I used to think of campaign data as mostly what I could see in the platform:
Open rates
Clicks
Replies
Meetings
MQLs
Those numbers still matter to me, but after spending more time running demand gen programs alongside sales, I’ve learned that some of the most useful campaign data never shows up in the dashboard. It actually comes from our business development reps (BDs) and our sales development reps (SDRs): the people talking to prospects.
That’s especially true for our trade show campaigns.
For every show, our team gets together to have conversations before the outreach begins and again after the event is over. Those conversations have changed the way I think about campaign performance because they give me something the numbers can’t: context.
The campaign doesn’t start with the first email
Before a trade show campaign launches, we review the target list with managers and business development reps.
On paper, the list might look straightforward. We know the companies, the vertical, and the people we want to reach. But the people closest to the sales process usually know things the spreadsheet doesn’t, such as:
Who has spoken with the prospect before
What our existing relationship is
Who the prospect uses for payments right now
Other background information that makes the company appear to be a good fit, but sales already knows there’s a reason they shouldn’t be prioritized.
All of this context matters, as it prepares the SDRs for their conversations when they do pre-show outreach, and the BDs have the right talking points when they approach prospect at the show.
Email metrics tell me what happened. Sales tells me what it meant.
Once a campaign is running, I can see the marketing side of the story: opens, clicks, replies (and subsequently, why they may not be interested), and meetings.
But after the show, we have another conversation with the team to understand the current situation with those prospects.
Where are they in their payments journey?
Do they already have payments integrated?
Are they happy with their current setup?
Are they in a buying window?
Are they actually a fit for us?
Did the conversation confirm that we should move on?
Those questions add a layer of meaning that engagement data can’t provide on its own.
A prospect can open every email and click multiple times without ever becoming a meaningful opportunity.
Another prospect may barely engage with the campaign but have a strong conversation with someone at the show and turn out to be exactly the type of company we want to pursue.
That difference has become important to me.
Engagement tells me someone interacted with the campaign. Sales feedback tells me whether that interaction had business value.
The feedback should influence the next campaign
The post-show conversation also shouldn’t end with updating a CRM field and moving on.
The things sales learns can become inputs for the next round of marketing.
If the same objection keeps coming up, that matters.
If prospects consistently mention a certain competitor, integration issue, or payments challenge, that matters.
If the list included companies that looked strong on paper but repeatedly turned out not to be a fit, that matters too.
All of that can influence:
Who we target next time
How we talk about the vertical
What SDRs ask on calls
Which pain points show up in the emails
What kind of CTA makes sense
Whether a trade show or audience is worth pursuing again
This is one of the things I like about running recurring campaigns.
Every new campaign gets to benefit from what the previous one taught us.
The email copy may be visible part of the program, but the conversations around it are what help the program get smarter.
I’ve learned to treat sales feedback as campaign data
My instinct as a marketer is still to look at the numbers first. I want to know how the campaign performed, which subject lines worked, and which touchpoints generated meetings.
But the longer I’ve worked in demand gen, the less comfortable I am judging a campaign from those numbers alone. Some of the most useful information comes from conversations I wasn’t part of.
That’s why the pre-show and post-show calls matter to me. The first helps me understand who we’re targeting and what sales already knows. The second helps me understand whether the campaign created anything worth pursuing. Together, they give me a fuller picture of performance than the dashboard can provide on its own.
Good pre-show and post-show follow ups let me know that we’re reaching the right companies, helping sales have better conversations, and finding opportunities the team actually wants to pursue.