The data-led marketer: Driving growth through insight and alignment

Across my years being part of, and leading, B2B marketing and sales teams across Asia Pacific and Japan for companies like Rimini Street, AWS, Sophos, and MuleSoft, one truth has consistently emerged: if you want to contribute meaningfully to organisational growth, you need two things: data and sales.

Not in silos. Not in opposition. But as partners.

At AWS, I truly doubled down on data-driven decision making. It wasn't just about dashboards and KPIs. It was about using data as a bridge between strategy and execution, between marketing and sales and between what's happening and what needs to happen.

Let's be honest, growth targets don't care about gut feelings. They demand focus, clarity, and precision. That's why I always start by working backwards from our goals. What's the revenue target? What's marketing's role in achieving that number? From there, you can model what's required, like pipeline coverage, conversion rates and velocity, and actually build a plan grounded in reality. When we can explain the "why" behind our marketing plays with hard numbers, stakeholders listen. More importantly, they align.

 But data alone isn't enough.

The how matters just as much. In every organisation, success hinges on building positive, productive relationships, especially with sales. I've seen firsthand that if you don't have sales on side, you won't succeed.

That means listening, really listening, to understand their world. Are they struggling with early-stage pipeline generation? Are deals stalling mid-funnel? Is pricing or procurement slowing things down? Data helps us reframe these challenges as shared problems we can solve together. It gives marketing the credibility to empathise and the insight to act.

Some of my most valuable stakeholder conversations didn't start with campaigns or content, but with a simple question backed by data: "Where are you stuck?" Those conversations built trust, because they weren't about pushing marketing's agenda, they were about partnering to achieve a shared goal.

 Once aligned, the final piece is clarity. Growth depends on velocity, and velocity depends on sharp, concise communication. Whether it's a stakeholder update, campaign pitch, or quarterly plan, your message needs to land fast and stick. I've learned that if you can't explain the value in a few sentences, you're not ready to take it forward.

Across every company I've worked with, from global enterprise support specialists and cloud leaders to fast-moving cybersecurity players, the formula for impact has been the same: data to guide us, sales to ground us, and trust to carry us.

That's how you turn marketing from a function into a force for growth.