**When educating up, show examples and evidence.** Use logic! Source authority outside yourself! Link a reputable publication that makes your point. Say you're advocating for a bigger creative budget. If management's operationally minded, reference that [McKinsey's proven the thesis](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-design/our-insights/the-business-value-of-design?ref=content-technologist.com) that design-driven companies increase their revenues and shareholder returns at nearly twice the rate of their industry counterparts. They did the research so your job is to gather the data for your story: Good creative enables efficiency. Sure, there are also moments where you don't have data or need data that's custom to your business. Or, you're starting a new relationship with a company and don't yet know the context to interpret historical data. In those cases, [I conduct my own research](https://www.content-technologist.com/content-research-framework/) and rely on analyst-minded growth marketing teammates so I have data to point back to.  **Bring it back to the money.** Whether advocating for an idea or giving notes on a piece of content, lead your feedback with the business rationale. Link back to documented strategy. Remind your colleagues that you’re thinking from the lens of what brings your target audience the most value. That pressure tests the validity of your own feedback as well. For me, business-forward communication validates the larger, ongoing pursuit to document strategy, audience, tactics, and how they’ve evolved. Keeping a documented content and brand strategy is crucial for those moments when c-suite comes to me with an idea that we didn't allocate resources to. In those situations, I can say, “Hey, here's what we have going on. Here's the strategy that we've aligned on. Here’s how we expect it to perform and on what timeline. And here’s all the motions we've outlined to get there.” From there, I propose that if we plan to add something new to the mix, we should try a pilot version so we work within the margins of our available bandwidth before going all in.