Marketing Champions: Practical Strategies for Improving Marketing's Power, Influence, and Business Impact [Hardcover]

Roy A. Young (Author), Allen M. Weiss (Author), David W. Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0471744956 | ISBN-13: 978-0471744955 | Edition: 1

Praise for Marketing Champions


"Much has been written about the importance of using marketing principles and tools effectively. But we've paid far less attention to how marketing works within an organization--and how marketers can better interact with other prime movers in their companies. This book really delivers on this much-neglected subject--sounding a wake-up call to marketers everywhere on how to exert their influence and improve their contribution to cash flow."
--Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

"The authors understand that marketing is now the most important force within an organization--if you can figure out how to coordinate the rest of your colleagues. This book shows you how."
--Seth Godin, author of Small Is the New Big

"This leadership guide is a must-read for every executive who wants to understand the crucial connection between marketing and bottom-line results."
--Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, University of Southern California, and author of On Becoming a Leader

"The best marketing leaders are those who can harness the power of the enterprise--not just lead the marketing team. This book will give you the ability to align and inspire the entire company."
--Jerry Noonan, Spencer Stuart

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…this superb new book…is essential reading for those looking to develop their leadership skills and become 'marketing champions' in their organisations'". (The Marketer, June 2007)

From the Inside Flap

Marketing is the engine of every enterprise, responsible for communicating with consumers and connecting them with the products they need. Yet in many organizations, marketing is underutilized, underfunded, and unable to make its full contribution to the com-pany. This is due to a fundamental lack of communication—not between marketers and customers, but between marketing and corporate leadership.

Too often, top executives fail to comprehend the true value of marketing and the contribution marketing makes to the bottom line. And without proper metrics for measuring effectiveness, marketers have trouble demonstrating how valuable they truly are. As a result, when a company struggles and the corporate belt tightens, it's the marketing department that bears the brunt. But this just makes marketing less effective and companies less profitable.

In every business, the marketing department should be an influential, powerful, and critical part of the operation. Marketing Champions will show you how to break out of this cycle and make marketing the center of your organization.

Marketing Champions will show you how to debunk common myths about marketing, translate the language of marketing into the language of business, and make marketing matter to corporate leadership. Most important, you'll learn how to define the metrics of marketing success and establish repeatable, transparent processes that show the reasoning behind—and the potential payoff of—every marketing decision you make. With these tools at hand, you can prove your importance to top leadership and wield more influence than ever before.

If you're a marketer dedicated to helping your company succeed—and boosting your career in the process—you must learn to connect what you do with your company's bottom line. And you must learn how to communicate that value to corporate leadership. If you do, you'll be a Marketing Champion.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471744956
• ISBN-13: 978-0471744955
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,259,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The roadmap to respect and credibility for Marketing October 27, 2006

By James D. Lenskold

Format:Hardcover

All of the innovative marketing strategies and best practices cannot be successful without a well-run organization. "Marketing Champions" provides marketing professionals with the road map to take a more prominent leadership role in driving business performance. This book will change the mindset of marketers as they better align with corporate objectives and forge productive alliances throughout the company. The authors do an excellent job of presenting an approach to win-win relationships for all players. Good tips and structured questions are included to help you easily put key concepts into practice.

"Marketing Champions" is a must-read for marketing executives ready to make their organizations one of the most respected and influential contributors to business growth. It is the critical guide for taking ownership of financial and strategic outcomes, breaking down operational barriers, and unlocking the company's full profit potential. Not only will this help CMO tenures last longer than the typical 23 months, but it will better position CMOs to compete for the CEO role.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stop Being Labeled "The Promotions Guy/Gal"! April 22, 2007

By Paul A. Barsch

Format:Hardcover

If you are tired of the label, "promotions guy or gal", then this book is for you because it expands on the true definition and role of a marketer. Many companies like to put marketing in the advertising, promotions, communications box, and this is where most marketing professionals reside in the organization. However, this is a recipe for marginalization.

A true marketing professional masters promotions, advertising and the like, but expands the marketing role to own the customer relationship and experience. For marketing professionals to be taken seriously and have a "seat" in executive circles they must be concerned with terms not usually associated with marketers like cash flow, earnings, shareholder value, and reputation. Even more important, marketing must contribute to corporate and business strategy with daily input and research from having a firm pulse on customer wants and future needs.

Roy Young, Allen Weiss and David Stewart show that marketing can and should focus on more than just the "Promotion" aspect of marketing. Chapters detail how to work closely with others in the organization from sales, operations, finance, R&D and even the executive office.

The book has very limited treatment of many of the technologies (CRM, data warehousing, analytics etc...) that help enable the measurement of marketing results. But overall, its message is too powerful to not give the book five stars.

As a marketer, if you like staying in the promotions box and limiting your career opportuniites then don't read this book. If, however, you have aspirations of the executive suite, or at least the invitation to executive level discussions, then pick up this book and dive in!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Marketer Must Read This Book! October 3, 2006

By William Arruda

Format:Hardcover

Wow! I wish I had read this book many years ago when I was starting out in my marketing career. Marketing Champions shines the light on the challenges marketing organizations face in building respect for the discipline inside the walls of the company. Marketing is one of the most misunderstood functions in US corporations today; yet it is one of the most powerful and pervasive. This book enables marketers (entry level to CMO) to look at marketing from the outside in. It helps them to 'brand' marketing within their companies. It provides insights that make marketers more successful - by enabling them to build long-lasting relationships with colleagues. If every marketer in your organization reads this book, the value and power of the marketing department will increase tremendously. This is a must-read for any marketing professional who wants to be successful and professionally satisfied.