For years, marketing and finance have eyed each other with a kind of professional mistrust. Marketers see themselves as the bold, creative growth engine of a business, finance teams see marketing as a cost centre that's hard to pin down.
But in 2025, that view no longer holds water, at least, not in well-run businesses. Digital marketing, when measured and managed correctly, can be one of the most powerful levers of profit and growth. And the finance director (FD) can become one of marketing’s most important allies.
The key is simple: speak their language.
This doesn’t mean abandoning creativity, strategy or brand thinking. It means aligning marketing activity with commercial objectives, being honest about results, and proving impact in numbers that land on the P&L.
Start with commercial goals, not campaign metrics
Too often, marketers frame success in terms of click-through rates, impressions, or engagement. While these are useful operational signals, they rarely satisfy someone whose primary concern is the company’s financial health.
An FD doesn’t care if your latest Meta ad got a 9% CTR if the campaign failed to generate profit. They want to know:
- How much did it cost?
- What did it return?
- When will it break even?
- How does it compare to other growth options?
It’s telling that in Deloitte’s 2024 Global CMO survey, over 70% of finance leaders said they were more likely to defend marketing budgets when clear financial impact was shown, particularly in relation to profitability and cash flow.
Build a reporting structure that reflects profitability
One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is presenting data in isolation from commercial context. Reporting ROAS without accounting for product margin or returns gives a false impression of performance. You may be scaling a campaign that looks profitable but is actually losing money once costs are fully factored in.
Instead, aim to report like a finance team would. For every channel or campaign, show:
- Cost of acquisition
- Gross and net profit contribution
- Average order value and repurchase rate
- Marketing spend as a percentage of revenue
- Time to break even on CAC
According to a McKinsey analysis, companies that linked marketing metrics directly to financial KPIs such as net margin and payback period achieved 20–30% greater efficiency in marketing investment.
Forecast like a finance professional
Another way to build trust with your FD is to adopt their approach to planning and forecasting.
Finance directors work in risk-adjusted scenarios: best case, base case, worst case. When you propose a campaign or budget increase, don’t just show one expected outcome. Show three. Be conservative, realistic, and ambitious, but always backed by data.
For example:
- Base case: We spend £10,000, expect £40,000 in revenue, and £8,000 in gross profit
- Best case: Higher AOV and repeat rate yield £12,000 profit
- Worst case: Underperformance gives only £4,000 in profit, breaking even after fixed costs
This kind of modelling does two things. First, it mirrors how your FD already thinks. Second, it demonstrates that you understand the volatility and risk inherent in marketing, and that you’re not pretending to have a crystal ball.
Communicate with clarity and candour
It’s easy to lose your FD’s attention with jargon. “Top-of-funnel nurture sequence” might make sense in a marketing meeting, but to a finance team it sounds like fluff unless it's backed by numbers and commercial logic.
Instead, use clear, grounded language when reporting:
Don’t say: “We ran a full-funnel omnichannel campaign focused on engagement and reach.”
Do say: “We invested £15,000 in a multi-channel campaign that brought in 1,200 new leads, 80% of which converted within 30 days, generating £45,000 in revenue.”
And crucially, be honest when things go wrong. Marketing will always have failures. The FD doesn’t expect perfection, but they do expect rigour. If a campaign flopped, own it. Explain what happened, what you’ve learned, and what changes you’ll make.
This is what builds confidence over time. A 2023 report by the IPA and PwC found that CMOs who proactively disclosed underperformance, rather than hiding it, were 2.3x more likely to retain budget the following quarter.
Understand the business model (and teach it to your team)
To make marketing financially intelligent, the team needs to understand the numbers behind the brand.
It’s not just about how many people visited the website, but what those visits mean in terms of cash flow, cost to serve, and long-term value.
At a minimum, every marketer should understand:
- What drives the company’s gross profit margin
- How long it takes to recover CAC
- How marketing spend is treated in the accounts (e.g. opex vs capex)
- What the cash flow implications are of scaling activity
This knowledge doesn’t just help you speak to the FD, it improves your own decision-making. You'll be better equipped to allocate budget, prioritise channels, and understand what “good” really looks like.
Involve the FD in marketing decisions
It may sound counterintuitive, but the more you involve your FD in your planning, the more freedom you’ll likely gain.
Share campaign plans early. Invite them to key strategy meetings. Ask for their take on pricing models, break-even points, or customer retention strategy. Not only does this build a stronger partnership, it allows marketing to feed into business-level conversations about investment and growth.
In short, treat your FD like a stakeholder, not a budget gatekeeper. Their buy-in can unlock greater investment, better financial modelling, and ultimately, more marketing impact.
Final thoughts
Great marketing isn’t just about creativity or clicks, it’s about driving sustainable business growth. And no one cares more about that than your finance director.
If you want to earn their trust (and unlock more budget), you need to shift from being a “marketing expert” to being a commercial partner. That means thinking in margins, forecasting with discipline, and reporting like a CFO in training.
At Can-Do Digital, we bridge the gap between performance and profitability. We don’t just run campaigns, we help clients run marketing that earns its place on the balance sheet.
Need a digital marketing strategy your FD will actually get behind? Get in touch today
