The Importance of Financial Acumen
At B2B Marketing, we discuss the importance of becoming the commercial marketer. This is someone who has the ability to think strategically and drive measurable business growth through marketing. With that being said, there are six essential skills to achieving this – with one of them being financial acumen. In other words, understanding the language of the finance team, and having conversations about marketing’s commercial impact in their terms. In this blog, Hannah Stringer, Marketing Director, Moneypenny discusses the significance of this specific skill.
Marketers have always loved a good stat. Click-through rates, impressions, engagement scores and MQLs are part of our daily vocabulary. The problem is, they don’t always translate well once you step into a boardroom.
At Moneypenny, our growth across sectors and continents made us rethink how we talk about marketing performance. A shift came when we stopped reporting what we did and started talking about what it delivered. Once we framed our work in terms of outcomes, efficiency and growth, everything changed. We were not just heard more clearly but we were valued differently.
Why the Board Thinks Differently
A board is not interested in how many people liked a post or watched a video. They want to know things like:
• How are we acquiring customers more efficiently
• Where are we growing margin
• Which regions or sectors are most valuable
• What should we ramp up or retire based on results
Our job is to turn marketing metrics into commercial meaning. When we do that, we earn influence and investment.
Metrics Are Ingredients, Not the Meal
Of course we still track everything behind the scenes, from CPL and ROAS to funnel conversion. But when we take it upstairs, we translate it.
Instead of saying:“Our campaign drove 1000 leads and 500,000 views.”
We now say: “Our legal sector campaign reduced cost-per-acquisition by 18 percent and added £X in qualified pipeline.”
Same work. Very different impact.
The AI Voice Agent: A Real Example
A great example of this shift is how we talk about our AI Voice Agent. It is tempting to lead with the clever tech behind it, natural language processing, call handling, 24/7 availability. But that is not what gets attention at senior level.
What cuts through is this:
• It captures more leads by reducing missed calls
• It protects billable time by handling routine enquiries
• It delivers service at scale without extra headcount
• It improves customer experience while keeping our human touch
Once we speak about it in those terms, the AI Voice Agent stops sounding like a gadget and starts sounding like a growth accelerator. It helps us scale faster, control cost-to-serve, support new markets and deliver gold-standard service in the UK and US. That is the kind of story the board wants to hear.
From Dashboards to Decisions
Being data-driven is not the same as drowning people in dashboards. We now build short, decision-focused narratives around every update.
We answer three questions:
- What did we do
- What changed commercially
- What decision does that inform
For example, instead of “SEO improvements drove a 22 percent traffic increase” we say:“Organic growth helped to reduce our paid media spend, saved £X this quarter and generated higher quality leads for the AI Voice Agent.”
Now we are advising, not just reporting.
Marketing as a Growth Partner
Changing how we talk has changed how the business sees us. We are no longer the spend line. We are a growth driver.
This mindset has helped us:
• Secure backing for innovations like the AI Voice Agent
• Support US expansion with strong evidence
• Influence acquisition and integration plans
• Work more closely with finance, sales and operations
Once you use commercial language, you get commercial influence.
Changing How We Think Internally
This isn’t just about the boardroom. The whole team looks at performance through an impact lens now.
We ask ourselves things like:
• Are we investing in line with return
• Which sectors convert fastest and at what margin
• How is brand investment affecting deal flow
It has made us sharper and more confident in every conversation.
Bringing People Together
Speaking the language of growth makes it easier to align with other teams. Sales leans in when we show pipeline value. Finance pays attention when acquisition costs drop. Operations backs us when AI solutions ease pressure.
Products like our outbound lead qualification services become part of the strategy, not just part of the tech stack.
The Takeaway
If there is one piece of advice I would give any marketing leader, it is this: translate before you present.
Keep your metrics but elevate the meaning. Tie everything to growth, value or efficiency.
• Lead with outcomes
• Talk about impact
• Share stories, not stats
• Make it easy to connect spend to return
At Moneypenny, that shift has changed how marketing shows up in the business. We are not just promoting growth – we are driving it.
And when you’re delivering services that drive growth, protect margin and scale brilliantly, speaking the right language ensures they get the attention and investment they deserve.
If you’re looking to learn more about financial acumen, how to upskill yourself, as well as the other five essential skills to becoming the commercial marketer, we highly recommend checking out our report and strategy pack.
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