11.2 Marketing Planning Roles
Who, within an organization, is responsible for creating its marketing plans? From our discussion above, you might think the responsibility lies with the organization’s chief marketing officer (CMO). The reality is that a team of marketing specialists is likely to be involved. Sometimes, multiple teams are involved. Many companies create marketing plans at the divisional level. For example, Rockwell International has many different business areas, each with its own strategic planning. For instance, the division responsible for military avionics creates its own marketing plans and strategies separately from the division that serves the telecommunications industry. Each division has its own CMO.
“MAPS Air Museum” by 5chw4r7z, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Some of the team members specialize in certain areas. For example, the copier company Xerox has a team that specializes in competitive analysis. The team includes an engineer who can take competitors’ products apart to see how they were manufactured and a systems analyst who tests them for their performance. Also on the team is a marketing analyst who examines the competition’s financial and marketing performance.
Some marketing-analyst positions are entry-level positions. You might be able to land one of these jobs straight out of college. Other positions are more senior and require experience, usually in sales or another marketing area. Marketing analysts, who are constantly updating marketing information, are likely to be permanent members of the CMO’s staff.
In some consumer-goods companies with many brands (such as P&G and SC Johnson), product—or brand—managers serve on their firm’s marketing planning teams on an as-needed basis. These individuals are not permanent members of the team but participate only to the extent that their brands are involved. Many other members of the firm will also participate on marketing planning teams as needed. For example, a marketing researcher will likely be part of such a team when data is needed for the planning process.
Key Takeaways
- The CMO of a business unit is likely to be responsible for the creation of its marketing plan.
- The CMO is generally assisted by marketing professionals and other staff members, who often work on marketing planning teams as needed.
- Marketing analysts, however, are permanent members of the CMO’s staff.
“16.2 Marketing Planning Roles” from Principles of Marketing by [Author removed at the request of original publisher] is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.—modifications: removed learning objectives, exercises, and review questions.
