I’d like to take a moment to defend my craft. In my 20+ years as a marketer in the B2B/tech space, I’ve observed many ill-informed notions about what exactly comprises marketing. Marketing is often viewed incorrectly as an administrative function or cost center. In fact, marketing is a strategic function and an investment that generates tangible returns in your sales pipeline.

Done well, marketing is the strategic heart and soul of your business.

There are many classic business models to define marketing (the Four Ps and such), but here’s my definition. Marketing is:

• Knowing who your customers are and what they need, (even if they don’t know what they need)
• Engaging with your future customers where they live and communicate in order to proactively meet those needs with the right products or services,
• Doing this better and more quickly than your competition,
• Measuring success and driving continuous improvement along the way with key performance indicators that align with your sales targets, not vanity metrics,
• Building relationships inside your organization and with external partners to get these jobs done.

Conversely, several functions are frequently delegated to marketing teams that don’t make sense. We marketers tend to be team players who don’t say “This isn’t our job,” but we’d much rather focus on adding value through demand generation. Marketing IS NOT:

• Ordering the tshirts, stationery and office supplies, (Get an office manager.)
• Managing your calendar and booking your travel, (We’re all adults here.)
• Coordinating the happy hours, holiday parties and golf outings, (Get an event planner.)
• Making things pretty. (While good visual presentation can be key to marketing execution, strategy and messaging come first. If all you need is a pretty picture, get a designer.)

Finally, a brief word about technology. I love technology. Technology is critical to successfully driving results in modern business, which is why my consulting practice specializes in marketing automation support for Marketo. But technology is also imply an accelerator; if your strategy sucks, technology will only make your strategy suck more quickly. This is why I also specialize in marketing strategy. Start with a solid marketing strategy foundation, accelerate that strategy via technology and you will find success.

If you’ve read the above and it resonates with you, let’s talk!