Stop 13 · Marketing Tools & CollaborationTopics · 7/7

Reporting to Stakeholders

In short

Your CEO doesn't want 14 slides of impressions and CTR. They want to know: did it work, why, and what should we do next? Lead with that.

Presenting campaign results in a format leadership can act on — leading with the outcome and recommendation, not a wall of channel-by-channel metrics nobody outside marketing can parse.

The blob sits at a school desk proudly holding up a report card with a gold star.

Think of it like this

The report card at PTM

At a parent-teacher meeting, parents look at the grade and the teacher's one-line remark first: 'Strong in maths, needs work on Hindi, join extra class.' Only then do they read the marks. Stakeholder reports work the same way. Verdict and next step first, details after.

Watch it happen

The shape of a good stakeholder update

Headline

Key result

Why

Next step

Ask

1/5One line verdict: 'March campaign hit 112% of the sign-up target.'

The big ideas

What you need to know

Know your audience

Founders care about revenue and cost. Sales cares about lead quality. Tailor what you lead with.

Compare to something

A number alone means little. Show it against the target, last month or last year.

One chart per point

Each chart should prove one idea. Title it with the takeaway, not just 'Traffic'.

Share bad news early

If something's off track, say so clearly with your plan. Surprises destroy trust.

See it in code

Walk through the code

text

1March campaign: 112% of sign-up target (2,240 vs 2,000).2Creator videos drove 60% of sign-ups at half the cost of static ads.3Next: move 30% of April budget to creator videos. Need approval by 5 April.

1/3The verdict with the actual and target numbers.

A three-line executive summary. Result, reason, next step and the ask. The detailed dashboard can sit below it for anyone who wants more.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Opening with a wall of channel metrics and jargon like CTR and CPM.

Do this instead

Open with the business result and a recommendation. Put channel detail in the appendix.

Oops

Hiding a missed target on slide 12.

Do this instead

State it upfront with the reason and your fix. Leaders respect honesty.

Your mission

Write a three-line summary

~20 min

Quick check

What should a report for the CEO open with?

Go deeper

1Rewrite a detailed campaign report into a 3-bullet executive summary.
2Practice the 'answer first' structure: result, so-what, recommendation.
3Prepare for the common follow-up question: 'so what should we do differently next time?'