Like it or not, marketing does not command the respect it used to, back in “the good old days” of the 20th century. Execs continue to scratch their heads, looking for proof that marketing warrants the investment. Disagree? Just think about how many companies cut marketing budgets first before slashing anywhere else. Or how hard you have to argue when making a business case for the next new shiny object.
Clearly, we marketers have to return our passionate attention to what drives value for the corporation, and that means, what drives value for customers — as seen from the customer’s point of view.
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Seeking counsel on the future of customer value and growth, corporate executives have naturally turned to their senior advisors in marketing. Unfortunately, they have not been impressed with the caliber of insight they receive…. The sad truth is that marketing… simply does not have the insights, perspectives, and strategic directions to offer.
— High Performance Marketing: Bringing Method to the Madness of Marketing, by Naras Eechambadi.
Instead we get more and more specialized, fragmented, chaotic; we talk in obscure jargon or activity-based metrics that don’t make sense to senior execs. We’re at cross purposes with the C-suite. Execs demand accountability and want to see proof as measured in terms of “ROMI”: return on marketing investment.
The pursuit of ROMI requires that we take a more cohesive, planful and disciplined approach to everything we do, orchestrating ourselves and our activities to ensure they support corporate strategy and deliver meaningful value to our customers.
—Adapted from High Performance Marketing
There is no silver bullet. It’s going to take more than mastering social or content marketing.
It’s all about becoming expert at orchestrating value for our customers.
