How B2B Marketers Can Win Over the CFO: Building Better Marketing and Finance Alignment

What’s the most essential ingredient in successful B2B marketing?

You might offer any number of different good answers: talent, creativity, strategy, technology, measurement. But in truth, the single most important factor in successful marketing is undeniable, and it’s not any of those things (though it enables them all). And when navigating economic challenges and times of business uncertainty, this ingredient is more important than ever.

It’s investment.

Investment in people. Investment in tools and partnerships. Investment in strategy and data. Growth can’t be automated, and marketing needs resources to thrive. Which is why forging a strong strategic alignment and shared worldview with financial leadership is one of the most critical steps that B2B marketing leaders can take today.

When the relationship between marketing and finance is collaborative rather than combative or disconnected, the entire organization benefits. Let’s unpack some of the principles behind a marketing and finance collaboration framework that actually works, examples of it in action, and tips for building a bridge to the CFO.

Reshaping perceptions of B2B marketing as a “cost center”

Starting from a place of empathy is always helpful. If we’re being honest, it’s easy to see why the knowledge gap exists.

The job of finance is to make sure the numbers add up. In marketing, the math gets quite complex. Timelines are long. Influence is multi-threaded. Impact can be indirect but still deeply meaningful. If we want to be seen as growth drivers and not cost centers, it starts with us doing a better job of demonstrating how value is created through marketing.

Only 35% of marketing leaders are working regularly with finance, down from 42% last year. (CMO Insights Report 2025)

Marketing to the CFO: It starts from within

Before marketing can make its case externally, it must first market itself internally. Research from the B2B Institute and IPA confirms: finance is arguably marketing’s most important stakeholder inside the business.

In their whitepaper, Marketing to the CFO, they shared some troubling findings:

Non-marketing business leaders significantly undervalue brand contributions. (Only 20% see brands as very important to profitability, and only 11% connect them to future cash flow.)
Only 2.6% of corporate board seats are held by individuals with marketing experience.
Executive confidence in B2B marketing’s value is generally even lower than in B2C.

The highest-performing marketers know how to speak the language of finance. They align around a shared understanding of value creation, accountability and evidence-based metrics. They build relationships on trust, mutual understanding and a common vision of what success looks like for the business.

The B2B Institute offers a helpful VALUE framework for marketers:

Value: Understand how value is created for both customers and the organization.
Accountability: Be responsible for that value creation.
Language: Use the language of business and finance.
Understanding: Build financial fluency and mutual empathy.
Evidence: Operate with an evidence-based mindset.

Learn more on the topic from marketing experts, including our friend Ty Heath, in the panel discussion below: