How to Get Your CFO to Fund Brand Without Asking Them to “Just Trust Marketing” | Megan Bowen, CEO, Refine Labs

Araminta speaks with Megan Bowen, CEO of Refine Labs, about frameworks that help marketing teams gain leadership buy-in and reallocate budget toward activities that drive qualified pipeline and revenue. Megan explains Refine Labs' "split the funnel analysis," which tracks inbound leads through to closed-won revenue, highlighting why high-intent leads outperform lower-intent sources and why businesses should move beyond MQL-focused measurement. They discuss balancing investment across demand capture, brand awareness, and expansion, using better CRM tracking and metrics to demonstrate brand impact. Megan also shares insights into FinTech buying behaviour, the role of AI in marketing, and how to identify agencies that deliver measurable business results.Key topics include:How to make the case for brand spend to the CFOHow to figure out where your marketing sits on the maturity curveWhere AI belongs in marketing Why using it for strategy could cause issuesUseful links:Find Megan Bowen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganwhitebowen/Find Araminta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aramintarobertson/ Mint Studios website: https://www.mintcopywritingstudios.com/For show notes and more information about guests, head to: https://www.mintcopywritingstudios.com/podcastThis episode was produced by Orama - thought leadership videos and podcasts: https://orama.tv/About Araminta Robertson:Araminta is the Founder and Managing Director at Mint Studios, an agency that turns content into measurable pipeline for fintech and financial services companies.About Fintech Marketing LabFintech Marketing Lab is a podcast hosted by Mint Studios,an agency that turns content into measurable pipeline for fintech and financial services companies. This podcast is where we experiment, explore and break down how fintech marketing actually works in practice. Each episode, our host, Araminta, talks with top fintech marketers about what they’re testing, what they’re learning, and how they’re pushing the boundaries of brand, strategy and team building.Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:26 Frameworks and Funnels03:12 Split Funnel Explained06:57 Low vs High Intent09:49 Rebalancing the Budget11:41 Proving Brand Impact16:43 Fixing CRM and Tracking18:55 Marketing Maturity Model25:31 FinTech Buyer Insights29:41 AI in Modern Marketing38:42 Agencies in the AI Era