How to convince your boss to invest in brand

So, you convinced your boss to let you run that cool, quirky marketing experiment.

The TikTok series. The zine. The NFT (regrets?). Nice work.

But now you’re ready for more. You’re thinking big. Long-term. You want your company to invest in brand…real brand. And that means money. Time. Patience. AKA: stuff finance teams don’t hand out like breath mints.

A recent CMO Insights report found that only 35% of marketing leaders regularly work with finance, down from 42% the year before. That’s not just a missed opportunity. That’s a disconnect that could literally tank your ability to grow.

So… if you're one of those marketers that's hesitant to ask for resources to invest in brand building, here's what to do:

First, understand your audience (no like, actually).

Every finance team is different. Some are brand believers. Some think marketing = last-click attribution. And some think “brand” is a four-letter word. You need to know who exactly you're talking to:

• The Sceptic: Thinks brand is fluffy. Likes forecasts and fast ROI. Needs proof.

• The Pragmatist: Open to brand if it’s tied to business outcomes. Needs translation.

• The Ally: Already sees brand as strategy. Needs ammo to sell it up the chain.

Translate your marketing speak into finance speak.

• Don’t say: “We need to raise awareness.” Say: “We need to increase the obtainable market.”

• Don’t say: “We’re investing in brand equity.” Say: “We’re strengthening reputation to reduce acquisition cost.”

• Don’t say: “This campaign will go viral.” Say: “This campaign could increase top-of-funnel volume by X% over Y months.”

Make your case in terms they care about:

• Market share

• Pricing power

• Retention and churn

• Customer lifetime value

• Defensibility against competitors

Introducing: Your Handy Dandy ™ brand investment to-do list (before you walk into that meeting)

1. Quantify your current brand problem. Are you over-relying on paid search? Are you seeing declining organic traffic? Do customers confuse you with competitors? Get data. Back it up.

2. Identify the opportunity cost. What’s the cost of not investing in brand? More spend to maintain acquisition? Stagnant growth? Weak differentiation?

3. Build a phased plan. Don’t ask for $500k and vibes. Show how you’ll test, learn, and scale. Start with a 3-month pilot. Define success.

4. Map brand activity to business outcomes. Show how your efforts will impact revenue, margins, market positioning, not just engagement.

5. Have an answer for “how will we measure this?” Hint: it’s not just last-click conversions. Think brand lift, share of search, aided/unaided recall, CAC over time.

6. Enlist allies. Get sales, product, or customer success on your side. If brand helps them, finance will listen.

Brand marketing is long-term, expensive, and not immediately shiny. 

But when done right, it's the reason a customer chooses you over the cheaper, faster, louder option. And when the economy goes sideways or growth stalls, a strong brand is the thing that keeps you afloat.

Your job? Help your CFO see the raft, not just the waves.

-Sophie Randell, Writer