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What job should marketing get done in a company?
That's the first question I ask every guest on my podcast. And I'm thankful I don't have to answer it. Until now.
My uncle was sitting beside me on the beach, curious about my podcast, I shared that the focus was on marketing fundamentals, like the first question. And that's when he returned the question to me, and I flopped for an answer. Here's a more articulate reply (hopefully):
The job of marketing is to increase revenue by generating progress for the customer and organization through strategy, decision making, and execution.
To return to the beach (please), my poor answer to my uncle was change: Marketing helps create change for the customer and organization. His pushback was that change is ambiguous and can mean different things to different people. Fair point.
That's why I upgraded to progress. At the core of progress is change from a lower state to a higher state. If I do marketing for Peleton, the goal is to help the customer make progress with their health (and self-image). Luckily (ironically), their products can help you.
I also believe it's the job of marketing to create positive change (progress) inside the organization. This is by helping define which markets to play in and how to win in those markets (strategy), as well as seeing future trends and creating efficiencies for the organization (i.e., innovation). An example is leading the charge on how your organization can use Generative AI.
My uncle pushed back on this and stated how not everyone views progress (or innovation) as a positive. That's true. Some think the status quo or predictable routine is better or that innovation and progress brings more problems. Sometimes it does. To counter this, I believe most people are trying to improve. That's progress.
Progress as a civilization, though, is a conversation for a different essay. That can be debatable. For this, let's imagine your customer wants to make progress in their life. They want to be better somehow, and your company intersects with that (or should).
Now, this is likely leaning more toward the strategic side, and sadly, that's what most marketers DON'T actually get to do. Most are order takers. Non-marketing positions make most strategic marketing decisions. This results in much bad marketing (which I discuss further below). From an execution standpoint only, marketing likely has a different (primary) job:
Generate differentiated, creative, and result-orientated content, design, and messaging that increases revenue by helping the customer make progress.
The job of marketing is to increase revenue by generating progress for the customer and organization through strategy, decision making, and execution.
While slightly different, the first is a better focus. Yes, creative and effective execution of marketing campaigns is vital. I believe it's a secondary focus, however. As marketers, we should strive to think strategically first and then how to generate a differentiated execution.
This provides you a more encompassing perspective, allowing you to see where the future could go. You deeply understand the jobs or progress your product or service unlocks for your customer and see where that may change. Once you have that, you can deploy it through your marketing efforts. And that leads to how you can easily sniff out good and bad marketing.
Another question I asked on Season 1 of my podcast was, "How do you define good and bad marketing?" While some answers led to unproductive paths, it was often intriguing to see how the guest tied their evaluation of other marketing through their definition.
To continue with my definition and the last section on execution, good marketing targets a specific person's progress. It educates or entertains someone to enable specific progress. It's customer(and progress)-focused.