During the last years, the Marketing manager’s role has eroded. Today the CMO is more often out of the management team than in. And that’s odd since marketing drives growth and revenues, and what can be more important for a company?
One reason for this is that the marketing function today in many cases is seen as marketing communication. Marketing communication is important (I’m a true believer…) but other aspects of the marketing mix are equally, or even more, important for growth and revenues. So, what happened to three of Kotlers’ 4 Ps? And why do many marketers have the wrong image of what marketing is and should do? In fact, 68% of marketing managers can not recall the 4 Ps according to a study by Australian ADMA.
But let’s start with Kotlers’ definition of marketing: “Marketing is the process by which companies engage customers, build strong customer relationships and create customer value in order to capture value from customers in return”.
I’m not writing this to give a lecture, more to emphasis that marketing is not demand generation, funnels and ROI – it’s a strategic mindset and involves much more than advertising. It’s a strategy to understand customer’s needs and to fulfil them through the right product at the right price made available through the right channels. And then promoted through advertising and other promotion channels.
In B2B it always starts with the right product, solving a challenge for customers and superior to competitor’s products in aspects important for the customer. Many Swedish products are. We have a heritage of inventions that far larger countries envy us for – from the Alfa Laval separators and Munters dehumidifiers over mobile phones and Bluetooth from Ericsson to today’s tech solutions from Spotify and Klarna. They all have one thing in common – they have been created to fulfil a customer need that no one has seen or fulfilled.
Based on this core, there are many ways to differentiate and increase customer value, even more ways to work strategically and creatively with pricing, and of course many ways to reach potential customers. In this process, the CMO plays a crucial role by understanding customers and customer needs, creating a strong and profitable offer that can be promoted.
One brilliant example is Klarna. In the hype of e-commerce, Klarna understood that a huge barrier for the consumer was to pay upfront for something they hadn’t seen. A physical invoice delivered with the product became the solution that boosted e-commerce and 20 years later helped making Klarna a 20 billion USD company.
So, understanding customers and their drivers is the most important thing a CMO can contribute with. If we get that right, the rest is more hard work mixed with creativity, and knowing how to use proven principles.
This is one reason I started to publish “100 insights for more effective marketing”. I have now reached the 50 mark, but there is no lack of insights that can improve success and profitability for most companies.
If you want to have a discussion, just reach out to ulf@sfinxconsulting.se
