NOTE: For readers not familiar with corporate jargon…
ROI stands for “Return on Investment”
CMO stands for “Chief Marketing Officer”
CFO stands for “Chief Financial Officer”
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization”
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The great Tom Fishburne has produced another great cartoon that draws attention to an issue in the world of mainstream marketing.
CMOs and CFOs often speak completely different languages. This can create a lack of understanding and appreciation for the role and impact of marketing on the business.
Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar calls this the “existential crisis of the CMO.” He says it’s essential for marketers to think and talk more like business managers than communications experts. As Raja says,
“Because many CMOs have risen through the creative route, much more than the financial route, they are like a rabbit caught in the headlights. They talk about jargon and marketing KPIs, which the CFO and CEO could care less about – they are looking for financial results. Is customer growth happening, is my profitability increasing, what is marketing doing to my EBITDA?
“In that scenario, some companies are losing patience and replacing CMOs with a chief revenue or chief growth officer. Some are not even from a marketing background. When that happens at several companies, that is an existential crisis.”
Original post at “the roi of marketing”.
My goodness…management at some companies are demanding to know if advertising and marketing is actually making money!
Of course, direct response marketers will either be scratching their heads wondering what the fuss is about OR… [Read more…]
