The reporting habit that keeps marketing accountable to revenue

Most marketing meetings die from too much narrative and too little number. A five-line weekly review fixes that.

The template, in five lines

1. Last week, in one sentence. What changed in the metrics that finance cares about.
2. The bet we’re running. One line. What we expect to move and by when.
3. Evidence to date. Two or three charts. No commentary on charts that don’t move.
4. Decision needed. One thing the leadership team has to weigh in on.
5. Next week’s shipping list. Three items. Each with a named owner.

Why it works

It forces marketing to commit, in writing, to a metric and a date. It removes the temptation to talk about the campaigns that felt exciting. And it makes finance a partner, not an auditor.

What to skip

Channel-by-channel rundowns. Vanity charts. The “what we did this week” section. Nobody reads them.

Send it at the same time every Monday. Same template. Same five lines. The discipline is the deliverable.

If you adopt this

Run it for four weeks before you decide whether it’s working. The first one will be ugly. The fourth one will be the most-forwarded email at the company.