{"id":2351,"date":"2024-12-20T18:16:34","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T23:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/?p=2351"},"modified":"2024-12-20T18:18:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T23:18:23","slug":"stop-blaming-ceos-for-not-valuing-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/stop-blaming-ceos-for-not-valuing-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop blaming CEOs for not valuing marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>This rant was inspired by Emma&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/emma-clayton-bebrilliant_according-to-mckinsey-companys-latest-activity-7272875476195459072-eTef?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McKinsey&#8217;s latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ana.net\/miccontent\/show\/id\/cmo-2023-11-lost-seat-c-suite\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research<\/a> shows that companies with marketing at their core grow twice as fast. Yet only 4% of FTSE 100 companies have marketing leaders in the C-suite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The typical response?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blame CEOs for not understanding marketing&#8217;s value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But here&#8217;s the uncomfortable truth: Marketing leaders are making themselves irrelevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By positioning themselves as tactical executors rather than strategic leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most marketing leaders:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Present campaign metrics instead of business impact<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Focus on channels instead of market dynamics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Speak marketing jargon instead of business outcomes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>They&#8217;re stuck reporting likes, shares, and engagement rates when CEOs want to hear about market share, competitive advantage, and value creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even worse, they&#8217;re reducing marketing fundamentals to outdated frameworks like the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s 1960s thinking in a 2024 world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Real marketing fundamentals aren&#8217;t about tactical checklists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They&#8217;re about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Understanding market dynamics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Creating and capturing value<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Driving business model innovation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leading market transformation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The solution isn&#8217;t giving marketing a seat at the table. It&#8217;s developing marketing leaders who deserve that seat through their business acumen and strategic thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to be taken seriously?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stop talking about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Brand awareness metrics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social media engagement<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Email campaign rates<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Content calendars<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Start talking about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Market opportunity sizing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Competitive advantage creation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Value capture strategies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Business model innovation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Because.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CEOs don&#8217;t need marketing experience.<br>Marketing leaders need business experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nothing will change until marketing leaders start thinking and speaking like business leaders first and marketers second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll keep being relegated to tactical execution, wondering why you&#8217;re not getting that strategic seat at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The choice is yours:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep blaming CEOs for not understanding marketing or start demonstrating marketing&#8217;s strategic value in terms that drive business growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stop asking for a seat at the table.<br>Start proving you deserve one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your move, marketers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This rant was inspired by Emma&#8217;s post. McKinsey&#8217;s latest research shows that companies with marketing at their core grow twice as fast. Yet only 4% of FTSE 100 companies have marketing leaders in the C-suite. The typical response? Blame CEOs for not understanding marketing&#8217;s value. But here&#8217;s the uncomfortable truth: Marketing leaders are making themselves [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2354,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351\/revisions\/2354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}