It is generally assumed that the people who make up the marketing department of a company are creative, right-brained people, who have no regard for the logic of finance, budgeting or any monetary matters.
Likewise, it is also generally assumed that the people who make up the finance department are logical, left-brained people, who have no understanding of the creative process, or the benefits of marketing and marketing campaigns.
Teams who are trying to work together within a company can find these assumptions very damaging, and make it very difficult to form a successful working relationship so a relationship between finance and marketing department is very important for all businesses, and even smaller businesses should calculate a marketing budget.
Because of the importance of both departments, it is critical that a relationship between the two should be fostered.
There are five ways to boost the Relationship between finance and marketing departments.
1) Communicate
Both the finance and marketing team should try to encourage a line of communication. In some cases, the line of communication may have broken done, but establishing a regular meeting schedule between the two departments can help reopen communication.
If communication hasn’t broken down, then regularly scheduled meetings can help to encourage open, honest and productive communication. “SEO companies have noticed that one of the most promising signs of a successful company in 2017 is good communication between the finance and marketing departments”, says Morgan Davis, digital marketing manager at A plus Digital-Montreal SEO Firm. This shows that they understand that they each have different skill sets, trend but that they need to work together for the good of the company.
2) Financial Responsibility
The finance depart tends to form better relationships with departments who can show some financial responsibility. If a department can reduce, or entirely eliminate all of the nonessential spendings, the gesture will be appreciated by the finance department.
It can also mean that they will give a little more leeway if the marketing team goes over budget, or needs a little more money. As well, it can give the marketing team a firmer budget to work with, and provide a clearer idea of what their budget is and how to stick to it.
3) Prepare
Financial departments deal in numbers and facts. They to dislike ambiguous requests for money. The marketing department should make the effort to prepare their requests with more definite numbers. It is appreciated by the finance department and it can help make negotiating between the two departments much easier.
4) Share Success
The finance department rarely sees any actual return from the budget and money that they give to the marketing department. The marketing department should be prepared to show the finance team how the money is being spent, and what returns it brought to the company.
It might mean that they show that the traffic to the website increased after a marketing campaign, or that the positioning of the brand is better. If the finance department can see that the marketing budget is having a positive impact on the company, then they are much less likely to cut the marketing budget.
5) Admit mistakes
If there has been any kind of mistake, it should be admitted. If the marketing department thinks that they are running the risk of overspending, then they should tell the finance department, or if they already have overspent their budget, they should tell the finance department.
The marketing department should never try to shift the blame and should admit their mistake, and explain any steps that they will take to ensure that the mistake is not repeated. The finance department may be able to take steps to limit the damage or otherwise fix the mistake. If they can’t, then they will still appreciate being informed of the mistake as soon as possible.
In essence, the departments of a successful company will strive to work together to the benefit of the company. This is more true of the finance and marketing departments as they are arguably the two most important departments.
Without the finance department, there is no regulation on the company’s money, but without marketing, there may be no customers. These departments need to work together in such a way that the company as a whole benefit.
- If these two teams can achieve a harmonious, effective working relationship, then they could feasibly influence the success of the company.
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