effectiveness has hit the marketing press again. Deloittes have
done a global survey and Marketing published the findings last week. It is a
great survey based on authoritative opinions of 217 C level executives mainly
CEOs, CMOs, and CFOs.
two papers in co-operation with The Marketing
Forum. These were based on survey
findings from over 500 senior executives across all the business functions. One
paper was about marketing influence and the other about the future of marketing
as a business function.
papers click
here
reading both 1998 and the 2008 papers I noticed that Marketing is now more
central to strategy for the CEO.
Now 81% of CEO’s see marketing as a key driver of
growth "the chief executive is much more open to talking about
marketing these days" CMO 2008
However
what has not changed is that marketing teams remain
detached from the rest of the business and
often do not own the customer agenda within the business.
In 2008 – 77% of C-level respondents believe their employees do
not fully appreciate the value of marketing "I worry that I am seen
as too specialised compared with my peers in other functions" CMO
2008
In 1998 we found marketers do not
communicate well with the rest of the business and are often
seen as specialists who spend a lot of time talking to each other and their
agencies but not enough time engaging with their own business. Our report
identified three characteristics of typical marketers that help to explain
this
- Marketers lack breadth and are
conspicuously more loyal to their own professional development rather than
broadening their career within the company - Marketers tend to be highly creative and
analytical. These strengths quite often go with weaker people
and team player skills - Colleagues in other functions have much better
people and influencing skills and this helps them exert more
influence within the business.
Our conclusion in 1998
was
The
marketing profession was optimistic about its future. The rest
of the business wants it to succeed. The role of marketing is to champion the
cause of the customer throughout the business and ensure the business meets the
needs of the customer in a profitable manner. In many ways marketers are well
equipped to do this. The have the respect of the business for their creativity,
intelligence, technical skills, energy and drive.
BUT
Marketing teams must develop new skills
and operate in some different ways if they are to deliver this
role in an effective manner. It is essential that marketing earns the respect
of the business so that the whole business becomes market led. The key to this
would seem to lie in new communication skills and having robust tools for
identifying opportunities, analysis and measurement. Without this the creative
brilliance and smart analysis will lose its impact.
Since then, we have
found that marketing teams who do spend more time working cross functionally and
engage the whole business in their plans end up with much greater influence, are
more highly regarded and create stronger top line growth.
Growth Game. Our whole approach is designed to
overcome these issues
report click
here
It is also instructive to examine Deloittes
conclusions in 2008
- There is often a misalignment about the role of marketing amongst board
members - CEOs must help the CMO to align the organisation around growth
- The role of marketing is often misunderstood
- Marketers need to broaden their commercial skills to play an increasingly
strategic role in organisations - The focus on marketing measures is intensifying
here
at our marketing influence programme. This works with the
marketing team and includes a 360 degree department feedback. This programme
encourages the team to think about why they should view the rest of the business
as their customers, how this will help them achieve their goals, where they need
to improve their communication skills and how to engage other colleagues to
accomplish this.
here