Only a third of businesses completely understand marketing

Being understood by the wider organisation and working within a company that values your worth is integral to the happiness of marketers. Of those questioned, 34.8% say marketing is completely understood by their company, where it is seen as an investment and placed at the heart of everything.

This is compared to 50.2% who say marketing is somewhat understood by their company and 13.5% who say marketing is not understood at all by the rest of the business.

According to Marketing Week’s annual Career and Salary Survey, marketing is best understood within agencies, where 54.9% of respondents say marketing is completely understood. This is followed by the gaming and gambling sector (53.3%) and FMCG (51.3%).

Communicating what your product is, what the value is and your proposition to your target consumer is central to every single travel business.

Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair

By contrast, 22.4% of marketers in the public sector say marketing is not understood by the rest of the organisation, followed by the utilities sector (22.3%) and construction/property (17.5%).

The fact that only 47.5% of marketers in the travel and leisure sector feel marketing is completely understood by their company comes as a surprise to Ryanair CMO Kenny Jacobs.

“It’s an industry where communication plays a key role. It’s a very competitive consumer category, so communicating what your product is, what the value is and your proposition to your target consumer is central to every single travel business,” he explains.

This opinion is echoed by UKTV’s CMO, Zoe Clapp, who is concerned that only 34.5% of marketers working at a media owner say marketing is completely understood by their company.

“Marketing is such a central function to grow the business and to fully understand consumers, so that figure needs to be much, much higher,” she says.

“Part of the problem is the language marketers use. We use so much jargon and what we’re trying to do is a very simple thing: we’re trying to grow market share and grow the business.”

READ MORE: Thomas Barta – Marketing jargon is a major career killer

Clapp explains that the marketing function at UKTV is well respected because it communicates with the entire organisation. All disciplines are brought together to learn about the methods marketing uses to grow the business.

The UKTV Marketing Academy, for example, trains business managers and channel directors so they better understand marketing.

READ MORE: UKTV on removing the tension between marketing and finance

The broader business also conducts analysis of campaigns on a quarterly basis, using in-depth evaluations to break down what did and did not work. The person with the most honest learning is rewarded with a prize.

“That sort of trust means that the marketing department, hopefully, is completely understood right across the business,” Clapp adds.

READ MORE: Marketing Week’s Careers and Salary Survey

• The 2018 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey analysed the responses of 4,154 marketers from 24 different industries including agencies and consultancies, the automotive sector, entertainment, FMCG, financial, telecoms, sport and travel. The seniority of the respondents ranged from graduates and marketing assistants to senior managers, board directors and partners. This is a nationwide sample of UK marketers, including digital specialists. In all cases relating to pay marketers were asked to give their basic wage, excluding bonuses and benefits.