Table of Contents
- 1. Speak Their Language: Revenue & ROI
- 2. Build a Clear Attribution Model
- 3. Focus on Leading Indicators
- 4. Demonstrate Competitive Advantage
- 5. Connect Marketing to Customer Lifetime Value
- 6. Present Experiments and Controls
- 7. Make Marketing Unmissable
- The Long-Term Approach
- The Bottom Line
As marketers, we’ve all faced that moment: sitting across from a CEO who views marketing as a cost centre rather than a revenue driver. Their scepticism isn’t entirely unfounded – historically, marketing has struggled to demonstrate its direct impact on the bottom line. But in today’s data-rich environment, we have more tools than ever to prove marketing’s value. Let’s explore how to convince even the most dubious executives.
1. Speak Their Language: Revenue & ROI
CEOs think in terms of revenue, profit margins, and return on investment. While we marketers might get excited about engagement rates and brand awareness, executives need to see the direct line between marketing activities and revenue generation. This means transforming our metrics into financial terms they understand.
For instance, instead of reporting that your latest campaign generated 1,000 leads, calculate the expected revenue from those leads based on your average conversion rate and customer lifetime value. If you know that 10% of leads become customers with an average lifetime value of $10,000, those 1,000 leads represent $1 million in potential revenue.
Implementation example:
“Our Q1 campaign invested $50,000 and generated leads worth $1 million in potential revenue, representing a potential 20x return on investment. Based on historical conversion rates, we expect to realize $300,000 in actual revenue within six months.”
2. Build a Clear Attribution Model
One of marketing’s biggest challenges is proving causation rather than correlation. Using tools like CRM tracking, marketing attribution software, or controlled experiments, you can demonstrate how your campaigns lead to real business results.
Multi-touch attribution models help demonstrate how different marketing touchpoints contribute to conversions. For example, you might show that while a sale closed through direct contact with sales, the customer first discovered your company through a marketing webinar, then downloaded three pieces of content, and finally requested a demo after seeing a retargeting ad.
3. Focus on Leading Indicators
Smart CEOs understand that today’s marketing activities impact tomorrow’s revenue. Help them see this connection by establishing clear leading indicators that correlate with future success. This means tracking metrics that predict revenue before it happens.
For example, if you can show that 80% of customers who attend your webinars make a purchase within six months, webinar attendance becomes a powerful leading indicator. The key is establishing these correlations with historical data, then using them to forecast future revenue.
4. Demonstrate Competitive Advantage
Marketing’s impact goes beyond direct revenue generation. Show how your marketing efforts create sustainable competitive advantages. This might include:
- Market share analysis: Document how your share of voice correlates with market share gains.
- Brand equity: Demonstrate how strong brand recognition leads to lower customer acquisition costs.
- Customer insights: Show how marketing-generated customer research has informed product development or identified new market opportunities.
5. Connect Marketing to Customer Lifetime Value
One of marketing’s most significant impacts often comes through increasing customer lifetime value. Show your CEO how marketing initiatives:
- Improve customer retention through education and engagement
- Drive upsell and cross-sell opportunities
- Reduce customer acquisition costs through referral programs and word-of-mouth
For example, if your customer education program reduces churn by 20%, calculate the revenue impact of those retained customers over time.
6. Present Experiments and Controls
Nothing convinces a sceptical CEO like controlled experiments. When possible, run A/B tests or controlled market experiments that clearly demonstrate marketing’s impact. This might mean:
- Testing different marketing investment levels in similar markets
- Comparing customer lifetime value between those who engage with marketing content versus those who don’t
- Measuring the revenue impact of reducing marketing spend in certain channels
Document everything with real numbers, and be honest about both successes and failures. This scientific approach often resonates with analytically-minded executives.
7. Make Marketing Unmissable
Finally, great marketing should be felt. If marketing is driving brand awareness, increasing inbound interest, and making sales conversations easier, it should be noticed by leadership. If it’s invisible, even great results can go unnoticed. Share wins internally, celebrate successes, and make marketing an undeniable force within the business.
The Long-Term Approach
Remember that changing a CEO’s perception of marketing takes time. Establish clear baseline metrics, then consistently document progress against those benchmarks. Build a regular reporting cadence that ties marketing activities to business outcomes, and constantly refine your measurement approach based on feedback.
Most importantly, position marketing as a strategic partner in achieving business objectives rather than just a support function. When marketing consistently demonstrates its impact on revenue and growth, even the most sceptical CEO will become a believer.
The Bottom Line
CEOs aren’t necessarily against marketing—they just need proof that it delivers business value. By shifting your approach to focus on revenue, efficiency, and direct business impact, you make marketing indispensable. And once you’ve got that buy-in, everything else gets a whole lot easier.