How to Present Marketing Results to Your Boss
You’ve done brilliant marketing work. Campaigns are performing, leads are up, and your ROAS is solid. But when you present results to your boss (or the board, or the business owner), you get blank stares, sceptical questions, and a vague sense that they don’t really understand or value what you’re doing.
This isn’t a results problem — it’s a communication problem.
Most marketing professionals present results the way they understand them: channel by channel, metric by metric, with lots of detail and technical terminology. But your boss doesn’t think in CPCs, CTRs, and impression share. They think in revenue, profit, and growth.
Here’s how to bridge that gap.
Rule 1: Lead With Money
Your boss cares about three things: revenue, costs, and profit. Everything else is a means to those ends.
Don’t start with: “Our Google Ads campaign achieved a 2.3% click-through rate with a Quality Score improvement from 6 to 8, resulting in a 15% reduction in CPC.”
Start with: “Marketing generated £45,000 in revenue this month from £8,000 in spend. That’s a 5.6x return.”
The first sentence means nothing to someone outside marketing. The second sentence means everything to someone running a business.
The opening of every marketing presentation should answer:
- How much did we spend?
- How much revenue did it generate?
- What’s the return?
If you can’t answer these questions, fix your tracking before your next presentation. Our marketing ROI guide shows you how.
Rule 2: Compare to Something
Numbers without context are meaningless. “We generated 142 leads this month” — is that good? Bad? Expected?
Always compare to:
- Last month: “142 leads, up 23% from last month’s 115”
- Same month last year: “142 leads, up 40% vs February 2025”
- Target: “142 leads against a target of 130 — 9% above target”
- Cost benchmark: “Cost per lead dropped to £56, down from £72 last quarter”
Pick the comparison that tells the most compelling story. If month-on-month is flat but year-on-year is incredible, lead with year-on-year.
Rule 3: Tell a Story, Not a Data Dump
The worst marketing presentations are spreadsheets turned into slides. Rows of numbers, channel by channel, metric by metric. Your boss’s eyes glaze over by slide 3.
Instead, tell a narrative:
- Here’s what we set out to do (objectives/targets)
- Here’s what happened (results, in business terms)
- Here’s why it happened (what worked, what didn’t)
- Here’s what we’re going to do next (actions and recommendations)
That’s a story. Stories are memorable. Data dumps are forgettable.
Example Narrative:
“This month we targeted 130 leads at under £60 each. We hit 142 leads at £56 each — 9% above target and 7% under budget on cost per lead.
Google Ads was the star performer, with lead volume up 30% after we restructured the campaigns in January. Facebook is underperforming — cost per lead rose to £85, above our £60 target. We’re testing new creative this week to address that.
Next month, we’re scaling Google Ads spend by 20% to capitalise on the strong performance and redirecting £500 from Facebook to a LinkedIn test for our B2B audience.”
That took 30 seconds to read and communicated everything that matters.
Rule 4: Use Visuals Sparingly and Well
One clear chart is worth a thousand data points. But a deck of 20 charts is just visual noise.
Three visuals that work:
The Trend Line
A simple line chart showing your key metric (leads, revenue, cost per lead) over time. Trends are immediately intuitive — even non-marketers can see “that line is going up, which is good.”
The Traffic Light Dashboard
Red, amber, green indicators for your core KPIs. At a glance, your boss can see what’s on track and what needs attention. No explanation required.
The Comparison Bar Chart
This month vs. last month (or vs. target) for 3-5 key metrics. Simple, clear, impactful.
Avoid: Pie charts (they’re almost always misleading), complex multi-axis charts, and any visualisation that requires explanation to understand.
For more on building effective dashboards, read our marketing dashboard guide.
Rule 5: Anticipate the Questions
Your boss will have questions. Prepare for the obvious ones:
“Are we making money from this?”
Have the answer ready. Total spend, total revenue attributed to marketing, ROI calculation. If you can’t directly attribute revenue, show cost per lead and work backwards using your average conversion rate and customer value.
”Why is [thing] down?”
Don’t be defensive. Acknowledge underperformance directly, explain the cause, and present your plan to fix it. “Facebook CPA increased 30% this month. We believe it’s creative fatigue — frequency hit 4.2. New creative launches this week."
"Can we do more of [thing that’s working]?”
Have a scaling plan ready. “If we increase Google Ads budget by 25%, based on current performance, we’d expect approximately 35 additional leads at the same cost per lead. Shall I prepare a proposal?"
"How does this compare to competitors?”
Honest answer if you don’t know: “I don’t have direct competitor data, but our cost per lead of £56 is in the lower quartile for our industry based on available benchmarks."
"What should we spend next quarter?”
Have a recommendation. Don’t wait to be asked — proactively include budget recommendations based on performance data.
Rule 6: Keep It Short
Weekly update to your boss: Email, 5 bullet points, under 100 words. Takes 30 seconds to read.
Monthly presentation: 5-7 slides maximum. 15 minutes to present, 15 minutes for questions. If you can’t tell the story in 15 minutes, you’re including too much.
Quarterly review: 10-12 slides. 30 minutes. This is where you go deeper on strategy and forward planning.
The golden rule: Your presentation should be half the length you think it needs to be. Then cut it again.
The One-Page Monthly Report Template
If your boss prefers a document to a presentation, here’s a template:
Marketing Report — [Month Year]
The Headlines:
- Revenue from marketing: £[X] (vs. £[Y] last month, ↑/↓ Z%)
- Total marketing spend: £[X]
- Return: [X]:1 (£[X] revenue per £1 spent)
- Leads generated: [X] (vs. [Y] target)
What Worked:
- [Channel/campaign] — [result] — [why]
- [Channel/campaign] — [result] — [why]
What Needs Attention:
- [Issue] — [impact] — [our plan to fix it]
Next Month:
- [Priority 1]
- [Priority 2]
- [Budget recommendation]
One page. Five minutes to read. Everything that matters.
Adjusting for Different Audiences
Presenting to a CEO/MD
Focus on: Revenue impact, competitive advantage, strategic alignment. They want to know marketing is contributing to business growth.
Presenting to a Finance Director
Focus on: ROI, cost efficiency, budget utilisation. They want to know money is being spent wisely. Show breakeven calculations, ROAS, and cost trends.
Presenting to a Sales Director
Focus on: Lead volume, lead quality, pipeline contribution. They want to know marketing is filling the funnel with prospects that actually convert.
Presenting to a Board
Focus on: High-level KPIs vs. targets, strategic direction, competitive positioning. Keep it brief and strategic. No tactical detail.
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