✍️ how to prove marketing ROI

Marketers: What are we dressing up as this year? 🎃

A few of our ideas: 

• Creative + nerdy: Split your outfit in half down the middle and go as an “A/B test”
  

• Low-effort + topical: Carry around a Webster’s dictionary and tell people you’re an LLM 
  

• Spooky squad: Everyone brings a different pair of animal ears and a mask to be “Google Docs Anonymous Animals”

Unfortunately, we couldn’t come up with a good costume for the scariest thing we can think of…your annual budgeting meeting. 

Sarah Cascone, CMO of Appriss Retail and former VP of Marketing at Bluecore, has been through the budget ringer a time, or two, or twenty. 

Along the way, she figured out how to stop measuring one-off channel performance (paid ad clicks, email opens, event attendance) and start tracking marketing motions that actually impact sales pipeline. 

(Even when your sales cycle is as long as the wait between seasons of Euphoria.)

Step 1: Identify the 2–3 marketing motions that will help move the needle for your business, based on sales cycle length and total addressable market.

• Short sales cycle, large TAM: Product-led growth marketing will help you reach as many people as possible
  

• Long sales cycle, large TAM: Expansion-based marketing will help you own your key verticals first, then expand to the entire market over time
  

• Long sales cycle, small TAM: Account-based outbound will help you reach the right companies and develop brand affinity
  

• Short sales cycle, small TAM: Persona-based outbound will help you reach the right people with the right offer 

From there, it’s time to build your measurement framework, align on KPI definitions with finance and sales, and work backwards into budget allocation. Here’s the step-by-step how-to guide on doing just that.

Campaigns that got us talking: Kevin from The Office just got a nice promotion. Actor Brian Baumgartner filled in for the day as Ramp’s CFO, spending several hours in a glass office in NYC approving receipts and hanging out with the Rizzler. We got a real kick out of this one. 

AI spotlight: Mark Cuban gave everyone access to his likeness in Sora, but also included a prompt to mention his company Cost Plus Drugs—leading to thousands of free product placements. 

Stuff that made us scroll back up: When a Japanese ice cream manufacturer needed to increase their prices, they filmed an ad featuring their leadership team bowing in apology. Ironically, it boosted sales and brand sentiment. (If we apologize for sending you this newsletter, will you finally let us launch yours?)  

The ‘arb is growing—a little faster than we expected.

If you’re a master wordsmith who can write across different voices, topics, and industries, we’re hiring a copywriter. 

If you’re a well-rounded content strategist with a keen eye for both the big picture and the little details, we’re hiring a content strategist. 

Apply at storyarb careers:

ChatGPT launched its GPT-3.5 language model 1,094 days ago—and since then, marketers have not known a moment’s rest.

It got us thinking.

After countless conversations with industry peers and huddles in Slack, we’ve got a big feeling the industry is turning a corner.

In 2023, those who were first to market with “AI” messaging—across their websites, socials, exec manifestos—set the pace. In 2024 and 2025, the pool got wider. And in 2026…well, you tell us.

We just opened our Trade Secrets: AI Marketing in 2026 Survey, and we’re dying to hear from our fellow marketers how you’re thinking (or not thinking) about AI as you plan your year ahead.

Share your thoughts here.

☕️ Our first 50 respondents will get a $10 coffee gift card. (We see you, inflation.)

Turns out the scariest thing about your budgeting meeting isn’t the meeting itself—it’s showing up without a plan. 

But when you measure go-to-market motions, instead of one-off channels, you can start to see how all your marketing efforts work together to build awareness, interest, and conversions. Finance gets the predictability they need to feel comfortable, and you get the budget autonomy you need to hit your goals. No costume required. 

See y’all next time. 

— the storyarb writers’ room 🫡

Oh! And another thing… In 2017, Burger King launched a Halloween campaign where they offered free Whoppers to customers dressed as clowns. The campaign ran in 30 countries, fed 115,000 Bozo-fied patrons, and boosted sales by as much as 25% in certain markets. The tagline, “Come as a clown, eat like a king” tapped into the cultural convo about the recently released It…and fired a shot at McDonald’s big-shoed mascot. 🤡