You Have to Sell Marketing to the Business

“Our social media engagement is through the roof!”

…..Silence from upper management. 

That moment hit me hard at Sound United, Sure I was not CMO level, which doesn’t help either. We were celebrating likes while leadership was questioning our impact on the bottom line or at least top line.

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: 
Most marketing teams are stuck measuring what’s easy, not what matters.

The Real Problem?

• Marketing speaks marketing.

• Business speaks money.

When I leading D2C campaigns, we faced this disconnect head-on. Our Instagram or Facebook following was growing, but sales weren’t always connected to that increase. Something had to change.

The Wake-Up Call to a Marketer:
→ Leadership didn’t care about followers
→ They cared about top line growth 
(somewhere else perhaps bottom line profit, or unit economics)
→ We were speaking different languages
→ We were solving different problems

So we flipped the script.
Instead of: “Our engagement rate is 5%”
We started with: “We’re paying €32 per customer acquisition”

..Suddenly, people listened.

We followed that with: “Up to €49 we’re making a profit on that first order”

Once you start talking number that matter in the scope of the main business KPI, you’re connecting with people that have that as their main priority. Otherwise you’re expecting them to know what you’re talking about, connect it to the bigger picture, lose their negative assumptions, and lots more. You need to take out all of that static and possible negativity in their brain.

So, start focussing on the right metrics to the people outside of your team. Which doesn’t mean internally you cannot look at CPM’s, engagement rates, time on site, etc.

The Hard Truth About Marketing Metrics:

1. Vanity metrics don’t pay salaries

2. Likes don’t show up on P&L

3. Shares don’t impact stock price

4. Followers don’t fund growth

What Actually Matters:
→ Revenue growth
→ Market share gains
→ Customer lifetime value
→ Profit margins
→ Return on marketing investment

Real Results will come from Real Changes:

❌ Stop: Chasing Instagram growth
✅ Start: Building customer loyalty
💶 Result: Increase in customer lifetime value

❌ Stop: Traffic obsession
✅ Started: Traffic quality focus
💶 Result: Increase the conversion rate

And you can think of plenty more for your situation. 
Need help? Drop a comment.

So if you want to get taken seriously outside of your marketing peers, you need to master some broader aspects of business. Not just to get along with people, not just to climb the ladder, but also for your current situation. It will help you to get that budget you need, get the tools, get people, get time to not just have to focus on short-term results, but also to be able to play the branding and long term game.

What are those aspects?

1. Financial Literacy

→ Understand unit economics
→ Read P&L statements
→ Know your margins
→ Calculate true ROI

2. Business Impact Reporting

→ “This campaign delivered €2M in sales”
→ “We reduced acquisition costs by 30%”
→ “Customer retention increased 25%”

3. Strategic Alignment

→ Connect marketing goals to business objectives
→ Show market share growth
→ Present in revenue terms
→ Focus on profit impact

So it all comes down to a bit of a mindset shift.

Go from old thinking: “How do we get more engagement?”
To new thinking: “How do we drive profitable growth?”

Most of the time it’s about realising that outside of your team 90% of your marketing metrics are worthless. Especially to the C-suite.

Is that a strong statement? Yes, perhaps, but also true.

What are your next steps gonna be ideally:

1. Audit your marketing reports

• Show business outcomes

• Remove vanity metrics

• Add financial impacts

2. Learn the language of business

• Take a finance course

• Read quarterly reports

• Study competitor financials

3. Reshape your strategy

• Start with business goals

• Work backward to marketing tactics

• Measure what matters

Marketing leaders who can’t talk business don’t last long in the C-suite. Let alone even get there. But those who master this? They don’t just get or keep their seat at the table. They can start to lead the conversation.

Your turn:
→ What metrics are you tracking?
→ Are they driving real business value?
→ Or just making you feel good?

Because it’s time we as marketers stop playing in the kiddie pool of vanity metrics and start swimming in the deep end of business impact. From it, we can make a change to get business focussing on not just the next quarter.

Need help making this shift? Let’s talk.