Marketing Managers – Why do we need them and what should their roles and responsibilities be?

Many companies consider the marketing manager to solely be a link between its advertising and public relations agencies and in most cases the marketing department exists in isolation from the rest of the company. In reality, marketing is key to the success of the business and it should form an integrating role with the company’s organisational structure.

The most valuable asset a company can manage is its customer base. Growing the value of this asset – the customer equity value – has a direct correlation to the creation of shareholder wealth. Consider who in your organisation has the responsibility for this critical function. It is not unusual to find this responsibility falling under the sales manager or split across various members of the board, but arguably this function requires a skilled, dedicated and focused resource. That resource should be the marketing manager, and due to the importance of this position this person should be part of, or report directly to, the board of directors.

What are the roles and responsibilities of the marketing manager? Firstly this person has to analyse information. This data can be created internally (sales and financial reports, product information etc.) or externally (primary or secondary market research data, competitive information etc.). Given this responsibility, it would be expected that the incumbent would have knowledge of statistical analysis and be able to interpret the results in a business context. Next, the marketing manager should be able to produce a marketing plan. This plan is central to and representative of the strategic future direction of the company. The plan then needs to be implemented which requires the coordination, project management and control of various programs. The marketing manager also needs to be involved in setting price levels, promoting the products and services and identifying and managing the distribution channels. In addition, this person needs to be able to form creative ideas that support the marketing processes. All of these activities need to be completed to achieve the organisational objectives. Thus the role of the marketing manager is a little more important than that of just liasing with advertising and public relations agencies.

The internal integration of the marketing department with those of other company functions is key to the success of the implementation of the company’s strategic plan. One of the most important relationships is with the sales department. The sales team are a great resource for market intelligence, since they interface with the customer on a daily basis. They tend to know better than anyone in the organisation about customer satisfaction, the customer’s needs, wants and expectations and what the competitive environment looks like. Yet, in most businesses, not only do the marketing and sales departments communicate very little, but also it is unfortunately commonplace that the sales staff do not know the direction set by marketing. In theory, the sales function is a sub-component of marketing and therefore I would suggest (perhaps contentiously) that the sales manager should report to the marketing manager. This would ensure consistency of all customer related activities. It is also critical that the marketing manager interfaces with his counterparts in finance, operations and manufacturing.

We can see that the specification for the marketing manager suggested, is perhaps a little different than exists in most companies in South Africa today. This individual needs to be creative, analytical, communicative, numerical and have leadership qualities. He or she will have had at least 4 or 5 years experience in a senior position and will probably hold a post-graduate qualification with an element of marketing theory training.

Specific objectives must be set for the marketing manager. These should be related to sales volume, market share and profitability. Other goals should be those of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and product penetration. All of these should be consistent with the company’s strategic objectives, yet specific enough to enable the board to monitor performance over time. Given the nature of the marketing manager’s responsibilities, it would be most appropriate to offer remuneration in the form of an incentive driven package. Care has to be taken not just to reward these individuals based solely on short-term performance. These policies may tend to discourage innovation, acceptance of risk and aggressive pursuit of growth for future returns. In the United States marketing executives tend to receive some kind of long term performance incentive tied to share price performance, share options or direct share allocation.

The environment in which we work is one of increasing competitiveness. Retaining the appropriate skills at a senior level in an organisation is imperative in ensuring the company’s continued success. A skilled and motivated marketing manager is a key component in this team and it is this person that should be responsible to drive growth and secure the long-term health of the organisation. The sooner South African companies grasp this fact, the sooner we will be ready to compete on an international scale.