The SaaS triangle - more leads, better quality, same budget
As a marketer, this is frustrating to explain to clients that its almost impossible to achieve and is contradicting in nature.
Qualified leads will always cost you more than unqualified ones.
The math is simple: More qualified leads = Lower total lead volume (at the same budget)
Therefore cost per lead & cost per ICP lead are almost always inversely proportional
Marketing teams get measured on SQL and pipeline numbers. That's sales territory, plain and simple.
So what do we actually have control over?
Cost per ICP lead
This is a true north metric I've found. Optimize for this relentlessly.