Page 13 - MYM 2015

needs to work well with the CEO and deliver on the CEO’s expectations in terms of company growth and pro tability.
A few CMOs are competent in all of these areas, while others are competent in only one or two. Unfortunately, too many may fail at all three, at which point it’s time for the CEO to nd a new CMO.
Overall, marketing departments have traditionally practiced such skills as marketing research, advertising, sales promotion and sales management. Scores of books have been written about each of these, and yet many departments are de cient and don’t possess all these skills. Additionally, many marketing department
staffers are unable to acquire new skills that they need in order to deal with the marketing challenges of the 21st century.
members may also need to brush up on new initiatives and new skills that make it easier to compete in today’s challenging marketing environment.
Here are some speci c skills that members of the marketing department need to make sure are part of the organizational structure:
• Positioning – Al Ries and Jack Trout introduced the central marketing concept of brand positioning in 1982. They asserted that a brand should own a single word or idea. For Volvo, that word is “safety,” while BMW owns “driving performance” and Tide owns “cleans cleanest.” They also argue that no brand should come into
Fixing or reorganizing a
“broken” or ineffective
marketing operation is
composed of several
steps. The rst is to
appoint a strong leader
who can meet the
challenge of gaining
the respect of the CEO,
the various department
heads and of employees
throughout the company.
This can happen if
marketing’s nancial forecasts are fairly accurate and there is accountability for the marketing expenditures in terms of the contribution to ROI or other nancial measures.
product variants and services. But someone also has to police the use to which such “star power” names are put. Any deviations from the positioning center of these brands must be avoided.
• Customer relationship management and database marketing – Companies can improve targeting precision by collecting data about individual customers and building a database of past transactions, demographics, psychographics and other useful information. Statisticians can then mine the data to uncover new customer segments and trends that point to new opportunities. Marketing Departments are adding software programs and marketing analytics to their skill
set. They are making more use of Facebook, Google, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media to reach customers. They are adding skills in storytelling, content development, social trend
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But more often than not, the marketing department’s primary focus should be on the company’s customers. Herb Kelleher, the brilliant co-founder of Southwest Airlines, went so far as to rename the carrier’s marketing department: “We don’t have a Marketing Department; we have a Customer Department.” A similarly enlightened executive at Ford Motor Co. once noted, “If we’re not customer driven, our cars won’t be either.”
Building new Marketing Skills
Having a strong leader is just the beginning as far as reorganizing the marketing department, whose
Most companies don’t have the capabilities to assess their real pro tability
the market as second in the category, but should offer an important new benefit to eventually create a new category.
• Brand asset management – This concept is closely related to positioning since certain brands are central to a company’s current and future performance. They need to be managed, enhanced and protected as assets. This allows brand names like Coca- Cola, Sony, Intel and Disney to extend into new product categories,
marketing