Scott Davis is passionate about the new role he would like to see chief marketers assume in today’s business landscape, yet the change is slow.
“I see marketing continue to be marginalized, in the vast majority of companies that I see out there today. I see marketing primarily being defined as ‘MarComm’ which means they’re focused on very traditional, narrow tactics,” Davis says. “I see marketing still not being invited to the strategy conversation or as I like to say, ‘having a seat at the grownup table.’”
But yet he sees a huge change coming as he lays out in his new book, The Shift: The Transformation of Today’s Marketers Into Tomorrow’s Growth Leaders. The days of marketers operating in a vacuum, with marketing and business strategies being devised independently of one another, are ending. The best marketers are now creating integrated perspectives that start with the growth objectives of their entire organization.
If you’re looking for someone to blame for marketing not being taken more seriously, look internally. “I really believe that marketing has done a poor job of marketing itself,” Davis says. “Marketing probably has as much permission to be a driver of the growth agenda, side by side with the CEO, as does anyone else in the organization.”
Davis is a Senior Partner at Prophet, a global consultancy specializing in branding and marketing with Fortune 500 clients such as GE, Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, and Staples. Drawing on two decades of experience, and using case studies and insights from other leading marketers, Davis identifies and outlines the five shifts marketers must undertake to fundamentally change the role of marketing and help drive the growth agenda and bottom-line results.
According to Davis, we are at a point in history where opportunity has met necessity. To that end, here are the challenges facing marketing executives in order to bring about this Shift:
- Balance short-term pressures to show results, while staying aligned with the enterprise’s longer-term vision
- Drive innovation, while figuring out how to best align internal resources with external opportunities
- Navigate the never-ending array of media choices, both old and new, to reach customers in ways that are meaningful to its customers
- Operate and win in an increasingly complex global environment as well as within an even more complex organizational environment.
- Win over critical internal stakeholders while shaping the opinions of Wall Street analysts.
So what does this new breed of marketer look like?
“If they come in with more of a P & L mindset, longer term strategic growth orientation, but also knowing that they have to hit the quarterly numbers with an accountability including stringent metrics on themselves. And if the truly believe they have the opportunity to become a one-stop shop of customer insights, the more they have that, the greater their success potential,” Davis added.
In order to earn that seat at the grown up table, marketers need to deal with more than the message and the moniker. At the same time, C-level leadership and the Board need to see the value in this level of shift. Scott Davis’ new book is a must-read for marketers and the organizations that intend to advance and thrive in today’s fast-paced and challenging business environment.
Learn more about Scott M. Davis at Prophet.
Scott Davis, Author of "The Shift" [21:35m]: 
Tags: , GE, Johnson & Johnson, MarComm, marketing and business strategies, marketing books, Monsanto, Prophet, Scott Davis, Staples, The Shift: The Transformation of Today’s Marketers Into
I have read this book and really found the writing too good and just want to congratulate the author for such a wonderful writing.