How do you demonstrate marketing's value to business leadership?

All answers emphasize demonstrating marketing's value through measurable business outcomes—especially revenue, ROI, and transparency—rather than relying on traditional marketing metrics alone.

9 answers

Answers

  • Joshua Spanier

    Vice President · Google

    Show Incrementality

    Joshua Spanier says incrementality has been the big unlock for demonstrating marketing's value, letting him tell his CFO how much spend gets how much that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

    The answer starts at 10:21.

    Mixed Signals from Semafor Media · Listen on Apple Podcasts

  • Neil Patel

    Co-Founder · Np Digital

    Show Pipeline & Revenue

    Marketing must tie to business results like pipeline and revenue, not traffic.

    Marketing School - Daily Marketing Tips · Watch on YouTube

  • Rachel Truair

    Chief Marketing Officer · Demandbase

    Align AI with Growth

    Rachel Truair says to align AI initiatives with growth and efficiency objectives for board or executive conversations, because those two levers have different value to investors.

    The answer starts at 23:18.

    The B2B CMO Podcast with Jon Miller and Sydney Sloan · Listen on Apple Podcasts

  • Tim Soulo

    CMO · Ahrefs

    Correlate Revenue

    Tim Soulo advises marketing professionals pressed to share numbers to correlate whatever they're doing, saying he always watched revenue and that you can share business potential and reach with your boss and higher-ups.

    The answer starts at 33:42.

    Conquête · Listen on Apple Podcasts

  • Jessica Apotheker

    Managing Director & Senior Partner · Boston Consulting Group (Bcg)

    Demonstrate ROI Impact

    Jessica Apotheker says marketing's value is demonstrated through ROI impact, and she holds her work accountable to at least 5x ROI on fees.

    The answer starts at 15:41.

    Marketing Vanguard · Listen on Apple Podcasts

  • Laura Jones

    Chief Marketing Officer at Instacart · Instacart

    Transparent Measurement

    Laura Jones says she demonstrates marketing's value to leadership through transparency, sharing the numbers when they are good and when they are not, always with a plan to make them good.

    The answer starts at 8:13.

    The WARC Podcast · Listen on Apple Podcasts

  • Amanda Cole

    Chief Marketing Officer · Bloomreach

    Revenue Impact

    Amanda Cole says her goal is revenue impact, noting she does not celebrate hitting the pipeline target if the team does not hit its revenue target.

    The Marketing Millennials · The Marketing Millennials · Listen at 34:23

  • Jordan Slover

    Founder · Neon Ambition

    Speak Business Language

    Jordan Slover says marketers demonstrate their value by speaking the language of business—revenue, profit, balance sheets, commercial priorities, customer lifetime value—rather than only marketing metrics, because otherwise they won't be taken seriously.

    Smarter Marketer · Smarter Marketer · Listen at 9:19

  • Mark Ritson

    Founder · Minimba

    Show ROI

    Mark Ritson says a marketing plan should end with a proposed budget that offers a return: if given X amount of money, it will give Y back, showing marketing's value.

    Attributed - A podcast by Dreamdata · Attributed - A podcast by Dreamdata · Listen at 37:59

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