3. Communicate and justify calculated risks

[shaownhasan]

You don’t need a finance degree to make your case (although taking some classes may help), but you do need to speak in their language. Understand what they think success looks like, and leverage the data that only CMOs have access to help illustrate how your marketing efforts are paying off.

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen marketers make is when they only speak in marketing terms. No CFO, no matter how marketing savvy they are, will be swayed by impressions or ad conversions.

CFOs are most interested in revenue and cash flow. Aligning your marketing efforts with how you’re growing top line revenue, or minimizing operating expenses, will establish rapport and position you as a partner for improving band data shareholder value. We do that easily at Sprout—it’s why Joe Del Preto, Sprout’s CFO, and I have such a trusting relationship.

When you have that relationship, it allows you to raise new ideas or big bets confidently. For example, I know what we have done is working because I’ve been able to attribute our previous efforts to revenue. And, I am up front when I’m uncertain about the exact payoff of a new campaign, and if it might even be a sunk cost, but it’s still a learning and growth opportunity for the team.

You won’t have all the answers. I think that’s where I’ve seen peers—even me in younger years—get tripped up. They’re trying to create a perfect business case that doesn’t exist. As long as the trust is built, we can be up front that we don’t know but it’s a bet we stand behind.

As mirrors into the marketing organization, one of the most important things CMOs can do is provide a lens into what our competition is doing.

Joe and I recently talked about how marketers win in two ways: executing the strategy we know works and testing risks in areas we’re unsure about, but could be the launchpad for our next stage of growth.