CFO: what's with this ad? it has driven ZERO revenue. are you crazy? CMO: actually, it's one of our best performers CFO: in terms of WHAT? CMO: engagements, especially follows CFO: how does that relate to revenue? we're focused on profit. wasting money doesn't support this focus CMO: look... at our results. revenue growth is re-accelerating, and our EBITDA margin is nearly doubling. something's working CFO: no way it's because of this ad CMO: i think it is—not just this ad, but the campaign. it's great for our brand and earning high-quality engagements like follows CFO: heartily disagree. our growth is due to COGS savings and new products CMO: true, but this has also contributed significantly. we've measured how these engagements lead to long-term growth in the types of high-margin purchase behaviors we want more of CFO: what are our "highest-margin purchase behaviors"? CMO: purchases from people who search for our brand name or enter our URL directly. brand is likely the primary purchase driver CFO: fair, but how is that different from ad clicks leading to purchases? CMO: it's different. while both are valuable, purchases from ad clicks often focus on product, price, or promotions, whereas branded searches indicate the brand brand is a bigger driver CFO: are you saying revenue from ad clicks is bad? CMO: not at all. but we've relied too much on purchases via paid clicks to drive growth—nearly all our growth came from them in the last two years CFO: really? hmm. but what's your point? CMO: as shown (shares the measurement data), revenue per session and lifetime value from ad clicks are lower than from branded organic searches CFO: where's this data? why haven't i seen it? CMO: i send it weekly in slack. CFO: (embarrassed) ummm, busted? CMO: all good—maybe now you'll open it. this campaign helps balance our approach, generating an emotional connection and reaching people we'd never hit with our conversion-optimized spend. it fills the funnel in a measurable, precise way. and yes, as an added benefit, it increases our direct response efficiency and effectiveness, but the under-appreciated and more important benefit is that it has measurably driven more of those high-margin purchase behaviors we want CFO: how do you know? CMO: we see how follower growth drives incremental revenue from organic search, direct sessions, and organic social referrals over the following six months. we can quantify revenue and ROAS just like our direct response campaigns CFO: why haven't i seen this data? CMO: it's in the same report i send you weekly CFO: (scans report for two minutes... awkward silence) this is awesome. keep doing what you're doing CMO: (surprised) excuse me? CFO: actually, spend more CMO: well, look at you—this is quite the surprise. appreciate the excitement, but i'm testing and scaling in a way that aligns with the process we follow CFO: let's speed up that process a bit, shall we? CMO: gladlyshow more

Preston Rutherford

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