The main role of marketing in business: Glue

What is the main role of marketing in business? To Sarah Speake, CMO of Clear Channel, marketing’s main role in business is as your organisation’s glue.

Joining the ADBL for our latest marketing leaders panel discussion, in the on-demand video Sarah explains: “I see us [marketeers] as being very much the glue of our respective organisations.”

Watch the full, on-demand panel discussion to see Sarah’s explanation of why marketing needs to be the glue for your organisation. Plus, watch her’s and the rest of the panel’s predictions for the most in-demand skillsets of 2016.

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Marketing’s role as your organisation’s glue

“It has certainly become far more complicated, but actually the basic premises of marketing in my view have not changed at all.

“I think marketing and marketeers within that should absolutely still be the voice of the consumer, and equally internally I think we should maintain responsibility for driving culture and driving brand engagement, particularly for employees because I think all of us have a wealth of brand ambassadors at our finger tips within our respective organisations that we choose to use to amplify our messaging.

“Internally we increasingly need to be the glue as a direct impact of technology innovation and digital transformation.”

Marketing’s role in IT, procurement, HR, product, and more

“If I take IT for starters, where would we be without IT?

“Whether it’s CRM, enabling us to invest in much better strategic targeting of our existing and potential customer base. Or equally, in my sector as a media owner, enabling a level of inventory management that hitherto was far more manual, far more complex. So, IT are our biggest friends.

“Ditto procurement. We have a responsibility as marketing leaders to really drive corporate governance and cost efficiencies for our organisations. Whether that’s product, if we work in a product and service industry, or equally as basic as what we provide as merchandising for customers.

“HR I think are the forgotten internal friends in a way. I believe very firmly that as brand owners, marketeers should be responsible for attracting and retaining talent, and a big part of that is in enabling CSR programmes. I think marketing needs to be the glue there too.

“Product: one of the great original four P’s of marketing – that hasn’t changed. And ditto data.”

Watch the full, on-demand panel discussion to see Sarah’s explanation of why the main role of marketing in business is to be the glue for your organisation. Plus, watch her’s and the rest of the panel’s predictions for the most in-demand skillsets of 2016.

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