By Joseph Weinstein and Basilio Chen H., Evotech Management Corp.

Over the last several years, companies have captured the “easy” earnings from high demand,  improvements in operations or cost reductions yet they remain under considerable pressure to continue to increase earnings.

However, the landscape is increasingly changing and significant challenges lies ahead with inflation and higher interest rates as the main theme.  We cannot avoid the increased commoditization of core products and service offerings, profound shifts of value from manufacturers to channels, fragmentation of customer segments and proliferation of brands, increasing costs to serve, reducing scale and adding complexity to execution, to name a few.

Obviously if the bottom cannot get lower in terms of cost savings, then we must turn to opening the ceiling.  Companies must turn to marketing and branding to tap on the under-developed value of their quality products/service in addition to other fundamental internal functional improvements.

“Unlocking this growth potential requires a far greater integration of marketing into the main strategies, functions, and processes of the business, and even outside the business with channel partners and suppliers,” says Tom French, head of the North American Marketing & Sales Practice, McKinsey & Co. The best organizations are focusing on four priority areas in order to take the marketing function to the next level.

• Infusing customer insights into the business – Redesign core business processes so that customer insights are incorporated into every function of the company.
• Integrating business and brand strategies – Strong brands historically have yielded faster growth and higher returns to shareholders.  Use products brands to complement company brands and vice-versa.
• Go-to-market execution – go-to-market organizations have to evolve beyond the sales force to encompass multiple channels and functions, inside and outside the corporation.
• End-to-end redesign of core commercial processes – Marketing and sales functions need to become increasingly intertwined if companies are going to achieve the growth they require. In world class enterprise selling organizations, for instance, it is impossible to define where marketing ends and sales begins.  Sales is the heart and blood of any company.

Ultimately, integrating marketing into business strategy, functions, and processes requires a fundamental shift in the culture of the organization. Chief marketing officers and their organizations are in a unique position to lead this transformation. In Tom French’s view, “Those who succeed will gain a more significant seat at the table, driving growth and the broader corporate agenda.”