A Seat at the table – Marketing Belongs

Marketing’s seat at the executive table has long been up for debate. The past 20-plus years have been dominated by the insatiable desire for short-term profits and immediate gratification, and financial executives and their corresponding metrics sat at the head of the table.

As technology and competition push us down the slide of commoditization, the idea of marketing seems to be gaining some popularity. Apparently, understanding and connecting with others and propelling them to a better place has some merit. In other words, successful brands tend to lose focus on a much bigger picture with greater purpose than themselves.

While a marketing mentality is easy to talk about, executing on it proves difficult. There are those who are quick to exploit internal issues and create division where there should be teamwork and chemistry. The fact is that we need less talk and more doing; fewer characters and more character; less short-term and more long-term; less finance and more marketing. The day has arrived when talking about marketing no longer holds water. We have to commit to it.

Marketing minds will rule the future, because having a relationship with a community is the only sustainable advantage. And while that may sound a bit like a broken record, it’s a tune that we will gladly keep singing.

We find ourselves in a marketer’s landscape. Our cover article in Connect Magazine, “The Connection Age,” details the death if the industrial age and why, along with it, the industrialist mindset must be discarded. The article demonstrates how “The Connection Age” demands a new kind of thinking.

As marketers know, getting over a first impression is hard, but it can be done with great connection and a relentless focus on the client. Marketers can show us how. Let’s adjust our thinking, embrace the new age and enjoy our Seat at the table.

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