Strong sales growth doesn’t always justify more media spending, especially when rising costs and promotions eat into profits. Before approving a bigger budget, CMOs and CFOs need to understand what’s driving growth and how much value it adds.

Consider a quarterly review. The CMO wants more media money. Sales are up, the brand gained more first-time buyers, and the campaign reached more prospects. Search and retail media both beat their targets.

The CFO doesn’t dispute any of that, but media costs went up, the company used more promotions, and margin barely moved. Why spend more when the extra sales aren’t producing much additional profit?…