There is an unseen problem between marketing and business leadership. Welcome to The Marketing Accelerator Podcast...featuring three insights in about three minutes. I'm Drew Dinkelacker. After 100 informational interviews for this podcast, I kept hearing the same message from marketing executives: Business leadership doesn't understand marketing. And yet when I've spoken to business leaders, they share a common perspective with me as well: Marketing leadership doesn't understand business. There is clearly a chasm in understanding between business and marketing leaders. I call it the Marketing Gap. If you lead a business, here are three red flags you should be aware of.
Number one, if you say to yourself, "I don't understand why we are doing what we are doing in marketing," that is a strategic red flag. Another is more of an efficiency question like, "I don't know what I'm getting for the marketing expense." And finally, if you find yourself saying, "Whatever marketing is doing, it's not moving the needle," then that is an effectiveness red flag.
All three of these questions indicate some form of a Marketing Gap. Business leaders experiencing the Marketing Gap tend to respond to this situation in kind of this order. First, they change the marketing budget. They increase it to find out if more budget will make an impact or they cut the budget because the funds required outweigh the risk. Second, then they hire a consultant. I'm a consultant, not a bad idea. But they're hoping that expertise outside the company will improve the situation. And it can improve the situation but it may not deal with the Marketing Gap. And thirdly, when they get really frustrated, business leadership fires the marketing leader. The business leader decides it's time for fresh blood.
Well, in my experience, leadership's responses are expensive, time-consuming, and don't address the core issues of the Marketing Gap. In other words, you can replace the marketing leader and still be plagued by the Marketing Gap.
Here's the hard truth. As the business leader, you're actually responsible for part of the gap. The question is: How wide and how deep is your Marketing Gap? Most business leaders have no idea. If you've ever asked yourself or your team any of those red flag questions and maybe you're considering a change to your budget, a consultant hire or a marketing leader fire, well, then I would highly recommend that we have a discussion first. In 30 short minutes, I can help you get a better understanding of your Marketing Gap. Visit MarketingAccelerator.com and click the link for a Discovery Session.
The Marketing Accelerator Podcast is a production of MarketingAccelerator.com, where we accelerate marketing leaders to higher performance and improved job satisfaction. I'm Drew Dinkelacker.