Editor’s Note: The following is a transcript from the Norwest Nowcast above where Norwest CMO Lisa Ames shares the one question she asks to find out how attuned a marketing leader is to three core aspects of their role.
Hi, I’m Lisa Ames with a Norwest Nowcast about the one question every marketer should be able to answer off the top of their head.
So the question is: if your CEO or board member came to you and gave you an extra $100,000 that you weren’t expecting, how would you deploy those dollars? What would you spend it on? And why?
In these times when budgets are getting squeezed, the question can actually be flipped. And what you’re probably hearing right now is, ‘hey, if we were to reduce your budget by $100,000 (or fill in the blank on the amount), how would you save?’
If your CEO or board member came to you and gave you an extra $100,000 that you weren’t expecting, how would you deploy those dollars?
And so let’s ground our answer in a couple of things. First, clearly, we need to know our data. We need to know what channels are underperforming and performing. We need to know our conversion rates to the funnel, our close rates, because that’s going to inform our decision first and foremost.
Maybe what’s less obvious is our relationships with the sales team and even the CFO. The sales team, those SDRs that are calling on your leads, you want to know what gets them excited, what can they convert the fastest and the best?
And the relationship with the CFO is important because they can help model certain outcomes. They have line of sight on where the business is headed. And so having a trusted relationship with them is gonna go a long way too.
And then finally, trust your gut as a marketer. You probably have been doing this for a while. You’ve seen the patterns over a number of years, and you know where your investments are best spent and where you can cut.
And so what I want to know from you is what questions do you feel like you should know off the top of your head as a marketer? And can you share them in the comments so we can help other companies and other marketers succeed?
Thank you.
