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LEADS TO NOWHERE. Throughout the survey we asked questions about marketing and sales performance, importance to the company, and effectiveness of collaboration efforts. We also asked a simple question about the ultimate purpose of marketing, and this is where we found the key to interpreting the data. Some of the answers to the question of marketing's purpose were strategic (e.g. Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value), others were tactical (e.g. Lead Generation).
It was not the general response to this one question about the purpose of marketing that surprised us (generating leads was at the front of most respondents' minds), but how the responses broke down among different segments -- and more important, how they combined with other segmented responses about the importance of marketing to the success of the company, and the ranking of effective tools and barriers. What we found was fragmentation: zero consensus across department and hierarchical divisions about what marketing is supposed to accomplish, and how its success should be measured.
This does not appear to be caused by a lack of knowledge or conviction -- indeed there is an overwhelmingly strong response regarding the value of marketing, it's just that no one appears to agree on what exactly marketing is supposed to do.
THICKET OF QUESTIONS. And this brings us full circle, right back to the big and obvious picture: No one agrees on what exactly marketing is supposed to do in an organization. How can you build an effective team if everyone thinks they are supposed to be heading in a different direction? How can you collaborate effectively -- even with the best business processes -- if you can't agree on what you're collaborating to achieve? And where is the leadership in all of this? Where is the guy carrying the compass?
According to our data, the leaders don't believe that exerting pressure from above is an effective tool. We would encourage them to think again. Their employees want strong leadership, and they need a strong definition of the role and purpose of marketing so they can leverage the tools they already have at their disposal -- teamwork rather than new software -- and get on with building the business.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be exploring more ideas and opinions about this lack of direction in marketing, and where companies can find it. In the meantime, there's a lot more information in our survey report, which you're welcome to download for free from my Web site.
Christopher Kenton is president of the marketing agency Cymbic. He can be reached at ckenton@cymbic.com
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