In an era where marketing is no longer just about brand storytelling but about driving measurable business outcomes, Alyssa Hall, Senior Vice President – Marketing at AHEAD, offers a powerful perspective on the evolution of modern marketing. With nearly three decades of experience, Alyssa shares insights on marketing’s expanding role in the boardroom, data-driven growth strategies, AI-powered transformation, and leadership principles that build high-impact teams.
TAM: Marketing as a function has evolved dramatically over the years right from brand visibility to value creation and pipeline generation. How has this transformation played out at the CEO and boardroom level, especially at AHEAD?
Alyssa Hall: I’ve been in marketing for close to 30 years, and the change has been remarkable. Earlier, marketing was often viewed as a support function and mostly meant creating brochures, decks, and visual assets. If it looked good, that was enough. There wasn’t much emphasis on accountability or business impact. Over time, marketing has evolved into a highly data-driven, performance-oriented function. Today, it is deeply aligned with sales, focused on pipeline creation, revenue impact, and business contribution. We now have the tools, analytics, and frameworks to prove our value, which has earned marketing far more credibility and respect at the leadership level. At AHEAD, even our brand refresh efforts go far beyond aesthetics. Messaging, creative, and positioning are rooted in strategy, business outcomes, and customer impact. If I had to summarize this evolution in one word, it would be accountability, and marketing today must deliver tangible business results.
TAM: Marketing today is also a core revenue driver. How do you architect marketing strategies that influence pipeline creation and long-term revenue growth, particularly in enterprise technology markets?
Alyssa Hall: Everything begins with data-driven decision-making. From digital campaigns to field events, we rely heavily on analytics to understand what truly delivers value. We no longer do activities just because they seem interesting. Instead, we evaluate what has historically delivered impact and adjust accordingly. At AHEAD, our model is somewhat unique. We focus heavily on cross-practice and cross-pillar growth within existing clients, rather than only acquiring new logos. This means measuring marketing’s impact is more nuanced. Instead of simply tracking net-new business, we monitor engagement across accounts and identify where marketing has influenced expansion.
We’ve implemented intelligent lead scoring and engagement tracking tools that allow us to demonstrate real-time impact. For example, we can now show that 77% of our top target accounts across the country have meaningfully engaged with marketing content, and we can alert sales teams instantly when engagement peaks. These insights allow sales to act quickly and strategically, strengthening the connection between marketing activity and revenue outcomes.
TAM: Apart from data and tools, what operating models deliver the strongest outcomes for account-based marketing (ABM)?
Alyssa Hall:
Hyper-personalization is absolutely critical. We operate with lean teams, so we rely heavily on intelligent systems to scale personalization. Today’s buyers expect relevance. Therefore, generic messaging simply doesn’t work. By using AI-powered tools, we can personalize digital journeys at scale right from customizing landing pages, campaigns, to content based on individual account behavior. Our data shows that personalized ABM strategies significantly increase engagement and conversion. While we’re still refining these models, personalization is undoubtedly one of the strongest levers for ABM success.
TAM: How should CEOs and boards evaluate modern marketing effectiveness?
Alyssa Hall: This is a critical question. Traditional marketing KPIs don’t fully capture today’s impact, especially in complex enterprise environments. While pipeline contribution is important, engagement metrics, brand influence, and buyer journey mapping are equally vital.
Boards often want simple attribution models, but modern B2B buying journeys are far more complex. Marketing influences multiple touchpoints before a deal closes. Therefore, reporting needs to focus on engagement, behavioral impact, and strategic contribution, rather than just last-touch attribution. Marketing and sales must remain tightly aligned around common revenue goals, with marketing clearly demonstrating how it supports and accelerates those outcomes.
TAM: AI is transforming marketing rapidly. Where do you see AI delivering the strongest performance gains?
Alyssa Hall: AI has been a game changer for us across multiple dimensions namely content creation and personalization to predictive analytics and campaign optimization.
We’re leveraging AI for:
- Hyper-personalization at scale
- Predictive lead scoring and behavioral analytics
- Automated content creation and adaptation
- Intelligent digital targeting based on buyer intent
One of our biggest breakthroughs has been implementing enterprise-grade GPT tools that help extract the most relevant and up-to-date insights from internal knowledge repositories. This allows us to create high-quality thought leadership, digital campaigns, and video scripts faster and more effectively. AI amplifies it creativity and does not replace it. It allows our teams to focus on strategy and innovation rather than repetitive manual work.
TAM: You’ve led marketing organizations for nearly three decades. What leadership principles have consistently helped you scale high-impact teams?
Alyssa Hall: The biggest leadership lesson I’ve learned is the power of trust, vulnerability, and human connection. Earlier in my career, I believed in strong professional boundaries. But during COVID, everything changed. Work and personal lives blended, and teams became deeply connected. That experience showed me that when people truly trust each other, collaboration, loyalty, and performance increase dramatically.
At AHEAD, we’ve built a culture where people feel valued, heard, and supported. This environment has resulted in extraordinary retention, only one voluntary departure in ten years, and a team that has grown from three to forty members. When people are happy and feel psychologically safe, they naturally go above and beyond. Leadership isn’t about hierarchy. It’s about empathy, shared purpose, and creating a workplace people genuinely enjoy being part of.
