OVER TO YOU
Nurture the ecosystem
How investment in people, partners and platforms matters to growth.
Resources to accompany chapter 12 of Make Marketing Matter: Change perceptions. Drive performance. Architect growth.
Chapter snapshot
Strategy, mindset and principles only matter if the ecosystem can execute. Without that, it won't drive performance, architect growth or change any perceptions of marketing.
Chapter 12 turns to the pathway from strategy to execution: shaping the ecosystem strategy into plans, building the right blend of people, partners and technology, and setting a budget tied to revenue ambition rather than last year's spend. It covers developing the culture, harnessing both human and artificial intelligence, attracting talent and evolving the ecosystem as people grow and priorities shift.
Above all, it asks the ecosystem to partner with the business, not compete with it, and to remember that whoever the audience, human beings make the decisions.
Definitions in this chapter
the marketing ecosystem approach.
The interconnected network of people, activities, relationships and decisions through which a business delivers marketing excellence to change perceptions, drive performance and architect growth.
Check In
Take a moment to reflect on how your marketing ecosystem is set up to deliver.
- Is the marketing budget set by adjusting last year's spend, or tied to revenue ambition?
- Does your ecosystem have the right blend of people, partners and technology for what the business needs next?
- Is there one boardroom peer who doesn't yet see marketing as a strategic partner?
Take Action
Carve up the budget. Look at what proportion of your current budget is reserved for:
- Building trust and resonance with out-of-market buyers (brand spend)
- Enabling in-year business outcomes (performance or demand generation spend)
- Retaining customer attention to drive retention and repeat business (customer marketing spend)
- Experimenting and innovating
Then look at how it's split across people, partners and platforms.
Does the balance reflect your blend of principles, and is there a protected 10-20% for experimentation and innovation? If not, identify one shift you can make.
Bring it to the room
Marketing matters to the business when it matters to the people around the table. Take stock together of how the ecosystem partners with the business.
Ask each leader: which of your outcomes does marketing most directly enable? Are your measures of success visible in the 3D Dashboard? Where could marketing share insight more generously with your team?
Then ask the harder question: where does the relationship feel like marketing is competing, justifying or dictating, and what could partnering look like instead?
Map any missing measures into the dashboard, and agree the next 1% towards a stronger partnership.
Back pocket arguments
- The Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey found average budgets represented 7.7% of revenue. Read the article >
- The Benchmarkit’s 2025 B2B Marketing Benchmarks research found that in B2B the percentage of revenue allocated was a median of 10%, with the fastest growing businesses allocating up to 25% of their revenue to marketing investment. Read the research >
- McKinsey & Company’s research on AI leadership suggests that the leaders who thrive will be those who combine human depth with digital fluency, using AI to think alongside them rather than instead of them. Read the article >
Get the full picture
This page includes additional resources to support Chapter 12: Nurture the ecosystem in the book Make Marketing Matter.
The chapter turns to execution, showing how the right strategy, culture, budget and blend of people, partners and platforms build a marketing ecosystem that changes perceptions, drives performance and architects growth. Make Marketing Matter is a comprehensive guide for marketing leaders and boardroom colleagues who want to build a marketing ecosystem that shows impact, links to outcomes, and leads to recognisable revenue.
30
Definitions
Clear, precise language that gives you a shared vocabulary for your ecosystem approach.
40
Practical Exercises
Consistent, repeatable actions that bring the ecosystem approach to life.
Preorder Make Marketing Matter
Make Marketing Matter: Change perceptions. Drive performance. Architect growth. is out on 20th October 2026.
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