Who are the ‘hidden persuaders’ in B2B?
To win over CFOs, marketers must go beyond speaking the language of finance. They need to understand the ‘hidden persuaders’ shaping financial priorities.
There is a lot of discussion in the B2B marketing world about speaking the language of finance. In a column for Marketing Week, Martin Deboo, a long-time financial analyst and marketer wrote that learning the language of finance is “critical to success” and that in order to succeed marketers must demonstrate marketing’s impact on key financial outcomes like organic growth, margins and profitability.
However, when it comes to learning the language of finance, Daniel O’Hara, CMO of financial platform Demica, believes the conversation often assumes the CFO is an “independently minded, completely rational actor” coming up with their “own priorities” and if only marketers can “align to their priorities then you will be quids in”. Instead, he thinks it is important to ask what or who is driving the CFO’s priorities?
CEO of brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, David Haigh, believes that when making the case for brand investment in a B2B organisation, the information is generally “targeted at the CFO” rather than considering those who influence the CFO including investors, bankers, financial journalists and analysts.
