{"id":15162,"date":"2022-08-17T12:57:03","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T12:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/seo-cfo-relationship\/460231\/"},"modified":"2022-08-17T12:57:03","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T12:57:03","slug":"seo-and-the-cfo-tips-to-improve-your-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/?p=15162","title":{"rendered":"SEO And The CFO: Tips To Improve Your Relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Historically, the tension between chief financial officers (CFOs) and marketing heads has often resulted from misalignment around long-term vs. short-term goals.<\/p>\n

While CFOs are required to submit quarterly financial reports to shareholders, marketers are more often fixed on long-term objectives, such as brand value \u2013 which can be abstract.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the role of the CFO has evolved over the past few years, as most CFOs are no longer business hall monitors concerned with cost-cutting and oversight.<\/p>\n

Rather, many CFOs now actively participate in organizational growth strategies designed to counteract losses in any economic environment.<\/p>\n

Ideally, this shared goal should naturally align with many marketers\u2019 objectives and create synergy down the road.<\/p>\n

However, many organizations struggle to create proper symmetry between C-suite executives and keep data in silos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, I\u2019ve dealt with many CFOs in the past who simply didn\u2019t understand the merits of SEO and how it differed from traditional marketing.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, for many agencies, this has caused their fair share of frustration when renewing clients and getting proper budget<\/a> allocation for projects.<\/p>\n

Therefore, educating CFOs and SEO pros about each other\u2019s roles and processes is important to break the disconnect that prevents them from aligning around the same business goals and objectives.<\/p>\n

The Importance Of CFO And SEO Alignment<\/h2>\n

According to a study by Deloitte, at least 73%<\/a> of organizations that report C-suite alignment around marketing performance metrics received positive revenue growth in the past year.<\/p>\n

The data shows that clear CFO and marketing alignment around goals, key performance indicators (KPIs)<\/a>, and language leads to greater business growth.<\/p>\n

As CFOs begin to prioritize long-term growth over cost-cutting, this creates an opportunity for SEO pros to educate them about their goals and strategies and plead their cases for higher budget allocation.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, we need to identify obstacles that inhibit this natural pairing and explore ways to overcome these pitfalls for better symmetry.<\/p>\n

How To Improve The Relationship Between SEO And CFO<\/h2>\n

Create A Shared Language<\/h3>\n

As SEO pros, we understand that marketing offers better long-term stability to any organization over short-term, one-time sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, qualitatively communicating brand value and loyalty to a CFO is like explaining how your favorite football team will win the Super Bowl next year.<\/p>\n

Without real numbers or a shared understanding of marketing performance metrics and terminology, CFOs cannot comprehend the SEO team\u2019s objectives.<\/p>\n

Further, it can be impossible for SEO pros to translate these strategies into results without tangible financial metrics to present to CFOs.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it\u2019s up to the SEO team to educate CFOs about their strategies and how this benefits their business financially.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, CFOs might be reluctant to pour money into campaigns that are abstract in their view.<\/p>\n

SEO professionals need to find ways to translate broad metrics from customer acquisition and lead generation into value-based business impact.<\/p>\n

For example, assigning values to leads and forecasting their revenue allows CFOs to plan budgets. SEO pros can also assign value to intangible assets like brand equity to better convey their value in terms CFOs understand.<\/p>\n

Another way SEO pros need to educate CFOs is around budget processes.<\/p>\n

For example, marketing budgets are often used throughout multiple campaigns, which amortize over time. However, this is not often reflected in profit and loss statements from CFOs.<\/p>\n

In this example, SEO pros must clearly outline these considerations to CFOs to avoid budget cuts because of unused or misallocated funds.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, if SEO pros and CFOs want to speak the same language, they must start tracking the same goals and KPIs.<\/p>\n

Create Shared Goals<\/h3>\n

If you truly want to create alignment around shared goals and language, coordinate with your CFO by using the same metrics and KPIs to track performance data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While marketers are free to get as granular as they wish, ultimately, it\u2019s up to department heads to agree on a few key metrics.<\/p>\n

For example, these key metrics can be translated directly into financial terms that create a shared language between SEOs and CFOs:<\/p>\n