Marketing – is it up to the challenge?

MARKETING someone once told me is all fluff and bubbles.

A happy bunny land where sharp ties and expensive cufflinks, top totty and obnoxious laughs live in harmony.

Where bottles of Moet are permanently on ice and visionary branding strategies are but an email away.

Writers and satirists have long been drawn to its vanity but no matter. Those that walk down its designer corridors remain legends in their own lifetime. After all they are the protectors and creators of brand, the generator of sales and leads, and the smoke and mirrors in a crisis.

In times of economic turbulence past, marketing budgets have been the first casualties of war – slashed and burned long before the invaders reach the gate. In recent years however such short-sightedness has been replaced by a better understanding of marketing is – and what it actually does.

Although anecdotal evidence suggests that some PR firms may be feeling the pinch as a result of the recession, business leaders are increasingly looking to their marketing departments for an antidote to the current financial malaise.
Recent research by business advisory firm Deloitte shows that chief executives are increasingly placing their faith in marketing above all other drivers to help shape strategy and drive growth.

According to its findings more than 80% of CEOs identified marketing as a key driver of growth while 85% identified it as crucial to devising corporate strategy.
For Malcolm Wilkinson, head of Deloitte’s marketing effectiveness team, marketers should be heartened by the vote of confidence.

“As market conditions deteriorate growth is like gold dust. Our research has found that organisations believe that marketing is the driver of growth through its role as a generator of demand. It is now up to marketing to rise to the challenge.

“There is a once in a lifetime opportunity for marketing to step up to the challenge and prove itself as being integral to business growth. That marketing is fundamental to organisational growth is understood, but to deliver that growth marketing needs to be effective.”

However, years of mistrust and confusion over its value has left its mark. For Deloitte’s research also shows that marketing professionals don’t share the same confidence in their own abilities with only 20% believing that marketing in their organisation is truly effective.

“The irony here is that executives are saying in the same breath that marketing is fundamental to growth but are also looking to cut marketing budgets in this challenging trading period,” explains Wilkinson.

“We believe it is the failure of marketers to demonstrate effectiveness that ultimately leads to an inability to defend marketing budgets. That marketing budgets are viewed as expendable when it is almost universally accepted that marketing is responsible for generating demand highlights an inherent contradiction and a lack of clarity around its role and value.”

Only 12% of senior marketers strongly agreed that the role of the marketing function was clearly articulated within their organisation. And of the same set of respondents only 20% strongly agreed that the roles and responsibilities of the marketing department were well defined.

It seems that injuries suffered from defending budgets from cynical CFOs are mainly to blame for the low self-esteem. But as Wilkinson points out, marketing can only move to the centre of the business if lines of communication are opened and improved.

“Marketing can become central to business if it can live up to its own billing. You can’t expect an organisation to articulate itself when the marketing function cannot articulate its own role.”

“It will need to do more to convince finance professionals through a shared understanding of marketing measures that are clearly linked to strategy. The marketer must present the value created in terms that the finance function can understand. Only 16% of respondents said that their marketing function is able to communicate its needs to other operational areas. It is clear from our research that marketing is not taking up this challenge – it only has itself to blame.”

For many firms however that battle has already been won and awarded its own memorial day. According to Matthew Buckley, consumer marketing manager of Leeds-based agency Purebrand companies are increasingly turning to marketing to compete for competitive or shrinking markets.

“The main thing is to keep momentum particularly for small firms,” he advises.
“But having the confidence to back up what you want to tell people is vital. How you promote the brand is another key consideration.”

Like other marketing professionals, Buckley predicts that the internet will play an increasingly complex role in modern day marketing campaigns. But understanding how to reach the end user will still take priority.

“For example, more and more people do their research on the internet but it does not necessarily mean they’ll buy that product online. Understanding consumer behaviour will shape any marketing campaign.”

Mike Hackett of fellow Leeds-based advertising agency Principles agrees that having a clear understanding of who is being targeted and why is essential.

“For marketing to be successful there has to be a clear strategy,” he says.

“But you also have to be able to tell whether what you are doing is working or not. Times like these means that your pound has to work harder than ever before. Marketing today is all about value for money.”

Although marketing does still like to sip the occassional glass of bubbly, finding the time is proving a challenge.

“Twenty years ago marketing was like one long party,” admits one seasoned professional.

“Those days are gone. Marketing is as sober as the finance function. It has to be.”