How CMOs Can Win Over CFOs

CFOs do not need CMOs to abandon creativity brand culture or customer experience They need CMOs to connect those investments to the economics of the business revenue growth margin pricing power retention customer lifetime value risk reduction and enterprise valueToo often marketing enters the finance conversation with evidence that matters inside the marketing department but does not fully answer the CFOamp8217s question Awareness is up Engagement improved Consideration increased Sentiment moved Media was efficientThose may be useful signals But they are not by themselves a business caseTo win over CFOs CMOs need to shift the conversation from marketing activity to business valueStart with the business problemThe first mistake many CMOs make is starting with the marketing plan The campaign The channel mix The brand platform The budget requestCFOs are starting somewhere else They are asking What is the company trying to achieve and is this the best use of the next dollarThat means the CMO has to begin with the business problem Is the company trying to gain share Defend margin Enter a new market Increase penetration Reduce churn Support premium pricing Improve customer lifetime value Rebuild trustThe strongest marketing argument is not amp8220We need more money to build the brandamp8221It is amp8220Here is the business challenge we are trying to solve Here is how marketing can help solve it Here is the evidence we have Here is what we will measure And here is how we will adjust if the evidence tells us we are wrongamp8221That is a very different conversation It positions marketing as an investment discipline not an internal constituency asking for fundingStop defending brand as a belief systemBrand is often where CMOCFO tension shows up most clearlyMarketers know brand matters CFOs may even agree in principle But amp8220brand mattersamp8221 is not a financeready argumentBrand needs to be explained as an economic asset Strong brands can increase mental availability reduce price sensitivity improve conversion lower acquisition costs support loyalty make innovation easier to scale and create resilience when the market gets harderIn other words brand is not the opposite of performance Brand is one of the things that makes performance more efficient and more durableThe problem is that marketers often talk about brand in the language of affection love relevance purpose connection meaning Those things matter But the CFO needs the next sentenceWhat does that emotional connection allow the business to doCan the brand command a premium Can it protect share when competitors discount Can it shorten the sales cycle Can it increase repeat purchase Can it reduce dependence on paid media over time Can it make customers more likely to try the next productThat is how brand becomes a business conversationPresent marketing as a portfolioCFOs understand portfolios They know not every investment has the same time horizon risk level or return profileMarketing should be presented the same waySome marketing investments capture existing demand Some create future demand Some protect the customer base Some improve conversion Some support price Some create learning Some build capabilities that make the entire system work betterThe mistake is forcing all of these investments into the same shortterm ROI frameA paid search campaign and a brandbuilding campaign should not be evaluated in identical ways A retention program and a cultural sponsorship may both create value but they will not do it on the same timeline or through the same mechanismThis does not mean brand gets a free pass It means each investment needs a clear roleCMOs should be able to say this part of the plan is designed to drive nearterm demand this part is designed to build future demand this part improves customer value this part supports pricing power this part improves productivity or decisionmakingThat gives the CFO a clearer view of what marketing is intended to do how it should be measured and when results should reasonably be expectedBe honest about what can and cannot be provenOne way marketers lose credibility is by overclaimingMarketing works in a messy environment Sales results are affected by pricing distribution product quality competitive moves the economy consumer confidence and media conditions No serious CFO believes every point of growth was amp8220causedamp8221 by a campaignCMOs build trust when they are clear about what is known what is strongly indicated and what remains uncertainAttribution models media mix modeling incrementality testing brand tracking customer data and financial analysis can all help None is perfect The point is not perfect proof The point is better decisionsA credible CMO does not say amp8220This model proves everythingamp8221A credible CMO says amp8220Here is what the evidence suggests Here is where we have confidence Here is where the data is incomplete Here is how we are reducing uncertainty over timeamp8221Finance does not expect marketing to be riskfree It does expect disciplineTurn metrics into decisionsMarketing often brings too many metrics to the table and too little interpretationDashboards are not strategy Reporting is not accountability A CFO does not need fifty indicators They need to know what those indicators mean for business decisionsEvery metric should answer a basic question What will we do differently because we know thisIf awareness is up but conversion is flat what changes If consideration is strong but pricing power is weak what does that tell us If media efficiency improves while market share declines are we optimizing the wrong thing If acquisition costs fall but customer lifetime value deteriorates are we attracting the wrong customersThe most CFOfriendly marketers are not the ones with the most data They are the ones who use data to make better tradeoffsBuild the relationship quotbefore you need itquotThe CMOCFO relationship cannot start during annual planning By then everyone is already negotiatingThe best CMOs build the relationship earlier They invite finance into the marketing strategy process They align on assumptions before results are debated They agree on what will be measured and how They review performance together They ask what would increase financeamp8217s confidence in marketing investmentThey also show a willingness to reallocate Nothing builds credibility faster than a CMO who can say amp8220This is not working as well as expected so we are moving dollars here insteadamp8221That is the behavior of an investment manager not a budget defenderMake creativity accountable without making it smallThere is a risk in trying to win over CFOs marketing can become smaller more cautious and overly focused on what is easiest to measureThat would be a mistakeThe answer is not to make marketing less creative It is to make the commercial role of creativity clearerDistinctive emotionally resonant creative work can make a brand easier to notice remember choose and pay more for It can create effects that rational messaging and performance optimization alone cannotBut CMOs need to explain creativity as a business multiplier not as a matter of tasteThe CFO does not need to judge the creative idea But they should understand why distinctiveness matters why consistency compounds and why underinvesting in brand can create future demand problems that are expensive to fix laterThe goal is not persuasion It is shared ownershipThe best CMOCFO relationships are not built on the CMO becoming a better salesperson for marketing They are built on shared ownership of growthMarketing and finance should have a common view of how the business creates demand converts demand retains demand and increases the value of demand over timeThat requires a different kind of marketing leadership more financially fluent more evidencebased more transparent and more willing to make tradeoffsBut it does not require CMOs to shrink the ambition of marketing Quite the oppositeWhen CMOs can connect brand creativity media data and customer experience to the economics of the business marketing becomes harder to dismiss as discretionary spend It becomes a system for creating valueCMOs win over CFOs when they stop asking for belief and start building confidenceConfidence that marketing understands the business Confidence that marketing can distinguish activity from impact Confidence that marketing can learn and adapt Confidence that marketing can allocate capital responsiblyThat is the standard nowAnd for CMOs it is also the opportunityPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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How CMOs Can Win Over CFOs

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Stephanie Fierman

The Future Won't Be Built by Leaders Who Need to Be Right - By Jack Myers

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