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The CEO and CMO often disagree about the role of marketing. Is it because they talk interchangeably, they say "marketing" but they mean different things?
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"Marketing is everything and everything is marketing."
This is an objective fact about the current economic landscape, and the title of Regis McKenna's 1991 book (and HBR article) is remarkably apt and still very relevant more than 30 years later.
But if everything is really marketing, what then is “marketing”? At a time when many CEOs and CFOs question the business relevance of marketing in general and CMOs in particular, is it worth considering what they ask and what they hear by “marketing”? Does your definition match that of your CMO?
Turns out that's probably not the case.
According to a recent McKinsey survey, "CEOs and CMOs don't always agree about the key role of marketing in their companies." The survey found that only 50% of CEOs and CMOs at the same company view this role in the same way. .
While this data is not new to industry CMOs, it raises questions about why this is the case and raises suspicions that CMOs and CEOs, who rarely come from the ranks of marketers, use synonymous terms when They talk about the same thing. (“Marketing”) but it means something different. This is 100% bad.
It's "What is marketing?" » Easy to ask. It may seem useful to ask whether our standard assumptions and definitions are always true. Particularly in a time of seismic change, the last decade has been a turning point for both marketing and marketing bosses.
So what is marketing? And how do marketers determine this?
According to the American Marketing Association, whose definition was codified in 2017:
“Marketing is the set of activities, organizations and processes to create, communicate, deliver and exchange value propositions for customers, partners and society. »
I don't know what that means; The definition is complicated (perhaps confusing) but not clear. If the professional group, which calls itself the "essential community for marketers," defines the practice this way, perhaps it's no surprise that many CMOs and CEOs disagree.
Webster's Dictionary is much closer than the AMA and says succinctly that marketing is:
“The activity or trade of promotion and sale of goods or services. "
But after his death in 1843, Mr. Webster no longer had a need to advertise or sell in today's business environment. Wondering again what might change and what would stay, I asked a small group of CMOs from diverse backgrounds how they defined marketing.
Perhaps surprisingly (and certainly reassuring) their responses were largely consistent and, although the wording used varied, a common theme emerged in their responses:
Marketing is about creating and satisfying consumer demand to drive business growth. While this is my summary of what was presented in this unscientific study, here is how nine leading CMOs define "marketing" in their own words, presented in alphabetical order (Note: some quotes have been lightly edited for brevity):
- “Marketing is about creating demand and capturing it... (it's) similar to running a campaign. (People) “vote” when they use our services: Every day is Election Day ~ Jonathan Adashek, Director of Marketing and Communications, IBM
- “[Marketing is] a deep understanding of customers and using that knowledge and empathy to create better products to solve their problems, as well as more impactful campaigns that drive better conversions, ultimately leading to growth and success.” progressive commitment. » ~ Kofi Amau-Gottfried, Chief Marketing Officer, DoorDash
- “Connect with the needs and wants of your target audience and convince them that your brand is best for them. » ~ Eugenia Blackstone, Marketing Director, Iris Powered Generali
- “(Marketing) is an important part of a company's growth strategy. “Marketing drives sales through deep understanding of customers, building reputation and trust in brands, and acquiring, retaining and retaining customers. » ~ Lara Hood Balazs, executive vice president, general manager and chief marketing officer, Intuit
- “(In marketing terms) growth; Influencing our audiences to choose our products and services is at the core of our work and involves both art and science. » ~ Soyeon Kang, Marketing Director, EOS Products
- “Marketing is the organization of your target audience's presence, engagement, interaction and experience with your product/brand, creating a set of thoughts and feelings about your product/brand that influence their purchasing decisions. » ~ Janet Lee, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung Electronics America
- "(Marketing is) the art and science of deeply understanding your audience and how your brand can uniquely solve that problem, then interacting with that audience and engaging with your solution in a way that motivates them to adopt or purchase it" . ~ Mickey Onurwal, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, TIAA
- “Marketing is the art and science of getting people interested in your business and everything you sell. Marketing accelerates brand interest and growth by being the voice of the customer to the company and the voice of the company to the customer. » ~ Dara Treseder, Marketing Director, Autodesk
- “The job of marketing is to create demand, build customer loyalty and strengthen the brand. » ~ William White, Chief Marketing Officer, Walmart
Bien que les points communs entre ces petits groupes mentionnés ci-dessus soient encouragés, ce qui est more important que n'importe quelle définition unique est que les directeurs marketing et leurs collègues de la haute direction se réunissent et partagent une définition commune, quelle qu 'she be. When we use synonyms, we use the same word but without knowing it we refer to different things, we believe that we are communicating when in reality we are not.
Without a common definition and starting point, overall success is much less likely to be achieved. Because, as Lewis Carroll wrote, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." »
(Let me know in the comments how you view and define "marketing." Are there any significant disagreements? Do you think nuances and distinctions make a big difference?)
