The CEO's marketing problems: part 3

All too often, a company's marketing organisation is equipped with the wrong skills.

There are dozens of different areas of marketing today that require specific skills. On the other hand, a company can also benefit from having a more holistic and generic set of marketing skills, especially at the most senior level. However, a surprisingly common problem at CEO level is that the marketing skills in the company are not necessarily bad, but completely wrong from a business perspective.

Few conversion hustlers become content marketers, or vice versa. Sales support marketers do not necessarily turn overnight into strategic marketers who create the direction for the company's marketing. The business may be crying out for brand development, but the company's marketers simply aren't up to it. In addition, it is good to understand that buying the right service also requires expertise. Many businesses can waste money just by going out and buying the wrong things, from the wrong places or with the wrong brief.

A very common problem arising from this challenge is where the groundwork for marketing objectives is not done well enough. The marketing organisation then lacks someone who can gather sufficient customer insight and marketing ends up doing whatever comes into anyone's (usually sales) head. This is also a common root cause of why marketing is not highly valued in all organisations. The wrong things are done when there is no one with the skills to guide you on the right path.

There is not one or two marketing audits I have done that have concluded that the marketing organisation's skills do not match the business challenges of the company. Often it is pointless to try to twist this competence into something else, or at least it requires a long-suffering management team.

The natural reaction and hope of management may be to ask whether, after all, a little reorganisation could shake up the current team by reshaping the right roles. Unfortunately, that too is usually a difficult and long road. Some marketers have to take on a wide range of roles, but as in other activities, it is rare to get a sufficient level up in what you do just by changing the role and job content of the person. Especially if there are a lot of these people.

So CEO: find out if the marketing function in your organisation has the right people solving the right kinds of problems. Of course, if you have a good marketing manager, the answer should already come from there. If you doubt this answer, I recommend taking a closer look at the skills of different marketers to see if those skills can build the growth you need or otherwise solve business challenges.

Marketing that supports business and builds growth starts with the right talent.