How successful the marketing effort is in your business could well be dependent on how you answer that question!
You may have answered with the name of an individual within your business - the marketing manager/director, for example. Now clearly, if your business employs someone with such a title, they must have responsibility for implementation of marketing plans for the business - but is that the same thing as being "responsible for marketing"?
No, I'm sorry, but I think there’s a better answer than that!
You may, of course, have answered the question with the name of the department (the marketing department) if your business is of a size to justify that - but the same argument apply - responsible for implementation of marketing plans: yes; but "responsible for marketing"?
A third possibility is that you answered the question with the name of the "boss" - the owner, or managing director. Well, maybe that's better - certainly if he or she doesn't take any interest in the marketing effort of the business then I would suggest that the business as a major problem!
But no - I still think that there is a better answer.
Yes, you’ve guessed it - the answer I'm looking for is "everyone in the business"! I believe it's essential that everyone in your business understands that what they are doing is helping the business achieve its marketing objectives. Because marketing is not just the next advertising campaign; it's not just the next customer satisfaction survey; it's not just the development of a new product. Certainly, these activities are all necessary marketing activities for any business, but “marketing" itself is more fundamental than that - it's a state of mind, not just a series of activities; it's a way of thinking, not just the implementation of a plan; it's a belief, not just a programme of events. And if everyone in your business does not have that state of mind, think that way, or have that belief, then you'll have difficulty achieving ultimate marketing success.
Those of you that know me well (or have hung on every word of some of my training programmes) will know my three-word definition of marketing:
"satisfying customers profitably"
Now, whoever they are, everyone in the business is doing something towards “satisfying customers profitably” (if you have someone doing a job that isn’t helping achieve that aim, can I suggest you find them something else to do?)
So everyone in your business, no matter what their job, must believe that the end objective of the business is to satisfy customers profitably - and to understand how the role in the business helps the business meet that objective…
…is everyone in your business responsible for marketing?
