Marketing.

In today's world it's a blend of content creation and communications, lead generation and public relations. To be successful, the necessary skill set is equal parts imagination and analytical interpretation.  Marketing Gurus, Ninjas and Mavens know all too well the challenges of balancing the requests of Sales with the priorities assigned by the CEO, of the realities handed down by the CFO and the limitations addressed through the CIO.  We will discuss some of these relationships in subsequent posts in this series.

The first thing that came to mind as I started to develop Building Better Bridges was a rather popular meme that made the rounds on Social Media in recent years.  The meme perfectly depicts perception vs. realty, ultimately ending on what the person in question really does.  But for the purpose of continued professional growth, perhaps it’s important to evaluate not what you really do but instead what your position and/or department needs to do.  I give you: The Marketing Executive. 

Let’s review.

• We’re all too guilty of telling the CFO, “it takes money to make money” when requesting a budget for a campaign or new idea of epic proportions.  But where are we tracking the successes and failures?  How do we know we are appropriately allocating time and resources? 
• There’s the never-ending battle between Sales and Marketing, the two teams who often need to be the most closely aligned within their organization.  The featured image above goes two ways and could easily be inserted when asked “What does Marketing think I do?” of a Sales Executive.  How are these two teams sharing ideas and collaborating seamlessly?  What can be done to communicate effectively, in the office and on the road?
• While Marketing focuses on return and reward, the CIO remains ever vigilant over cost and risk.  This department, likely more than any other, must balance a long list of requests all viewed as THE #1 priority.  How can Marketing become an effective partner rather than just another bossy voice?  What can be done to increase adoption so that technology projects don’t quickly fall into forgotten failures?
• Social Media, Internal Communications, Press Releases, Brand and Positioning, Market Analysis – it’s all in there, too.  How can Marketing spark interest and drive positive results without getting lost in the crowd of mass emails and memos? 

When “I’m a Marketing Executive” earns a “yes, but what do you DO?” response, the standard reply is “lead generation”.  But more and more, Marketing can be the bridge.  Earning instead of costing.  Filling the pipeline with quality over quantity.  Leading adoption and managing projects.  Cutting through the noise, not just increasing the volume.

Stay tuned to the C5 Insight Blog for Building Better Bridges, a series to shed light on how we can all work together better to accomplish these objectives.  Have a story that might help others?  I welcome the chance to share it (with credit to you and your company, of course) – just send me an email. 

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