Most management committee or board leaders intuitively understand that marketing is an important part of any company's growth engine. It not only fuels the short-term sales engine, but also drives future performance.
Done well, marketing is an accelerator for any business. However, there is a growing trend in board meetings to relegate marketing to a single metric: state of sales pipes (pipelines).
While it is true that marketing plays an important role in generating new leads, a strategic marketing function can play a much larger role in a company's short-term and future performance. In addition to demand generation, it also shapes market positioning, raises awareness and reputation of the brand among customers, partners, press, analysts, employees, investors and existing potential buyers.
As a company grows, it creates leverage and consistency across global teams, sales, recruiting, customer success, delivery, and almost every other function.
Why is marketing being underestimated?
Perhaps the main reason is that marketing is a “mystery” to many board members. According to an investigation by spencer stuart less than 3% of the Boards on the list F publicly traded companies include an active marketing leader.
The percentage is probably even lower for Series A companies whose boards tend to be made up of founders and investors, most of whom come from finance, product, or operational backgrounds and have little marketing experience (a big lack, but That's a topic for another post.)
When you're communicating to board members based on data, the focus is on what can be measured: marketing's contribution to the short-term pipeline.
Second, there is the need for all company leaders to become more data-driven. Events and digital demand generation activities, such as paid social campaigns and webinars, tend to be easier to track and tie to short-term revenue compared to branding, content, and corporate marketing.
Things like brand campaigns, public relations, analyst relations, and even internal communications are difficult and complicated to measure against return on investment. Most companies know that these aspects of marketing are important, but proving the ROI of them requires data, systems and time that many younger companies simply do not have.
That's why company leaders who talk to data-driven board members stick to what can be measured: marketing's contribution to the short-term pipeline. However, that only tells half the story and, honestly, hurts marketing (and the value and vision on your Scorecard).
Remodeling the Dashboard
The job of a Board in a growing company is not just to govern, but to guide and help support future performance. That means your management team needs to know that marketing is performing well over the next few quarters and is thinking about the years ahead.
When preparing your next Marketing Scorecard update, think about five slides that cover the five “Ps”:
- Which are the Priorities of marketing:?
- How are you Running (Performing) versus those priorities?
- What is the health of the Tubería (Pipeline)?
- There is the company and its value offer Positioned for future growth?
- what is Planned for the next quarter or year?
Have clear priorities
An example quarterly marketing review with highlights and negatives.
You can start with the areas of the business that marketing is driving or supporting. This can be expressed as quarterly goals, annual OKRs, or strategic initiatives that relate to broader business objectives.
For example, if recruitment and retention is a strategic imperative for the business, show how it is helping to refine and drive employer brand awareness. If customer retention and expansion is a priority, it may be important to talk about how you are cross-selling within teams or promoting thought leadership in a certain new area. If the budget and team time are allocated to that priority, you must inform the Board and explain why.
Show Execution performance
Dashboard with priorities that can be updated in future meetings
Managers look for trends and progress, so it is necessary to create a scorecard against these priorities that can be updated and shared in future meetings.
If something new is presented every time, it's a red flag. Consumption should be facilitated by giving areas a red, yellow or green rating based on data, milestones achieved or customer feedback. Make sure you "own the red" like Latané Conant, founder and CMO of 6sense, likes to say. Recognizing where there are gaps not only helps build credibility, but also gives you the opportunity to ask for necessary support.
No committee expects 100% perfection, but they do expect to see progress, focus on return on investment (ROI), and clear plans to fix what isn't going well.
Delve into the Pipes
The board needs to understand the condition of the pipes to be able to plan for the future
It's the money slide...literally. The Committee or Board needs to understand the condition of the pipes in order to plan for the future. Fundamental questions like:
- How much is currently in the pipeline and what is most likely to close (on a weighted basis)?
- How does that compare to the plan (actual vs plan)?
- What needs to be added to the process to achieve the goal (objective)?
- Is there enough in process to cover next quarter's goals (coverage)?
The board doesn't need to see 15 slides analyzing each segment of the business, but there are likely areas where they will want to delve into more detail. For example, if you have recently invested in a new product, segment, or region, they may want to get more details about it. If there is an increasing focus on customer expansion, you have to concentrate on that.
If sales closures are stalling in the process, you need to highlight the speed of the deal, the conversion rates, and most importantly, how the situation is being addressed. Take time before the meeting to understand where board members want more details and, above all, ensure that the CEO, sales and marketing directors are aligned on the data.
Highlight the brand and Positioning
At least one slide for overall brand performance and market positioning
Dedicate at least one slide to talking about the performance (or evolution) of your brand and its positioning in the broader market. Are there competitive forces or market trends that require a change in your positioning?
Have you recently launched a new campaign to expand awareness? How does it perform in media coverage, analyst reports or markets?
The board will be more active when discussing pipelines. But they must be reminded not to disconnect from Positioning, since future pipelines will depend on it.
Share Plans or victories
The Annex slide should anticipate all the questions you may ask.
Set expectations for what's coming up and let them know about changes or a realignment of priorities. Describe any campaigns, big events, or thought leadership pieces that are being planned and how they will move the company forward. Senior management meetings are often filled with overwhelming amounts of data. If it can end with an image, a big win, an upcoming ad, or an endorsement from a customer that's gaining traction, it should be done.
Marketing is part of the offensive game: it is okay to spike the ball when you have put all the points into play.
It's not easy to pack so much information into five slides, but then again, marketing's job is to simplify the complex. If everything cannot be included, the Annex slides can be used so members can read them in advance and ask questions.
The goal of the five Ps framework is to show the board the full value of marketing and the impact it is having and will have on the business. If the report is published in the context of broader company priorities and market dynamics, it will help raise the level of the conversation and give the board the opportunity to weigh in and guide, which is ultimately why why they are there.
