Key Takeaways
- 10Fold’s “Communications ROI Reset” finds marketers now track more signals than ever, yet only 38% correlate those metrics to pipeline or revenue.
- The fix isn’t a longer dashboard; it’s connected, integrated reporting that ties visibility to trust, action and measurable business growth.
A recent 10Fold report finds marketers are expanding how they measure public relations, content, social, digital and AI visibility programs, but many still lack the integrated reporting and connections to business systems needed to prove business impact for the CEO and board of directors,
The Communications ROI Reset: What B2B Leaders Measure, Trust and Act On show more than half the leaders responding now track a broader mix of business-impact signals, including website traffic, AI visibility, AI referral traffic and downstream actions.
The topline finding is only 38% measure pipeline or revenue influence correlated to these metrics. And just 35% say they have fully integrated reporting across earned, paid social, content and digital channels.
Why More Metrics Won’t Prove Marketing’s Business Impact
Marketing leaders are not short on metrics, said Susan Thomas, CEO of 10Fold, they are short on connected metrics,
“The C-suite does not need a longer dashboard. It needs a credible story that shows how visibility creates trust, how trust creates action and how action contributes to business growth,” said Thomas in a statement. “Ideally, the communications metrics are aligned with other marketing programs, to support a fair attribution model. That is the communications ROI reset.”
How AI Visibility Became a Core Communications Metric
AI visibility has quickly become part of the communications measurement mix. More than half of respondents measure AI search visibility or brand citations in AI-generated content, and the same percentage measure referral traffic from tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. In addition, 58% include an AI search or LLM visibility platform in their integrated reporting.
The research found that 87% of marketing leaders agree their CEO or board mostly trust metrics aligned with business outcomes. Revenue impact is the most trusted metric (34%), followed by website traffic (27%), social engagement (25%), and leads generated, SEO and organic visibility, and AI visibility metrics at 24% each. Pipeline influence ranks lower at 16%, and share of voice ranks lowest at 11%.
The study highlighted that communications measurement influences investment decisions. More than 80% of respondents agreed that measurement is changing strategy and budget decisions for paid social, paid media, digital, owned content, earned media, earned content and organic social. Yet only 49% of respondents are very confident in the accuracy and completeness of their communications data. The gap suggests marketing and communications leaders may be making strategy and budget decisions based on reporting models that are not fully trusted, according to 10Fold officials
Focus on Different Verticals
10Fold’s companion vertical analysis shows that different B2B technology markets emphasize different proof points. For example, enterprise software companies may need to connect communications with revenue, buyer behavior and analyst influence. And AI and data companies likely need to show how discoverability creates authority, demand and market preference. Other data points by market segment:
- Cloud and infrastructure companies may have to turn a strong technology stack into integrated executive reporting.
- Cybersecurity companies must make search and AI visibility more defensible.
- Fintech / Health tech companies may likely need to add AI visibility to key metrics for greater trust with the C-Suite and board.
- IoT companies may have to transform strong data into visible business impact.
Companion documents segmenting companies by revenue stages suggests companies under $100M typically need to establish a small number of reliable growth and visibility indicators that can be accurately measured; those between $101M–$999.9M need to integrate digital and AI signals into an executive-level business narrative; and for those $1B+ likely need to simplify complex reporting into a scorecard that supports investment decisions that the board trusts.
To download the full The Communications ROI Reset: What B2B Leaders Measure, Trust and Act On report, click here.
