How to Get Marketers to ‘Ditch the Fluffy Talk’

This slightly controversial article was originally featured in Financial Director magazine.

Sceptical about your marketing director’s ability to deliver value for money from your company’s marketing strategy? It’s time to get them to ditch the fluffy talk, says Hannah McNamara

NEARLY THREE quarters of chief executives think marketers lack credibility in the boardroom, according to a 2011 report by marketing group Fournaise. Given this view, it’s worrying that 69% of the marketers surveyed “feel their strategies and campaigns do make an impact on the company’s business, even though they can’t precisely quantify or prove it”.

Not surprisingly, the report sparked considerable debate in marketing forums on LinkedIn, as well as prompting Marketing Week to run a follow-up article in which marketers responded to the allegation that they weren’t commercial enough.

With marketing budgets under scrutiny and finance departments keener than ever to see a return on investment, this disconnect in how marketers see themselves and how they are perceived by the rest of the boardroom is a concern. So how can finance directors get marketers to ditch the fluffy talk and quantify the value of the work they do?

1. Remind them of the 4Ps of marketing

One of the fundamental models of marketing is the marketing mix, [Click here to read the rest of this article]