In October of last year, I thought of starting a series of posts on 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀. I posted one a day for four days straight. This was the second one.
“𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝘾𝙁𝙊 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨, 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨.”
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 #𝟮
Whoever controls the budget gets to ask the questions. Understanding how to address the CFO’s priorities and concerns is crucial to securing marketing investment to fuel business growth. Hate the game, not the player.
💰 𝗖𝗙𝗢𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣&𝗟 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 – If revenue or profitability don’t meet the plan, they must cut costs. Investing in marketing is investing in generating future demand, but meeting quarterly financial objectives allows the company to have a future in the first place.
📈 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 – not only the cost of debt is tied to the stock value (which is often driven by revenue and profitability trends), but also is most of the executive compensation. Incentives are stacked against marketing when growth slows and interest rates increase.
⚖️ 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗫 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗘𝗫 – Marketing incurs costs in the present but drives future demand. Given the rapidly changing macro of the past 3+ years, investments based on backward-looking models can’t run months and quarters before proving their ROI. Marketing impact is not easy to isolate, quantify, and measure, but (timely) evidence will always be more persuasive than conviction.