For years, marketing teams have been told the same thing: get more clicks. More form fills. More MQLs. The logic was simple—if someone clicked, they must be interested.
Executives loved it. Clicks looked clean in a dashboard. They made marketing feel trackable. Tangible. Safe.
But here’s the problem: clicks don’t mean what they used to.
Today, most buyers don’t click. They see. They listen. They remember. And when they’re ready, they act—on their own terms, not because a form gated their access to a white paper.
This shift is already happening. Google searches increasingly end without clicks. Social platforms bury outbound links. Email open rates are unreliable. Attribution is getting harder, not easier.
But in many companies, leadership still runs the same playbook—optimizing for clicks, measuring marketing by MQLs, and asking sales to chase leads that don’t go anywhere.
It’s time for a reset.
Impressions Are How Modern Buyers Build Trust
When someone sees your brand in their feed, hears your name on a podcast, or reads a post from your sales team—it matters. It’s not just noise. It’s repetition. Recognition. Familiarity.
That’s how real buying decisions start today: with awareness.
Buyers don’t follow a clean funnel anymore. They bounce around. They ask colleagues. They make decisions before ever talking to sales. If you’re not visible during that process—if you’re not showing up—you’re not getting invited to the table.
And you can’t earn visibility if your only metric is clicks.
The Disconnect at the Top
Executives aren’t the enemy here. They’re looking for results. But many are stuck in a reporting model that no longer reflects reality.
- They want attribution—but today’s buyer journey is nonlinear
- They want lead volume—but most lead gen forms attract low-intent contacts
- They want proof—but visibility and trust don’t always show up in a spreadsheet
If marketing is measured by clicks, and sales is measured by meetings, everyone gets misaligned. Sales waits for leads that don’t convert. Marketing pushes gated content that no one wants. And buyers? They look elsewhere.
What Actually Works: Aligned Sales and Marketing, Building Trust in Public
Here’s the better model:
- Marketing creates content built for visibility—not just conversion
That means podcast clips. POV-driven LinkedIn posts. Memorable visuals. Not everything needs a CTA. Some content just needs to show you exist—and have something useful to say. - Sales shows up where buyers are already paying attention
Reps engage on social. They share insights. They contribute to the same platforms marketing is investing in. They don’t just cold pitch—they warm the room first. - Both teams work together to refine the message
Sales brings back what prospects are asking. Marketing adapts campaigns based on real feedback. Over time, the message sharpens, visibility grows, and trust compounds. - Impressions build familiarity. Familiarity builds trust. Trust leads to revenue.
This is a longer game—but a far more durable one.
Let go of the click. Focus on the connection.
The brands that win today aren’t the ones with the most gated assets. They’re the ones showing up consistently. Sharing ideas generously. Building a reputation before they ask for anything in return.
If your dashboard says otherwise, it might be time to update what you’re measuring.
Because the companies earning attention now are the ones closing deals six months from now. Not because someone clicked. But because someone remembered.
