Episode 154 – Leading the Long-term Commercial Agenda with guest Naomi Walkland: Motorway's CMO on marketers understanding finance to own short and long-term growth agenda

Episode #154. We're back! Season 9 kicks off with a fundamental technical skill for marketers growing the brands and businesses of tomorrow… we're discussing marketing's role in leading the long-term commercial agenda, what you can do to build trusting and collaborative relationships with your finance department and how to build the link between marketing and commercial results.   Abby's guest expert is Naomi Walkland, Chief Marketing Officer at Motorway, which is the UK's fastest growing car marketplace. In her role, she oversees the company's brand and product marketing, growth marketing, creative communications and business marketing team. Previously, Naomi served as the VP of Bumble, where she led the international marketing team, driving new customers and revenue growth outside of the US. Naomi is an Honorary Fellow of the Marketing Society, and has been recognised by Marketing Week and Campaign Magazine as one of their top marketing leaders in the UK.  In this episode, Naomi shares what it means to lead the long-term commercial agenda, developing your financial literacy, building relationships with finance and modelling this with your teams, and the importance of transparency and shared responsibility with your CFO.  Plus her experience at Bumble and Motorway, career highs and lows and advice for marketers of tomorrow.    00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Marketing's Role in Leading the Long-Term Commercial Agenda  00:04:27 Importance of Sustainable Growth  00:06:05 Building Evidence of Marketing's Impact  00:08:53 Building a Relationship with the CFO   00:10:07 Transparency and Shared Accountability with Finance   00:14:52 Taking Calculated Risks   00:17:49 Honesty and Trust in Marketing Leadership   00:19:34 Developing Courage and Humility as a Leader  00:23:10 Educating Teams on Commercial Understanding   00:24:02 Investing in your Financial Literacy and Development   00:28:24 Naomi's Career Highs and Lows   00:31:58 Advice for Marketers of Tomorrow     Host: Abigail Dixon FCIM/ICF | LinkedIn Guest: Naomi Walkland | LinkedIn   The Whole Marketer podcast is here to support and empower the people behind brands and businesses with the latest technical tools, soft and leadership skills and personal understanding for a fulfilling marketing career and life as a whole. Did you know The Whole Marketer is more than a podcast and book? We're your trusted partners for marketing capability and transformation, providing consultancy, training & workshops, speaking, coaching, mentoring and trusted advisory service. Visit www.thewholemarketer.com to hear how we support leaders to build marketing teams with the holistic skills to lead the long-term commercial agenda and deliver the true potential of marketing. Contact [email protected] to get in touch with Abby and the team.