In 2006, he co-founded Adobe Marketo, a company that revolutionized the industry with its marketing approach. PMG became a Marketo partner in 2012 and have since witnessed significant changes. Marketo elevated revenue marketing by introducing the concept of MQLs, which became the golden KPI of B2B marketing for years. Companies invested heavily in acquiring leads, nurturing them, and converting them into MQLs.
However challenges emerged. While MQL offered a way to measure marketing impact, they fell short when selling to large accounts. Additionally the lack of industry-wide standardization led to each company defining MQLs differently, causing confusion and diminishing trust in this KPI. Despite that companies remained focused on MQLs for years. In one meeting with a CMO, we coined the term “MQL Slave” to describe this fixation. Subsequently, ABX promised to win large accounts with a well-oiled marketing machine. Now, buying groups emerging as the next big thing in enterprise go-to-market strategies.
When Or Moshkovitz ✨ and I spoke with Jon for our podcast, “ABX and Cocktails,” the discussion took an unexpected turn.
In essence, the godfather of revenue marketing suggested that revenue marketing is dead.
He advocated for marketing to focus on brand, partnerships, warm introductions, and AI-resistant experiences such as events. He argued that viewing marketing as a predictable revenue engine is fundamentally flawed. While marketing undoubtedly impacts revenue, it’s not as straightforward or measurable as we’d like to believe. Marketing increases closing probability, but measuring its contribution throughout the process is challenging.
It’s debatable whether marketing cannot be measured predictably in earlier stages. Selling to enterprises makes it difficult to identify specific actions that advance a deal. However, there are ways to link marketing actions to pipeline creation and acceleration, as seen when intent and other strategies are well implemented.
We also discussed topics like AI’s impact on the industry, the relevance of outbound strategies, and various types of Manhattan cocktails.
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The Godfather of Revenue Marketing: Revenue Marketing is Dead
March 16, 2026
Kfir Pravda
I’ve been following Jon Miller for years.
In 2006, he co-founded Adobe Marketo, a company that revolutionized the industry with its marketing approach. PMG became a Marketo partner in 2012 and have since witnessed significant changes. Marketo elevated revenue marketing by introducing the concept of MQLs, which became the golden KPI of B2B marketing for years. Companies invested heavily in acquiring leads, nurturing them, and converting them into MQLs.
However challenges emerged. While MQL offered a way to measure marketing impact, they fell short when selling to large accounts. Additionally the lack of industry-wide standardization led to each company defining MQLs differently, causing confusion and diminishing trust in this KPI. Despite that companies remained focused on MQLs for years. In one meeting with a CMO, we coined the term “MQL Slave” to describe this fixation.
Subsequently, ABX promised to win large accounts with a well-oiled marketing machine. Now, buying groups emerging as the next big thing in enterprise go-to-market strategies.
When Or Moshkovitz ✨ and I spoke with Jon for our podcast, “ABX and Cocktails,” the discussion took an unexpected turn.
In essence, the godfather of revenue marketing suggested that revenue marketing is dead.
It’s debatable whether marketing cannot be measured predictably in earlier stages. Selling to enterprises makes it difficult to identify specific actions that advance a deal. However, there are ways to link marketing actions to pipeline creation and acceleration, as seen when intent and other strategies are well implemented.
We also discussed topics like AI’s impact on the industry, the relevance of outbound strategies, and various types of Manhattan cocktails.
So, is revenue marketing dead?
The Godfather of Revenue Marketing: Revenue Marketing is Dead was originally published in RevenueFlows on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.