t mean dumbing things down—it means elevating them. I still want my team talking about cost-per-clicks, conversion rates and channel performance, but when I walk into the executive board room, I’m connecting those numbers to revenue growth, churn reduction or market share.
Here’s what’s worked for me:
1. Focus on the short list of metrics that truly move the business forward.
2. Listen really hard to what the front line is telling you, especially sales and business development. They see what’s resonating in real time.
3. Share a single source of truth. One dashboard, one set of goals, one view of performance. It keeps the conversation on progress, not on whose numbers are “right” when they don’t match.
Let The Data Inform, Not Just Confirm
Over and over, I’ve seen that when you know your data inside and out, it will tell you where the real problems and opportunities exist. A sudden drop in web traffic might trace back to a messaging change that isn’t landing. A drop in conversion rates might point to a new competitive threat. If you look without bias, data can tell you where you’ve been and where you’re going.
And if your dashboard is always green, you’re not looking hard enough. In my experience, the most valuable insights come from the yellows and reds—the places where you can fix something, capitalize on a shift or pivot before the competition does.
Data is the greatest asset a company has today, and marketing sits right in the middle of it. If we do our job as translators, we don’t just report the numbers. We give the business the clarity and confidence to act on them.
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