The foundation of the relationship between finance and marketing is laid when a brand plans to market its products or services and allocates a budget for the same. Specialised financial assistance is required to meet the ever-changing and complex marketing requirements of a brand. The financial department assists a brand in allocating a budget, managing costs, and simultaneously providing value for the allocated costs. The finance department also works in close proximity with the marketing department to monitor and analyse business trends and the efficiency of marketing strategies. Let’s understand the relationship between finance and marketing to have a clear picture of how marketing and finance work together.
Unlike sales and marketing, finance and marketing work in a different direction, pulling away from each other. The marketing department wants to spend money, while the finance department wants to control and save it. Over recent years the relationship between finance and marketing has evolved into a modern collaboration by creating a shared commercial vision to achieve the common goal for a business. Despite the differences, there are some similarities between finance and marketing. Marketing and finance share the common goal of making a profit, generating revenue, and maintaining a regular cash flow.
Unlike sales and marketing, finance and marketing work in a different direction, pulling away from each other. The marketing department wants to spend money, while the finance department wants to control and save it. Over recent years the relationship between finance and marketing has evolved into a modern collaboration by creating a shared commercial vision to achieve the common goal for a business. Despite the differences, there are some similarities between finance and marketing. Marketing and finance share the common goal of making a profit, generating revenue, and maintaining a regular cash flow.
In recent years, the marketing costs have constantly changed, making it even more challenging for the financial department to keep up and collaborate with the marketing department. Here are some ways to ensure marketing and finance work on common grounds:
Marketers are at the centre of achieving critical business goals, offering an opportunity to work closely with different departments, including the product, finance, sales, customer support, and other departments. The similarities between finance and marketing allow them to work together in collaboration with the sales department.
It is crucial to understand the role of finance in marketing and business to arrive at a convincing answer for how marketing and finance work together. Marketing and finance stand on opposite ends of the spectrum, making it even more challenging for marketing and finance professionals to understand the similarities between finance and marketing and the role of finance in marketing
Conclusion
In the initial stages, marketing and finance departments might be apprehensive about working in close proximity to each other. However, their collaboration benefits not only the individual departments but also other departments and the company. Once the marketing and finance departments start working together, it gets easier to communicate their individual goals and requirements. Marketing professionals can communicate their budget requirements, how their marketing strategies will contribute and add value to a particular project, and get quick investment approvals.
On the other hand, the finance department can elucidate the reasons behind the allocation amount to the marketing department. Marketing and finance professionals also rely on each other for data and analytics. The marketing department provides data that reflect their performance, while the finance department can offer insights into how much return on investment was driven by the past budget allocation.
Due to the pandemic, with companies already short on funds, financial governance has significantly increased. The marketing department will always be required to justify its financial returns. Unless the marketing department supports and increases sales, the financial department will always find it difficult to approve the budget for marketing.
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