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The Role and Value of the Marketing Function

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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands

The Role and Value of the Marketing Function

No doubt, marketing capabilities are strong drivers of firm performance. But HOW can marketing as a function contribute to company growth and success? And what FORMS OF VALUE does it actually generate?
These questions seem simple, but they have many aspects. Rodriquez-Vila et al. recently came up with a nice, practical framework to help address these questions in a structured way and to guide the discussion on the role marketing plays now and should be playing in the future.
They suggest to split up the value proposition / contribution of marketing in the following way:

  1. VALUE FOR THE CUSTOMER
    In the effort to attract, acquire, and retain customers, a marketing organization creates value for them in three areas:
    • ENGAGEMENT VALUE
      This results from broadening the brand meaning and strengthening customer relationships.
      Facilitates expansion by:
      • building purpose and communities
      • optimizing connections
      • designing stories
    • EXPERIENCE VALUE
      This results from increasing convenience and enjoyment across the customer journey.
      Facilitates retention by:
      • augmenting value
      • improving journey orchestration
      • enhancing offering design
    • EXCHANGE VALUE
      This results from matching offerings to individual customer needs and context.
      Facilitates transactions by:
      • boosting conversion
      • increasing personalization
      • improving production
  2. VALUE FOR THE COMPANY
    The marketing function contributes to company growth and success by generating internal value for a company in three areas:
    • STRATEGIC VALUE
      This results from leveraging data and analytics to generate customer and market insights.
      Helps optimize marketing decisions by:
      • enhancing data creation and management
      • leveraging market and customer intelligence
      • advancing marketing analytics
    • OPERATIONAL VALUE
      This results from identifying growth opportunities that can be connected to current offerings.
      Helps develop new offerings and business models by:
      • discovering growth opportunites
      • building platforms
      • leveraging assets
    • KNOWLEDGE VALUE
      This results from improving organizational agility, collaboration, and talent development.
      Helps strengthen operating effectiveness by:
      • improving talent management
      • enhancing organizational links
      • strengthening execution methods and technology
The elegant and thoughtful framework is worked out even further into an astounding 18 x 4 = 72 marketing capabilities. It can be applied to analyze and take action on the gap between the existing (current) capabilities and desired (future) capabilities of any major marketing organization. The authors also provide a digital marketing capabilities benchmark tool to get started.

Source: Omar Rodriguez-Vilá, Sundar Bharadwaj, Neil A. Morgan and Shubu Mitra. "Is your Marketing Organization Ready for What's Next?", HBR Nov-Dec 2020, pp. 104-113
 

Rating

 
6
Gautam Mahajan
CEO, India
 

What is Value

Some thoughts about value of marketing or value in general really. The definition of value in t... Sign up

 
2
Giovanni Simeone
CEO, Italy
 

Value for the Customer

Brilliant contribution. However, according to my experience, I would slightly modify the Marketing ... Sign up

 
2
Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
 

Exchange Value is Missing

@Giovanni Simeone: Thank you for your interesting comment. - What made you decide to not keep the c... Sign up

 
2
Naila Hameed
Financial Consultant, Pakistan
 

Goodwill, Reputation and Steady Cash Flows

Importantly, the marketing function also creates a strong and positive perception, goodwill, image a... Sign up

 
1
Helen Strong
Business Consultant, South Africa
 

Essential to Have Alignment and Integration

For me the value of marketing lies in the way in which it ensures alignment of corporate activities ... Sign up

 

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More on Marketing and Sales:
Methods, Models and Theories
Discussion Topics
topic Implementation of Marketing Strategy
topic Marketing Plan - Key Elements?
topic Strategic Marketing versus Marketing Strategy?
topic The Future of Marketing
topic Why is Marketing Hard? 50 Reasons
topic What is Marketing? (Kotler)
topic Are Monopoly Industries Unaffected by Marketing?
topic Marketing a Company in Decline
topic Common Marketing Strategy Mistakes?
topic Effect of Culture on Marketing Plan
topic Strategic vs Operational Marketing
topic What is Green Marketing? Definitions
topic Do Big Companies Depend Too Much on Marketing, Finance, Lobbying and Tax Rules?
topic Marketing Ethics
🔥 Authentic and Transparent Marketing
topic Tips for Preparing a Business Plan
topic Radical Marketing Approach
👀The Role and Value of the Marketing Function
topic Marketing Communications
topic Signs of Marketing Weaknesses
topic Is Marketing Management an Art or a Science?
topic What is More Important? Sales Volume or After Sales Service?
topic Marketing Tactics Must be Dynamic
topic What is Social Media Marketing?
topic From a Sales-driven Into a Marketing-driven Company
topic Holistic Marketing
topic What is Lean Marketing? Definitions
topic What is Neuromarketing? Definitions
topic Emergence and Acceleration of the Marketing Profession
topic Hard and Soft Marketing Styles 😜
topic Impact of Internet on Marketing
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