Instead of demanding a large budget upfront, CMOs should partner with the CFO on a pragmatic, step-by-step journey. At e.l.f. Cosmetics, the marketing budget grew from 6% to 24% of net revenue over six years by proving the ROI of each incremental increase, building a strong case for continued investment over time.

To get C-suite buy-in for long-term brand investment, marketers should run small, ring-fenced test campaigns. By isolating a market segment and layering brand tactics on top of demand generation, you can demonstrably prove superior growth compared to a control group, de-risking a larger investment.

To shift from performance to brand marketing, SAS's CMO built a strategic alliance with the CFO. This involved mutual literacy training (marketing for finance, finance for marketing) and embedding a finance business partner directly into the marketing leadership team, turning finance into a powerful advocate.

To secure budget, marketers must prove they can drive immediate sales while also building long-term brand equity. This dual-focus framework builds credibility with leadership. Acknowledge the need for short-term results first (e.g., foot traffic), which then earns the trust needed for longer-term brand-building investments.

To get budget approval for upper-funnel channels like TV, avoid positioning it solely as "brand awareness." Instead, frame it as a "performance multiplier" that will improve the efficiency and scale of existing direct response channels, making the investment more palatable to finance teams.

Be hyper-vigilant with 95% of your budget to free up the last 5% for "foolish" spending on extravagant, unscalable customer experiences. This seemingly reckless spending is actually a strategic investment in loyalty and brand legacy.

The term "long-term" makes CFOs suspicious, suggesting returns are indefinitely delayed. A better framing is "lasting effects," which describes how brand advertising works immediately on the 5% of in-market buyers while building memory structures that pay off continuously with the other 95%.

To justify long-term brand investments to sales-minded executives, use the analogy of hiring a new AE. An AE hired in Q1 won't contribute to that quarter's number but is vital for hitting Q3 targets. Brand marketing requires the same upfront investment for future returns, a concept executives already understand.

Position marketing as the engine for future quarters' growth, while sales focuses on closing current-quarter deals. This reframes marketing's long-term investments (like brand building) as essential for sustainable revenue, justifying budgets that don't show immediate, direct ROI to a CFO.