What is VP of Marketing?
In B2B sales development, a VP of Marketing is the executive responsible for generating qualified pipeline, shaping go‑to‑market strategy, and aligning demand generation with sales. They oversee programs like outbound SDRs, content, ABM, and marketing operations to ensure marketing-sourced opportunities convert into revenue and that sales teams are equipped with the right volume and quality of leads.
Understanding VP of Marketing in B2B Sales
They typically own the end-to-end demand engine: defining the ideal customer profile (ICP), building and segmenting target account lists, deploying campaigns (content, events, paid, outbound), and ensuring a tight handoff to sales development and account executives. In many organizations, the VP of Marketing partners closely with the VP of Sales or CRO to set shared pipeline targets and service-level agreements (SLAs) for lead follow-up and conversion.
As buying committees have grown from an average of about 6-7 decision-makers to 8-13 stakeholders in complex B2B deals, the VP of Marketing has become central in orchestrating multi-threaded engagement across channels and personas rather than focusing on a single lead contact. This shift has fueled the rise of account-based marketing (ABM) and sophisticated sales development motions that prioritize quality and fit over sheer volume.
Over the last decade, the role has evolved from being cost-center oriented-measured mostly on leads and MQLs-to being revenue and efficiency oriented. Most VPs of Marketing now manage shrinking or flat budgets as a percentage of company revenue while still being expected to generate growth, forcing them to lean heavily on data, automation, AI, and specialized partners for SDR outsourcing and lead generation.
In modern B2B organizations, the VP of Marketing is also a key buyer and champion for external sales development partners like SalesHive. They evaluate vendors based on their ability to hit pipeline goals for defined segments, integrate with the tech stack (CRM, marketing automation, sequencing tools), and deliver clear attribution. For sales professionals, understanding the VP of Marketing’s pressures-pipeline accountability, budget constraints, and the need for sales alignment-is critical to building credibility and driving successful, multi-stakeholder deals.
Key Benefits
Stronger Sales Pipeline Ownership
A VP of Marketing provides clear ownership over marketing-sourced and influenced pipeline. This centralizes accountability for lead quality, volume, and conversion, making it easier for SDR and sales teams to forecast and hit revenue targets.
Improved Sales and Marketing Alignment
With a senior leader co-owning revenue with sales, organizations can align messaging, ICP definitions, and qualification criteria. This reduces friction around lead quality and ensures SDRs focus on accounts that match strategic growth priorities.
Scalable Demand Generation Engine
VPs of Marketing design repeatable demand generation and outbound programs across channels, including SDR outreach, paid media, and content. This creates a scalable system for generating meetings and opportunities, rather than relying on ad-hoc campaigns.
Data-Driven GTM Decisions
By overseeing marketing operations and analytics, the VP of Marketing can assess which campaigns, channels, and partner programs generate the highest ROI. This guides smarter investments in SDR outsourcing, list building, and ABM platforms.
Consistent Customer and Brand Experience
A strong VP of Marketing ensures consistent narratives from first outbound email through sales conversations and post-sale touchpoints. This coherence across SDR scripts, email cadences, and content increases trust and win rates with complex buying committees.
Key Statistics
Best Practices
Set Shared Revenue and Pipeline Targets with Sales
Define joint pipeline and revenue targets with the VP of Sales or CRO, and translate them into specific goals for marketing-sourced and sales-sourced opportunities. Maintain shared dashboards that SDRs, AEs, and marketing review weekly to track performance and course-correct quickly.
Adopt an Account-Based Approach for High-Value Segments
For enterprise or strategic accounts, shift from lead-based volume to account-based marketing and sales development. Align SDR outreach, content, and advertising on a common list of target accounts and buying groups, using persona-specific messaging and multi-threaded sequences.
Invest in Clean, Actionable Data for SDRs
Prioritize data quality projects and specialized list-building partners to ensure SDRs have accurate contacts, direct dials, and verified emails within your ICP. Routinely refresh and enrich target lists to avoid wasted effort on bounced emails and low-intent accounts.
Operationalize SLAs Across the Funnel
Create and enforce SLAs for lead acceptance, follow-up speed, and dispositioning between marketing, SDRs, and AEs. For example, require SDRs to touch all new qualified leads within a set number of minutes or hours, and close the loop with clear reasons when leads are rejected.
Continuously Test and Optimize Outbound Messaging
Run structured A/B tests on subject lines, call scripts, and value propositions for different personas. Use SDR performance data and call recordings to iterate quickly, and feed winning messages back into your content and campaigns for consistency.
Leverage Specialized Partners for Speed and Scale
Rather than building every capability in-house, VPs of Marketing can engage proven SDR outsourcing and lead generation partners. This accelerates time-to-pipeline, provides channel expertise (cold calling, email), and reduces risk compared to hiring and ramping full internal teams.
Expert Tips
Anchor Every Decision in Pipeline Impact
When you evaluate new programs, agencies, or tools, map them directly to expected pipeline contribution and time-to-value. Use a simple framework that forecasts opportunities created per month and CAC payback, and deprioritize initiatives that cannot be tied to measurable revenue outcomes.
Make SDR Feedback a Core Signal
Schedule recurring feedback loops between SDRs and marketing to review which messages, offers, and personas resonate. Use call recordings and disposition data to refine your ICP, content strategy, and ad targeting rather than relying solely on top-of-funnel vanity metrics.
Design for Buying Committees, Not Individuals
Build campaigns and outbound sequences that speak to multiple roles in the buying group-economic buyers, technical evaluators, and end users. Provide SDRs with persona-specific talk tracks and enablement content so they can multi-thread into accounts and build consensus rather than over-relying on a single champion.
Pilot Before You Fully Commit Budget
Run 60-90 day pilots for new SDR outsourcing partners, ABM tools, or channels with clearly defined success metrics. This approach lets you prove incremental pipeline and refine the playbook before scaling spend across regions or segments.
Standardize Attribution and Reporting Early
Work with RevOps to define how marketing and SDR-sourced opportunities are tracked and credited in your CRM. Implement consistent campaign naming, lead source fields, and dashboards so you can quickly identify which programs and vendors, like an outsourced SDR partner, are truly moving the needle.
Related Tools & Resources
Salesforce
A leading CRM platform used by VPs of Marketing and Sales to manage accounts, track pipeline, and analyze performance across SDR and marketing campaigns.
HubSpot
A unified CRM and marketing automation platform that supports lead capture, email nurturing, landing pages, and reporting for B2B demand generation.
Outreach
A sales engagement platform that helps SDR teams orchestrate multi-step email, call, and social sequences, often owned jointly by sales and marketing leadership.
Salesloft
A sales engagement and dialer platform that enables SDRs to execute and track outbound cadences, providing analytics on call and email performance.
6sense
An ABM and revenue AI platform that provides intent data, predictive scoring, and account insights to prioritize target accounts for SDR and marketing outreach.
ZoomInfo
A B2B data provider offering firmographic and contact data, direct dials, and technographic insights that VPs of Marketing rely on for accurate list building and targeting.
Partner with SalesHive for VP of Marketing
SalesHive collaborates with VPs of Marketing to design persona-based messaging, build and enrich account and contact lists, and integrate activity into your CRM and marketing stack. Their AI-powered email personalization engine, eMod, helps tailor outbound at scale to complex buying committees, while detailed reporting shows which campaigns, channels, and segments produce the best opportunities. Because SalesHive operates without annual contracts and offers risk-free onboarding, VPs of Marketing can test and scale a proven outbound engine without the long-term headcount or technology commitments typically required.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How does a VP of Marketing differ from a CMO in B2B sales development?
In many mid-market and growth-stage companies, the VP of Marketing functions as the top marketing leader, similar to a CMO but with a stronger tactical focus on pipeline generation and SDR performance. CMOs at larger enterprises often oversee broader brand, product, and regional teams, while VPs of Marketing are closer to day-to-day demand generation, outbound strategy, and direct collaboration with sales leadership.
What does a VP of Marketing care about when evaluating SDR outsourcing partners?
They typically care most about ICP alignment, historical performance (meetings and opportunities created), integration with their CRM, and clear attribution. VPs of Marketing want partners who can deliver consistent, sales-accepted meetings, share detailed reporting, and collaborate on messaging and list strategy rather than simply providing activity volume.
How is a VP of Marketing measured in modern B2B organizations?
Beyond traditional metrics like website traffic and MQL volume, VPs of Marketing are increasingly measured on pipeline sourced or influenced, opportunity-to-win conversion rates, CAC payback, and marketing-generated revenue. Many also have shared targets with sales for overall pipeline coverage and forecast accuracy.
How should SDRs tailor outreach when the VP of Marketing is the target persona?
SDRs should focus on outcomes that matter to VPs of Marketing, such as qualified meetings, pipeline coverage, and efficiency gains, not just features. Referencing credible benchmarks, ABM trends, and revenue impact, while keeping emails concise and data-backed, helps establish relevance with a time-constrained executive buyer.
How does a VP of Marketing collaborate with sales leadership?
They typically co-own ICP definitions, territory and account selection, lead-scoring models, and SLAs for follow-up. Regular joint pipeline reviews with sales leadership and RevOps help them refine campaigns, adjust SDR capacity, and troubleshoot conversion issues across stages from lead to closed-won.
When should a company hire its first VP of Marketing?
Companies often hire a VP of Marketing when founder-led or sales-led pipeline generation can no longer sustain growth goals and the organization needs a dedicated leader to build a scalable demand engine. This typically coincides with formalizing an SDR team, implementing or upgrading CRM and marketing automation, and moving from opportunistic selling to a defined go-to-market strategy.
