With silos come politics, finger-pointing, and lack of performance. In lieu of full integration of all functions, marketing can be an incredibly powerful integration function. The challenge is for marketers to come down from their sterile perches and jump in the mud with their sales and customer service teams.

I really like your reminder to smaller businesses. They’re the ones who can most quickly leverage (and execute on) the integration of skills across functions.

Sincerely,
Rob

I absolutely agree, but I frequently hear the counter-argument, “Well, I’m not technical…” Or, “I’m not this…” Or, “I’m not that…”

My retort, “You’re right and you’re not in touch with your market either.”

Granted, some products don’t lend themselves to use by a typical marketer. Grenade launchers come to mind. But…it shouldn’t stop marketers from going as deep as they can on their products.

Great point and thanks for bringing it up.

Regards,
Rob

May I add one more item to the list? Fix #3. Give marketers product training and insist that they use the product themselves.

Nobody sounds authentic plugging something they don’t understand and wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. A lot of B2B marketing sounds like that.

That thing about shitwork from highend players is all too true. I have a hair-raising story to tell about a famous tech company that I cannot share online. Yes, savor the suspense…

Love the quote from TOH and I agree with it. I’m usually a 3-quote guy and take the middle bid if all things are equal. Unfortunately, though, I’ve seen shitwork from high end players as well (like some lawyers and management consultants) who delegate to incompetent underlings, but still charge $400/hour.

Rob

There’s another dimension to this issue, however. Years ago I was reading an article in “This Old House” magazine about selecting a contractor and came across a line I’ll never forget: “If you hire a contractor based on the submission of the lowest bid, consider yourself a co-conspirator in the project’s failure.”

Now I’m not at all suggesting that this is what you did, Rob. But I have seen prospects conduct a race to the bottom — should they then be surprised they got subpar results from bottom-feeder work?

You raise a very important point: if the marketing organization is not aligned with corporate strategy, then its efforts are compromised. A recent study (http://www.fournaisegroup.com/Marketers-Lack-Credibility.asp?_fwaHound=13338182_12185_13338182_0_0_0_0) claimed that 73% of CEOs think marketers lack credibility. I wonder how many of those CEOs articulated strategic direction to not only their marketing teams, but to their entire organization. Maybe less than half. But it’s not just the CEO; what about the head of marketing? In a small organization, such as many non-profits, nobody fills that seat. In larger organizations, the CMOs and VPs of Marketing better step up. It’s time for a different mindset – on everyone’s part.

Rob

*swoon*

Alright, now back to business. When I worked as a marketing and development director at a nonprofit organization, I was often left out of strategy meetings — especially for programs and, surprisingly enough, new initiatives. I would ask buckets of questions about the program descriptions I was given. I was always told that I didn’t need to know so many details and informed that I was just to post the descriptions to the website. Marketing was undervalued — even though it is critical to help fill seats and raise money. So, my advice for the dear CEO is to both educate your marketing staff about your products and services and take the time to learn from your marketing staff as well. It’s true that you don’t need to be the best marketer in the world, but you do need to know enough to be able to identify one.

Here’s to the sensational pizzaiolo!