Are Marketers a cost or revenue?

Grant Leboff: So Thomas, one of the things you talk about in the book, which I suppose on face value seems obvious, and then I’m not sure it is, is marketers asking themselves, are they cost, or are they revenue? So you tell us a little bit more about how marketers should be thinking?

Thomas Barta: Absolutely. So, as a marketer, you must be seen as revenue. I mean, it’s a mandatory thing, because why? If you are an average CEO, you worry a lot about revenue, you worry a lot about cost, you worry about your organization and strategy, and if you as a marketer are not seen as revenue, well, what are you then? You’re cost, right. Now what do you do with cost if you are smart CEO? You cut it. So that’s why it’s so crucial that every marketer, who sees this, who hears this, or listens to this, thinks, “I need to be recognized as a revenue driver.” It’s crucial.

Grant Leboff: And how does a marketer go about that in an effective way? I’ll tell you why, because I spend time in corporates, and often what happens is, is sales are seen as revenue, they’re the other side of the corridor if you like, and marketing, typically, is the cost side of that equation, so how does a marketer start to position themselves, and make sure they’re seen in the revenue camp, as well?

Thomas Barta: So the two very important rules we talk about in The 12 Powers of Marketing Leader. If you want to be seen as revenue, the first one is you got to show how your work is actually driving revenue, which means you’ve got to do the numbers. Many marketers say, “That’s difficult because some things we can’t measure.” Yes, everybody understands this, but you can get together with your finest people and just do some numbers and make sure you actually make the case in the first place.

The second very important point is you got to talk revenue. Yeah? Don’t talk segmentation, and customer groups and, you know, programmatic, and digital. That’s all great stuff, but you got to talk revenue, you got to talk cost, you got to talk customers when you talk to senior leaders in the company, and that’s how you become known for revenue.

Grant Leboff: It’s very interesting what you say, cause one of the things that you do point out in the book, and I don’t think marketing people, certainly the ones I’ve met, traditionally do this, is get a bit cozy with finance. Work with finance, don’t sort of work against them.

Thomas Barta: I mean, finance people are there to help the company, right, steer through difficult waters, and of course, they are sometimes cutting your budget, but only if they believe you’re not doing useful work. I mean, you’re not driving revenue. If you can make the case that your work is useful, if you can make the case that you drive revenue, every finance individual in the company will be on your side, because that’s what they want too. So it is very important that you work very closely together with finance.

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