Again I have been in middle of discussions where everyone has an opinion about marketing. Not only what should be done but as well what marketing is about. Personally classifying myself as marketing professional I was quickly voted out. Once someone has been earlier in a company which does marketing or has been involved on some level marketing decisions he becomes the source of knowledge.
If the same discussion had been held around manufacturing - very few would make bold statements how to operate a factory if has no actual competence from it. Manufacturing is too concrete and tangible so there is a danger that one gets caught afterwards from earlier opinions.
Marketing has these issues especially in companies which lack company wide understanding and prioritization how to benefit from marketing. Because marketing is treated as a second priority or as an afterthought to real business issues such as financial performance, it can never really benefit the company. Marketing decisions if those occur tend to be lame and lacking real investments leading to wasting money.
Marketing is like a dying patient in a room with people around him and one of them is a surgeon who knows how to save this patient. Surgeon is voted out with his opinions because other five people around the dying patient have same voting rights. Surgeon can just helplessly see how patient dies while others give their "professional" advise what should be done. Discussion can even lead to proposals from others that we should hire someone who really knows what to do. For some reason this surgeon cannot have this competence because he is already part of team, perceptions of someones out there who are real professionals excites people.
Who are these real marketing professionals for these internal opinion leaders? Perceptions drive opinions. We need to have someone from Coca Cola or Nestle. It does not matter that company is in service business. It does not matter that country level Coca Cola managers are executioners of global plans and do not hold responsibility to really innovate in marketing. Nor that these companies are not digitization leaders. Perception just drives over common sense. It is also the power of well known brands which is under estimated in these discussions about own company. "We don't need awareness to be successful".
Marketing can never escape this dilemma. While big share of company valuations are intangible bases and marketing is building intangible assets these two seem to never meet. Marketing is thought to be about opinions and perceptions. Best part is also that so big share of it are opinions. Best opinions get their life from insights and thinking differently. Best people have ideas and capability to deliver ideas to reality.
If the same discussion had been held around manufacturing - very few would make bold statements how to operate a factory if has no actual competence from it. Manufacturing is too concrete and tangible so there is a danger that one gets caught afterwards from earlier opinions.
Marketing has these issues especially in companies which lack company wide understanding and prioritization how to benefit from marketing. Because marketing is treated as a second priority or as an afterthought to real business issues such as financial performance, it can never really benefit the company. Marketing decisions if those occur tend to be lame and lacking real investments leading to wasting money.
Marketing is like a dying patient in a room with people around him and one of them is a surgeon who knows how to save this patient. Surgeon is voted out with his opinions because other five people around the dying patient have same voting rights. Surgeon can just helplessly see how patient dies while others give their "professional" advise what should be done. Discussion can even lead to proposals from others that we should hire someone who really knows what to do. For some reason this surgeon cannot have this competence because he is already part of team, perceptions of someones out there who are real professionals excites people.
Who are these real marketing professionals for these internal opinion leaders? Perceptions drive opinions. We need to have someone from Coca Cola or Nestle. It does not matter that company is in service business. It does not matter that country level Coca Cola managers are executioners of global plans and do not hold responsibility to really innovate in marketing. Nor that these companies are not digitization leaders. Perception just drives over common sense. It is also the power of well known brands which is under estimated in these discussions about own company. "We don't need awareness to be successful".
Marketing can never escape this dilemma. While big share of company valuations are intangible bases and marketing is building intangible assets these two seem to never meet. Marketing is thought to be about opinions and perceptions. Best part is also that so big share of it are opinions. Best opinions get their life from insights and thinking differently. Best people have ideas and capability to deliver ideas to reality.
I also believe that everyone can be professional as long as their is dedication and self discipline. I salute the author in writing this article. It was a job well done.
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