Ai, GEO, and email metrics mean little to a CFO. Sometimes we have to communicate marketing benefits in less technical business terms.
When marketers talk about what we do to non-specialists, it can sound as much like another language as the most technical of engineering jargon. CTRs, GEO and programmatic campaigns – to senior management without a marketing background, it can be a switch-off. And if the people holding the purse strings don’t understand, they won’t be inclined to back sensible initiatives.
The first trick is to move away from metrics that only marketers care about. Talking about open rates or impressions is useful internally, but they might not impress a financial director who thinks 99% of emails get opened and read. If we talk about the value of opportunities, it’s more likely to hold their attention.
All senior management wants to know is what we did, why it matters, and what the next step is. In that order.
I learned early on in my career that management never wanted to know about what I’d been doing, they wanted evidence that they were clever to have employed me. Don’t try and educate others into being experts; show how the expertise they’re paying for makes a difference to the bottom line.
Think about the psychology. Non-specialist senior management isn’t looking for a lecture. They want reassurance that marketing is aligning with company goals. Talk profits, risks and opportunities and the conversation will go much more smoothly.