Extracts from Philip Kotler and David Reibstein

                    Do companies still need marketing departments? And if they do, should they focus on the P of promotion (often the case) or be principally responsible for the three other Ps: product, price and place? Company CEOs often think about this question. They wonder whether the marketing department is of the right size and is carrying on the right functions, and whether it should be expanded, reduced or even eliminated.

             It’s hard to answer these questions without understanding how marketing departments came about in the first place. Marketing departments are a relatively recent organizational innovation, as companies started to establish them in the 1960s. Companies always had sales departments, and they also made use of outside ad agencies and marketing research firms. Then a number of leading companies, including Procter & Gamble and General Electric, set up small marketing groups primarily to help their sales forces get more leads and to help improve the company’s management of advertising and communications. Companies started to add brand managers to handle different brands, and these brand managers kept expanding the marketing department even further. Over time, other skilled employees were added to the marketing department, including pricing experts, sales promotion experts, market segment managers and category managers.

Key Takeaways

1. More companies know that they must add social media and Internet marketing skills to their marketing toolkits​.

2. Some companies have argued that marketing is too important to be left to marketers, and it should be everyone’s responsibility.

3. I argue that the power of the CMO is being eroded, and that the CMO title should be dropped and replaced by a new title: CCO, or chief customer officer.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this…

Nauman Jaffar