Apr 08, 2025

Fundamentals are important. Just ask the Duke men’s basketball team, which… OK, sorry. I won’t go there.

Just ask the UConn women’s basketball team, which won its 12th NCAA national championship over the weekend. Why am I picking that example? Because fundamentals are critical to sustained success.

Today in MarTech, contributor Ardath Albee calls for marketers to revive respect for marketing fundamentals in B2B, where the focus on ROI fails to match the reality of the buying experience and makes it hard for marketers to develop sustained success.

Also, we’re excited to see the community is using the ability to personalize certain content on the MarTech site. (Yes, we know it’s being used; no, we don’t collect the data, such as the job role you choose when customizing). Let us know how you like it.

Mike Pastore
Editorial Director

Semrush Spotlight event: One-day accelerator for your marketing career on October 29, 2025, in Amsterdam. Buy your €149 pass now.

B2B marketing

What else we're reading

Good reads and conversations to help good marketers get better.

But can Flynn do a keg stand?
Marketing strategy in meme form
Markets and marketing got you down? READ THIS REDDIT THREAD.
Consumers and experts disagree about AI, and both are right.
Garbage data is the biggest hidden tariff in marketing.
AI agents can (and will) be scammed

MarTech research

Surveys and research reports to make you a more-informed marketer

NEW! Get profiles of 14 email marketing platforms and more in the 2025 MarTech Intelligence Report, Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide.
NEW! MarTech’s new buyers guide for identity resolution includes profiles of 11 identity resolution platform vendors, pricing information, capabilities comparisons and recommended steps for evaluating and purchasing.
NEW! Get in-depth profiles of the top players in the marketing project and work management space. Download the MarTech Intelligence Report on Marketing Work Management platforms.
The 2025 MarTech Intelligence Report on Marketing Automation Platforms is here. Get an overview of the MAP market and profiles of 14 vendors.
Improve your understanding of the CDP market and get profiles of 21 vendors in the space. It’s the 2025 MarTech Intelligence Report on customer data platforms.
Check out our MarTech Intelligence Report on Call Analytics & Conversation Intelligence Platforms, featuring profiles of 11 vendors.

What they're saying

If you’ve studied marketing, you’ve been taught positioning means how customers perceive you compared to the competition. This is absolutely true. The problem is how we define competition.” – Zac Stucki in The competition you’re ignoring is costing you customers
“ROI is the rallying cry of CEOs and CFOs. Executives demand we prove ROI for every marketing program, tactic and strategy a brand uses. However, the metric lacks meaning without a focus on the overall marketing effort.” – Ardath Albee in Why ROI is undermining B2B marketing effectiveness | MarTech