Marketing Definitions – What Is A Marketing Vice President And How Do They Work?

Marketing is an art and a science. The field has many definitions and names that range from ‘direct marketing’ to ‘branded packaging’. However, in the purest sense, marketing is the promotion of products and services with the intention of capturing a specific segment of a specific market. Ultimately, marketing is the influencing of buying decisions by using certain targeted messages in the marketing mix

The process is very complex, but the fundamentals remain the same. Marketing is the conscious effort to shape consumer responses to product and service offerings through research, the use of well-researched and tested advertising or promotional methods, and the creation of a perceived ‘compelling’ or ‘identifiable’ selling proposition. These four marketing principles – the identification of a specific or target market, the creation of a compelling or unique selling proposition, and the influencing of buying decisions through well-researched and tested advertising or promotional campaigns – are at the core of effective marketing. Chief marketing officer and marketing directors are responsible for the management of internal company marketing policies and programs and for the tracking of external marketing initiatives.

Marketing is a skill, not a specific skill set. The top tier management teams of most large corporations have a strong understanding of what marketing is and what constitutes a successful marketing program. The top tier management team at each company understands the value of marketing to the bottom line, but not necessarily know how to create and maintain an effective marketing program. As a result, the company typically spends far more money on ineffective marketing than it does on effective marketing.

Marketing is about knowing your customer, segmenting your market, defining your business objectives, articulating your brand, building and managing a consistent and differentiated communications strategy, and communicating with your target audience. Each one of these activities takes time, effort, and creativity. These activities are best done by highly talented, highly organized people who are deeply committed to the business objectives of the company. This is why it is critical that the company has a chief marketing officer and a president of marketing.

A chief marketing officer and a president of marketing may each have significant marketing experience and expertise, but they cannot do the job alone. Even though a CEO and a CFO can lead the company successfully in many ways, the true marketing power comes from a group of marketers who will execute and develop the marketing plans, who will write the marketing material, who will train the sales force, who will oversee the whole business development process, and who will make sure that all the various marketing functions are performing well. Without a group of highly trained, knowledgeable marketers who coordinate among themselves, the CFO and the CEO can spend all their time solving business problems and all the marketing function capabilities and budgets will be wasted. The company’s resources will be underutilized.

In conclusion, marketing is not a single function. There are several critical functions involved in the marketing process. Each of the functions is a part of the larger marketing process known as brand building which begins with the creation of a brand and includes the development of an identity, the creation of an image, a promise to fulfill, and the creation of a product to sell. Then there is the actual marketing itself, which is composed of executing the processes outlined above, the planning of creative advertising campaigns, and the execution of the marketing plan. The final step is what is called the tracking of results. The marketing vice president and marketers must monitor the performance of all of these activities regularly and keep track of the effectiveness of the various marketing functions in conjunction with each other and of the different brands and products that are being marketed.