When Drew recently asked a crowd of CMOs how much revenue marketing should directly generate, most said 5-15%. However, Eric Eden, expert CMO of Receipt Bank, claimed that marketing should be a company’s main revenue generator, bringing in 80% of all sales. This uncommon point of view is explained and detailed on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. Eric and Drew talk through the first two main steps of how to turn your marketing efforts into a revenue machine. They discuss the importance of having a solid foundation marketing technology stack, all of the details behind why evidence-based marketing is the norm, and how to secure a substantial marketing budget for your team. Don’t miss part two of this interview on the next episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. You’ll learn a lot from part one of this conversation, so give it your full attention. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - Stitcher- or Podsearch What You’ll Learn [0:29] Drew introduces his guest for this episode, Eric Eden [3:05] How to lay the foundation for marketing to become a revenue generator [6:00] Why the burden of proof for success lies with the marketer [8:27] What exactly is evidence-based marketing, and how do you define your strategy? [13:57] Eric walks through his process for securing a substantial marketing budget [22:02] The essentials for your company’s tech stack and additional layers to consider [28:22] What’s the next step after creating a solid CRM piece? [33:39] Why isn’t it more common to combine the first two layers of your marketing stack? Why a CRM is a foundational basis needed for any successful marketing or revenue-generating campaign Eric explains on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite that without a functional and clean customer relationship management technology piece, your marketing will never turn into a revenue generator. He continues by saying that, “If you don’t have a good marketing technology stack that enables your demand generation engine, everything falls apart.” A solid CRM piece allows you to track leads, understand what is encouraging or hindering contract success, improves integration between marketing and sales teams, and is necessary when putting together a budget proposal. If a CMO is looking at upgrading a single piece of their marketing strategy, having a bombproof CRM platform needs to be at the top of the list. To hear why CRM technology is so critical, and to understand why Eric is so adamant about this piece of technology, be sure to give this episode a listen. The importance of understanding evidence-based marketing to secure a substantial budget Gone are the days where the phrase, “it’s complicated, just trust me!” can be successful in budget meetings with company executives. In order to secure the funds marketing teams need, CMOs need to understand how to articulate their marketing in in terms of data and evidence of success. The burden of proof lies with the CMO to persuade others why marketing as a revenue generator can work for the company. You have to determine how to frame things in such a way that makes people comfortable with spending dollars on marketing, build a common language that all teams and levels of employees understand, and prevent any misconceptions. Once you have set the stage and brought people over to your side of the budget debate, you can then begin to determine what percentage of the budget should be spent on each potential customer, and the ROI that would come from each prospective contract. This framing turns marketing into an investment, not a cost, and is the key to massive success. To hear Drew and Eric’s conversation surrounding evidence-based marketing and how it can ultimately be used to generate revenue, don’t miss this episode. Transform your ordinary marketing campaigns into a massive revenue generator through automation After a functional CRM piece, the next step to generate revenue is marketing automation - the second most popular piece of a technology stack. Eric urges lis