The ROI Equation: Podcast Plan

The ROI Equation: Finance Meets the Funnel

Season 1: 10-Episode Plan

Series Concept

A practical podcast for small and mid-sized business owners (SMBs) that closes the gap between the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Each episode features Murrell and Samantha debating and agreeing on the best strategies for allocating capital to drive profitable, sustainable business growth.

Your Hosts

The Financial Advisor: **Murrell Winter** from Swan Strategies (The voice of profit and sustainability).

The Marketing Agency Principal: **Samantha Allababidi** from Cherriz Allababidi (The voice of growth and effective investment).

Target Audience

Business owners, startup founders, marketing VPs, and financial managers looking to align their growth spending with their long-term profit goals.

Episode Breakdown

#	Catchy Title	Financial Advisor Focus	Marketing Agency Focus	Key Takeaways
1	The First Million Dollar Mistake: Merging Finance & Funnel	Defining "good" debt vs. "bad" debt; risk assessment for growth spending.	The modern marketing funnel; moving from cost centers to profit centers.	How to create a unified financial-marketing mission statement.
2	Budget Like a Boss: Killing the 'Spend-It-or-Lose-It' Mentality	Implementing a zero-based budget (ZBB); justifying every dollar before allocation.	Analyzing existing channel performance (e.g., social, email, PPC) to inform the ZBB.	A step-by-step template for building an investment-based marketing budget.
3	The CEO's Scorecard: Bridging Cash Flow and Conversions	Key Financial Indicators (KPIs): cash flow, liquidity, and burn rate.	Key Marketing Metrics (KMs): Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), conversion rates, and volume.	How to build a dashboard that simultaneously tracks financial health and marketing performance.
4	Ad Spenders Anonymous: When Is a High CPA Actually Worth It?	The financial limits of customer acquisition; when high CPA is justified.	Strategies for paid media (PPC/Social) designed for rapid scale; managing ad fatigue.	Determining the maximum sustainable ad spend based on net profit margins.
5	The Money Tree: How Content Pays You Back (Slowly, Powerfully)	Valuing long-term, "intangible" assets like brand equity and organic traffic.	How content strategy acts as a compounding investment; the delayed ROI of SEO.	Justifying a 12-month (or longer) content budget to the finance department.
6	Subscription Overload: Firing Your Software for Better ROI	The Subscription Economy trap; calculating the true ROI of software.	Identifying overlapping tools (CRMs, analytics, email platforms) and eliminating redundancy.	Tips for negotiating better vendor contracts and integrating essential tools seamlessly.
7	Price Tag Psychology: Don't Market Cheap, Market Value	Analyzing operational costs and target margins to set ideal pricing tiers.	Marketing language that justifies premium pricing and communicates value over cost.	Strategies for increasing Average Order Value (AOV) through packaging and upselling.
8	Calculating Customer LTV: The Metric that Justifies Any Marketing Cost	The formula for Lifetime Value (LTV); projections and financial forecasting using LTV.	Marketing strategies focused on retention, loyalty, and maximizing LTV (e.g., loyalty programs).	How to use LTV to determine the maximum amount you can afford to spend to acquire a customer.
9	When the Market Cries: Protect or Attack Your Budget?	Financial readiness and accessing capital during economic slowdowns.	Counter-cyclical marketing strategies; maintaining market presence when competitors pull back.	A checklist for prioritizing which budget items to protect or sacrifice during a downturn.
10	Future-Proofing Your Wallet: Budgeting for the AI Revolution	Budgeting for R&D and technological adoption; pilot project finance.	Exploring generative AI tools for content creation, optimization, and personalization.	How to test new, experimental marketing technologies without risking the entire budget.