Improving marketing performance means reaching beyond the obvious tactical fixes - such as employing more, smarter marketeers, implementing a raft of better (expensive) marketing technology or asking everybody else in the organisation to read Kotler.
Systemic problems are best solved by attending to the root causes.
Companies that want to improve marketing performance need to address two underlying issues:
Marketing was once an art, is increasingly becoming a science but now needs to become a business discipline
The end-end marketing process crosses most function and organisation boundaries. Yet in many organisations this critical process is ill-defined and characterised by unstructured practices and poor coordination.
To become respected as a valued business discipline, Marketing must first demonstrate its professionalism, expertise and contribution - by improving the performance of the company's overall marketing process.
It takes the whole organisation to win and keep the right customers
Everything anybody in your organisation says or does has an impact on your company's marketing success. Yet in most firms, the overall marketing process is poorly understood, both by other function heads and employees at large.
To ensure the rest of the organisation makes the right contribution to marketing success, Marketing must first improve the organisation's perception - of marketing.
