Marketing is a "necessary evil"

In many organizations (clearly excepting the major brand powerhouses like P&G) the marketing function is perceived as a “necessary evil.”

A popular saying illustrating how difficult it is to quantify the return on advertising is attributed to John Wanamaker: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.

The Wanamaker quote is illustrative of general feelings about marketing to most people running a business.  Here I refer to those that are responsible for making a profit and being accountable to the shareholders.  They are often perplexed as to what marketing does – but know that without it they will be absent from their competitors in the marketplace.  Every dime they spend on marketing that does not have a connection to sales puts it into the “investment” category.

The investment category is a much easier category to tolerate when there are profits and a rising revenue curve to cover “investments.”  Everyone is happy when the company is making money.  The pressure comes when revenue and profits are down and scrutiny becomes the watchword in the C-Suite.  This is when the “necessary evil” comes under fire and often does not survive the skirmish due to a lack of ammunition. 

You need a framework and relationship between the marketing function and the C-Suite that recognizes this potential conflict and resolves it upfront by building in metrics that allow for comparison to alternative investments.