A business is a system made of systems.
One of those is a marketing system, which, again, is made of systems: branding, positioning, pricing, and so on.
Some of those systems sit close to the point of purchase, and when they do, changes to them can show a direct correlation with sales.
That was the case with Marty Neumeier, who became the authority on software packaging design in the 80s and 90s. He developed the insight and a process to design packaging that increased product sales. As a result, he could work with a company like Apple and demonstrate a 40% increase in sales across their product range without a single change to the product itself. The only change was the packaging.
Most of us, however, sit further upstream, where the effect of our work is delayed and tangled up with everything else going on in the business.
When you specialise in one of those systems, you can’t isolate ROI, so you can’t prove it, and claiming direct ROI impact you can’t deliver is a poor positioning move.
Take customer research as an example: “We listen to your customers to help you grow.”
You have a weak argument because there are too many systems between research and revenue for you to credibly prove it. Plus, because the connection to your work is tenuous, it’s meaningless and undifferentiated.
All that said, you still need to demonstrate value worthy of investment.
You do that the way authorities do, through insight. You publish compelling stories, evidence, and examples to construct a worldview that presents the outcomes of your system (e.g. customer research) and how those outcomes positively impact the broader business system.
If a client adopts your worldview, they now see why your discipline is worth investing in, and because you shaped how they see it, they’re more open to your methods for advising on or building that system.
This is exactly what Donald Miller does with story and Roger L. Martin with strategy.
If you can demonstrate ROI, you should. But it’s not a prerequisite for a lucrative business built on authority.