The marketing and finance relationship

Chief financial officers (CFOs) and chief marketing officers (CMOs) are like the John Lennon and Paul McCartney or the Noel and Liam Gallagher of the boardroom. Expert talents that can form a successful partnership, but far too often end up clashing, fighting and going their separate ways.

However, the relationship can be rewarding and pay dividends if handled correctly. As technology revolutionises the way we do business, marketing directors and their financial counterparts have an opportunity to achieve growth and build shareholder value by singing from the same song sheet.

Throughout my career, starting as marketing executive and moving into CMO roles for a number of household names and successful startups, I’ve noticed a real change in the way these roles have interacted. Regardless of the company or the project, there are four areas of common interest that can ensure the relationship can only improve over time:

At the heart of performance and directly related to consumer driven marketing is data. We need data to test with, predict likely outcomes and measure results. Marketing is now as much a science as it is an art. That provides a base for both functions to work from, founded on fact rather than subjectivity.

Return on investment (ROI) is closely linked to the success of the company as, for example, the customer experience and marketing initiatives cover the end-to-end sales cycle, not just advertising. Those FDs who can engage in a constructive debate and understand the nuances and pitfalls of this metric can have a more positive impact upon it.

Financial skills are needed for successful marketing and successful marketing is needed for a successful business. As technologies, products, services and business models evolve at an ever-increasing rate, real team effort is required to succeed. This requires trust, as not all marketing can be fact based. Instinct, creativity and a certain amount of risk are an essential part of the marketing mix.

CFOs are increasingly pragmatic about the fact that to be successful you need to be agile. As we embrace digital technologies, we need to be much more responsive and adaptive than we were in the old command and control structures in order to stay ahead of the curve.

My first encounter with an FD when I started out in the mid 1990s revolved purely around cost control, justifying payback on marketing investment over the next 12 months.

Rather than expensive above the line campaigns, using mass media to reach a widespread audience with dubious research data as KPIs, I worked in the slightly less glamorous and prestigious end of things: customer relationship marketing and direct marketing. In those days, the marketing function would ‘present’ the plans to both CEO and FD, and what the FD (as the one in charge of the purse strings) said, went. There was definitely more affinity with classic direct marketing or subscriptions marketing: basically, anything that had a tangible target to be met.

The marketing funnel – putting customers in and getting custom out – is a logical process that quite often delivers. As a result, a number of direct marketing managers like myself naturally found themselves leading the digital marketing efforts as classic direct marketing moved to digital marketing.

Ten years on, the picture has changed somewhat. Marketing has established itself at the top table, partly due to the nature of the role and the importance placed on customer experience. As the data available to the marketing function has increased, so our analysis of it has improved and the majority of marketers are considerably more numerate.

The detailed accountability of programmatic advertising – such as online ads with guaranteed impressions – certainly helps someway answer the most famous marketing quote in the world. “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half” – John Wanamaker (1838-1922), successful US merchant, religious leader, political figure and pioneering marketer.

As a freelance CMO, my role is to help organisations transform their business and marketing strategies from point A to point B. This tends to be in organisations that are disruptive, or in industries that need to be disrupted. Whether launching Absolute Radio or managing the £80 million content revenue stream of The Guardian or preparing a UK gaming startup for a public listing, I genuinely believe that the relationship between finance and marketing is key to continued success.

However, three CFOs in my network still identified a lack of understanding, scepticism and ambiguity of numbers as the main issues they face when working with CMOs. So, despite the progress, we still have some way to go. But this also suggests that, as long as marketing is accountable (or perceived to be accountable), then there is less friction and the partnership can continue.

The companies that act late tend to lose out. The CMO should be the eyes and ears of the organisation to identify trends, revenue opportunities and margin-generating initiatives. But this is not possible without the CFO onside. For sustainable success, the two need to work together more than I ever could have imagined 20 years ago.

Keep improving your marketing language skills
This is about understanding the complexities of the marketing sales funnel now that social and content marketing play such an important role. An average person making a purchase for a holiday takes 27 days, visits seven touch points and four price comparison sites. Deciding which channels contribute towards marketing success in what way is key.

Use customer segmentation
Identifying the customer segment with the highest potential, or determining which one represents a disproportionate share of the value, is a skill that pays back dividends. This should be co-sponsored to achieve the best results.

Appoint a performance marketing expert or champion
With a logical and numerate mind, this can easily be someone out of the finance team who understands the role of marketing and can help bridge the cultural divide while being willing to challenge both camps.

• The marketing and finance relationship
  Business & Management Magazine, Issue 273, April 2019

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