Putting marketing back on the CEO’s agenda (1)

Every business or institution does marketing either consciously or unconsciously. The more conscious it is, the better, as marketing largely defines an entity’s success in the marketplace.

Philip Kotler, one of the gurus of marketing in our time, defines marketing as the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. 

The profit in the definition may be financial or non-financial as entities such as NGOs, government entities and churches may not seek financial benefits but will still need to understand and practise marketing. Marketing, therefore, constitutes a set of practices designed to plan for and present an organisation’s products or service in ways that deliver value for target audience and build effective customer relationships.

Marketing should ideally be the darling of company senior executives due to the essential role it plays in a firm’s  profitability. Marketing teams are sometimes criticised for their inability to present compelling evidence of the effectiveness of the huge sums firms direct to company marketing activities. 

This perceived lack of accountability coupled with the changing economic landscape present some challenges for viewing marketing as a strategic imperative. This article presents some important arguments for re-elevating marketing to the strategic agenda of firms operating in Ghana.

Road map

According to marketing scholars such as Bo Edvardsson, Keininigham and Gruber, there are four main issues that need to be flagged and appropriately dealt with before marketing can re-assume its place on the CEO’s agenda. 

These issues are CMO’s role clarification; lack of accountability; digital and social media obsession; and lack of strategic vision and impact.  These issues will be discussed with respect to the actions marketers and CMOs must engage in to put marketing back on the CEO’s agenda.

Role of Chief Marketing Officer 

According to some marketing scholars, chief marketing officers  (CMOs) are becoming jack of all trades, and perhaps the master of none. Quite often, CMOs are “loaded” with everything believed to be ‘customer related’. 

This reduces the focus on developing strategic visions for the company due to the sheer load of tasks on the CMOs; leading to frustration which often results in high turnover. CMOs should focus on managing their core functions of developing strategic marketing visions for the company and to exercise core responsibility for all marketing activities. Also, the organisational structure of marketing departments must change to move away from formal, top down, hierarchical structures, which are bureaucratic, to flat, more flexible, open system structures that encourage innovation.

Due to increased competition across several sectors of Ghana, the ability of the CMO to understand the dynamics of their competitive environments will immensely improve their chances of success in the marketplace. 

Time horizons continue to become more compressed and the pace of change is accelerating in most markets. There is the need for CMOs to deliver products and services to the marketplace with the speed of light.  

Time is of great essence in the current marketplace; and consequently it is the ability of the firm to enjoy the first mover advantage of its innovations that counts and not just mere introduction of products and services. 

Customers are generally becoming more demanding as their expectations of quality, reliability and durability grow constantly. This increasing customer sophistication stems partly from a better knowledge largely brought about by developments in communications and IT. 

The marketing challenge of the CMO is to explore ways of becoming closer to the consumer through these new developments in communication. Adding to the sophistication of customers is the readily available information of almost all products and services, prices and where to get the best value. 

Customers quickly share information of best deals everywhere through what has become their best companion; the smart phone.

In the light of all the issues I have raised, the CMO is also faced with market maturity, characterised by overcapacity and exacerbated by current recessionary forces. Margins are being driven down, calling for greater operational efficiencies and “value for money”. 

Marketing budgets are being slashed as a way of cutting down on expenditure. The emphasis should be on customer retention. Remember that it will cost five times more to attract a new customer than to keep one. 

The marketing challenge is how to create and stimulate new-to-the-marketplace demand, rather than be satisfied simply by competing purely on a market-share basis.

New middle class

There is a also a growing new middle class, especially in developing economies, and they are highly aspirational and idealistic and have an appetite for products and services previously almost exclusively only within the reach of their affluent counterparts. 

Their cumulative purchasing power has gradually surpassed that of the few within the upper class which makes such markets highly profitable though very sophisticated due to their taste and preferences. 

According to a study done in some African countries recently, the middle-class consumer was deemed to be spending substantial amounts of money on electronics, household appliances, as well as motor vehicles in their bid to keep up with their status in the global environment. 

They are unique and require tailored marketing strategies to address their needs and wants. This is where the strategic leadership of the CMO becomes relevant.

Let me close this session on the importance of CMOs in getting marketing back on the CEO’s agenda by falling on Philip Kotler who advances some tips on how to make CMOs more successful in their organisational roles. He argues firstly that organisational mission and responsibilities must be clear. 

The CMO must fit his role to the marketing culture and structure and he/she must be compatible with the CEO. The CMO must also must also know how to make line managers marketing heroes and how to employ right-brain and left-brain skills.

In the next instalment of this series, we will delve inter alia into issues of marketing accountability. 

— The writer  is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and Customer Management at the University of Ghana Business School and writes for the Centre for Sustainability and Enterprise Development (CSED), a training, research and advocacy centre  with speciality in marketing; communications, sustainability and social responsibility. 

 csed@ug.edu.gh