Blog
Discuss
Marketing and finance: a match made in heaven?
Added by Thomas Brown August 17, 2010
- Only 27% of marketing and finance functions operate with a partnership approach and 40% have no real relationship.
Can marketers really become an accountable, fiscally literate function if they’re not even talking to their finance teams? No right minded line manager would hire or fire without taking advice from the experts in HR, so why is there still such a stigma around marketing and finance?
I’ve come to the conclusion that, despite our poll stats (in our paper and above), the stigma is finally waning. I actually think, particularly in this post-recession world, that marketing and finance teams are more of a match made in heaven than reluctant bed-fellows.
Take the basics: marketers invest a firm’s capital and have the most control over demand. There’s the first great reason to start talking: capital is scarcer, more expensive and most businesses are more cautious than they used to be when it comes to spending it. If marketers require investment to stimulate demand (pretty much a given), then they need clarity on where to invest, how to monitor and evaluate returns and how best to articulate this to secure the required budget.
I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather engage to help me with this, than a finance team. It’s a win-win:
For marketers: if they can help us to direct investment at the segments and programmes which will give the best ROI… make sure the numbers are on track and show the results… and frame this in such a way that makes sign-off a painless process - we’re left in a good place
For finance colleagues: they’re building the financial discpline of the business, improving cash flow generation and return on investment and helping the business make good commercial choices - all positives again
Hence my current view - marketers don’t need to retrain as accountants, we’ve all got teams of experts already… we just need to work with them. It’s a match made in heaven in my books and in our current economic context - not an optional one.
Thomas Brown is Head of Insights at The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
I couldn’t agree more. I can’t understand how the 40% that have ‘no real relationship’ can function effectively in isolation from colleagues in Finance.
Finance teams rarely welcome surprises (on the cost or income sides) so at the most basic relationship level, there should be a regular and open dialogue to assess the ’shape’ of the Marketing spend and associated returns generated.
Reader Steve Revill
Head of Marketing, RBS Invoice Finance
Replied on August 18th 2010 at 11:09 am
Sadly, I am not surprised by the 40% where there is no real relationship. In the B2B world I find that marketing does not always enjoy the full respect and trust of the leadership team. This is because there is inadequate understanding of the role of the brand in B2B markets as well as a persistent reluctance to put customers at the heart of the business. Marketing is seen by finance as some kind of “dark art” rather than as a vital function creating the conditions in which sales can be made.
Reader Francis Aglen
Director, The Insight Business Ltd
Replied on August 19th 2010 at 12:19 pm
This aspect of strategic marketing is so important in the current economic climate, where the return on investment should be predicted, measured, and fully evaluated. By doing this, marketing investment can be best utilised to deliver maximum value to the entire organisation.
To me this goes way beyond just marketing and finance, and signals the need to build competencies in learning, open communication across departments, and a very real sense of team working.
In a policing context, we are now using more e-communications than ever before, with very effective methods of evaluation (often with using free analysis tools). So the evaluation does not have to be an extra financial burden -modern marketers have an ambundance of tools to show how good we are, and our impact on performance.
Reader James Harper
Marketing Officer, South Wales Police
Replied on August 22nd 2010 at 12:49 pm
All true. The need for Finance and Marketing to work together can never be over-emphasized since practical experiences in organizations that do not enhance harmonious relations between these two have ended up in unnecessary friction and wars that impact negatively on the company’s overall performance.
The secret lies in each of the departments taking genuine interest in what the other does. Once this is initiated, nurtured and ingrained in the organizational culture it will be easy to recognize and appreciate the interdependent nature they have.
ROI won’t have to appear to be a Finance headache but a shared responsibility.
Reader Gaudencia Wasike
Marketing & PR Manager, The KICC - Nairobi
Replied on September 2nd 2010 at 11:03 am
I agree with you Thomas Brown. It is of utmost important - a key to survival - to bossom a higher degree of relationship between marketing and finance. These are not just two functions, rather they are more of an organization’s corporate philosophy, and hence have to be integrated and managed to retrieve better results for the future in this economic climate.
Human relations come into play - by successfully learning the psychology of each individual employee of both the departments, the HR could fill in the gap by creating a culture based around values that enhances relationships.
Finding this type of culture in an organization is simple - but yet not realized by many. Act now, or forget about proceeding - as it’s a waste of time doing business if so.
Reader Thanzyl Thajudeen
Executive - Marketing Communications, MTI Consulting
Replied on September 14th 2010 at 6:50 am
Reader Anonymous
1000 loan through the web for your education
Replied on at