CFOs are the Financial Conscience of the Brand, Requiring Engagement in B2B Marketing and Workforce Diversity

Myers kicked off the presentation by quoting Larry Light the CEO of Arcature Brand Consultancy who recently wrote quotThe CFO is the financial conscience of the brandquot Myers sees this comment as a vitally important opportunity for financial officers to become more involved in workforce developmentIn live audience polling among the financial professionals who were present he asked them to respond to these questions quotAs a financial officer how engaged are you in reviewing your company39s B2B marketing and your trade advertising decisions How involved are you in not just budgeting for them but actually reviewing them and understanding themquot Seven percent said they were quotvery involvedquot12 said quotsomewhat involvedquot56 quotminimally involvedquot and 26 answered quotnot at all involvedquot in workforce development Myers told the audience that his goal during the session was quotto change those statisticsquotTo demonstrate his point he examined the word quotbrandquot and its direct connection to business growth quotThere39s extensive research from both McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group that says companies that outperform both in EBITDA and longterm value are far more likely to have a genderdiverse workforce and management team and a racially diverse workforce and management teamquot he saidA Rethinking and Reimagining of B2B Marketing Myers offered three points and a solution for growth quotThere is a case and it39s clearly been proven not just by large companies like PampampG and Unilever but by many companies like Audacyquot he said quotThe facts are that 75 of talent development budgets are invested in training and compliance but deliver only a 5 measurable improvement in diversity advances not just for individual companies but for the industry as a whole Twentyfive percent of funding underwrites oneonone mentoring internships fellowships talent sponsorships and presence marketing at conferences and events including diversity events and that delivers a 40 measurable improvement in diversity recruitment and retention especially when it39s directed toward recruitment and retention programsquotThe solution I believe comes back to being the financial conscience of your companyquot he continued quotTo reallocating budgets to online on demand shortform selflearning tools and virtual mentoring as an educational solution vs a promotionaladvertising solution This requires rethinking and reimagining of what B2B marketing is and that requires a financiallysupported social conscience to integrated into the budgeting processquotA Clearly Defined Value PropositionMyers pointed out how brand equity ie having a clearly defined value proposition quotis declining across the board in most industries Effectively communicating your differentiation cultural relevance and value offering and then consistently maintaining those qualities is what gives your brand its equityquot he saidOnly three media brands out of 150 that were recently evaluated by media planners and buyers in a study by The Myers Report for MediaVillage were perceived as being meaningfully committed to social responsibility Myers put this is human terms quotEveryone likes a winner and media planning and buying professionals are no differentquot he explained quotThey are loyal to brands that they feel confident their clients are going to find relevant to their needsquotLooking at the media and advertising business Myers said quotIt39s not surprising that brand equity is being increasingly recognized as a critical component across all industries for business growth but as the advertising business has moved more toward data and more toward commoditized transactions and programmatic buying and as procurement officers on the advertiser and agency side have become more involved brand equity has been diminishingquotAudacy39s quotVirtuousquot CyclequotWhen we at Audacy say 39social impact39 that is simply a philosophy a way of operating your business that is good for business and good for people and the world around you and recognizing those are not mutually exclusive decisions but mutually reinforcing decisionsquot Harris said explaining how diversity and education led to corporate growth at AudacySuchman spoke about how this approach literally helped them realign their company quotWe went from this idea of a house of brands to a fully branded housequot he saidquotAudacy39s brand purpose is about building belonging and bringing people together around content that moves them and that translates perfectly into our culture and how we build a community of inclusivityquot Harris said quotHaving that environment within our team at Audacy obviously helps build the content that drives community and so becomes a virtuous cyclequotThe right environment helps unify our team around our common purposequot she later added quotWe39re building inclusivity within our team to help drive the innovation that Paul is describing so it39s doing those two things concurrently that allows a media company like Audacy or others to really reap the benefit of building social impact into the essence of what you do and making your financial decisions really matter and really pay offquotThe Future of GrowthFocusing on growth Suchman added quotMillennials and Gen Z audiences are where all of the future growth is going to come from They want to be part of companies and align with companies and consume content from companies who align with their missions their values and their social purposequotSuchman spoke about the underinvestment in B2B marketing by many companies in the media industry compared to almost all other industries in B2B marketing by quotmore than 50quotHarris summed the future up this way quotWithin all the change that39s happening in the world around us the reminder to our financial community and to all of us as leaders is that people are the core of our business and human beings are the consumers of our products quotConsumers are our clients and partnersquot she continued quotIf we can remember what matters to humans that might be the one thing that doesn39t change Human beings want to feel a sense of belonging They want to have a voice at the table and they want to be heardquotClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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CFOs are the Financial Conscience of the Brand, Requiring Engagement in B2B Marketing and Workforce Diversity

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