How to get CEOs to care about marketing?

A CEO doesn’t acquire his or her position by being unintelligent or naive.  CEOs rise through the ranks because they are not only knowledgeable, but extremely intuitive when it comes to profitability, customers, and how to effectively grow a business.  So, that begs the question… why do most CEOs dislike marketing?

The best way to answer this question is simply this; most CEOs do not see the value in marketing, and it most likely has not been presented to them in a way that makes them see that value.

To understand why CEOs have a generally negative outlook on marketing and its activities, one must first tune in to the mindset of a successful CEO and take into consideration those care-abouts, or rather, THE care-about:
CEOs care about profits.  The bottom line. The dollar signs.  Anything (like marketing) that may take time, money, energy, or any amount of resources better have some type of payoff or they’re not interested.  Of course CEOs are interested in growth and the all-around well-being of the company in question, but that can all be tied back to profits and keeping the company in the black.

So, how do you get them to care?

Marketing has to be displayed in a light that makes the CEO realize its importance.  You can’t expect them to jump on board by simply viewing some eye-catching emails with clever slogans.  How will this content deliver for them and their business?

Sales teams simply cannot do it all in this day and age.  Customers have powerful resources at their fingertips at any given moment, and can become well-versed in any product or service before they even pick up the phone to call a business.  If a company isn’t present throughout that customer’s buying cycle, they will lose them to their competition.  How will sales teams close on leads that never make it to their call lists?  They won’t.  The same way customers won’t buy from a business that never even makes a blip on their consideration-set radar.

If marketing is positioned this way, not only will a CEO care, they’ll be scared.

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