# The marketing board deck: eight slides and the numbers a board expects on each

Eight slides, in the order a board reads them: the answer, results against plan, where the money went, what worked and what stopped, brand and demand health, the market, risks, and the decision you need. Each slide below says what question it answers, what goes on it and what to leave off. Copy it or download it as Markdown and replace the brackets with your numbers.

## How to use it

Write slide 1 last. It is the page most directors will read closely, so it should hold the three numbers and the one decision the rest of the deck supports.

Every number carries its definition the first time it appears, and the appendix holds the full definitions. A board that has to ask what a metric means will spend the meeting on that question.

## Slide 1. The answer

- **Question it answers.** Is marketing on track, and what do you need from us?
- **What goes on it.** Three numbers against plan: [pipeline or revenue contribution], [efficiency, such as cost per qualified opportunity or customer acquisition cost], [one brand or demand health measure]. One sentence on why each is where it is. The decision you are asking for, in one line.
- **Leave off.** Activity counts (posts, campaigns, events run). They describe effort, not results.

## Slide 2. Results against plan

- **Question it answers.** Did we get what we paid for this period?
- **What goes on it.** A table: metric, plan, actual, variance, reason. Use the same metrics and definitions as the last deck, so the board can compare quarters.
- **Leave off.** Metrics that are new this quarter unless you explain why you added them and what they replace.

Results table:

| Metric | Plan | Actual | Variance | Reason |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Marketing-sourced pipeline] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
| [Pipeline to closed-won rate] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
| [Customer acquisition cost] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
| [Brand or demand health measure] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |

## Slide 3. Where the money went

- **Question it answers.** How is the budget spent, and how does its size compare?
- **What goes on it.** Spend by line against plan: labor, martech, agencies, paid media, other. Marketing spend as a share of revenue, with one benchmark beside it and its citation line: figure, publisher, year, sample, denominator.
- **Leave off.** A benchmark without its sample. A survey of companies above $1 billion in revenue is not a peer set for a $50 million company.

## Slide 4. What worked, and what we stopped

- **Question it answers.** Are you putting money where it works?
- **What goes on it.** Two or three programs with the evidence that they worked: a test result, a holdout, a before and after with the baseline stated. Then the programs you stopped and the money that freed up.
- **Leave off.** Attribution shares presented as proof of cause. Say which method produced each number.

## Slide 5. Brand and demand health

- **Question it answers.** Will next year's pipeline be there?
- **What goes on it.** One or two leading measures you track every quarter, such as share of search, aided awareness or consideration in your target segment, with the method in a footnote.
- **Leave off.** A new brand metric each quarter. The value is in the trend.

## Slide 6. The market

- **Question it answers.** What changed outside the company that affects the plan?
- **What goes on it.** Competitor moves, pricing changes, shifts in how buyers find you (including AI search answers that name or omit you), and what you are doing about each.
- **Leave off.** A general market overview. Only what changes your plan belongs here.

## Slide 7. Risks and next quarter

- **Question it answers.** What could go wrong, and how will we know early?
- **What goes on it.** The three largest risks to the plan, each with an owner, the signal that would tell you it is happening, and the response you have ready.
- **Leave off.** Risks with no owner or no signal. They cannot be managed, only listed.

## Slide 8. The ask

- **Question it answers.** What do you need us to decide?
- **What goes on it.** The decision in one sentence, two or three options with their cost and expected effect, your recommendation, and what happens if the board says no.
- **Leave off.** An ask buried in the narrative. If there is no decision this quarter, say so.

## Appendix

- **Definitions.** Every metric in the deck: what it counts, the formula, the source system, who owns it.
- **Method notes.** How pipeline is attributed, how brand measures are collected, what changed since the last deck.

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From CMO Tribune: https://www.cmotribune.com/tools/board-deck-outline