This month the CIM unveiled a survey to help marketers in the boardroom. Entitled “Marketing’s Decline: A Wild Exaggeration?” it is reportedly designed to help marketers strengthen their influence and value in the firm.

Reporting on the release of the study in Marketing Week, the CIM released  few statistics:

• 74% of CFOs agree marketing has its place in an organisation they also say that the marketing department’s primary responsibility is marketing decisions and nothing else
• Both CFOs and CMOs also agree that marketers rarely show how their customer needs can be taken into account in strategy (79%). They also agree that marketers “are failing to engage both the analytical and creative side of their brain” while many feel their marketing lacks “novelty” and promotional strategies are routine
• Interestingly, CFOs have a higher regard for the quality of information processed by the marketing department than marketers themselves (65% versus 51%)
• The paper suggests that the marketing department must make sure that it is viewed as a facilitator that helps the whole organisation realise “that their business survives and thrives by serving customers.”
• The marketing team needs to stress customer proximity and the ability to convert this to commercial opportunities. It also needs “to get out of its silo and to champion customer needs across the firm and insure that customer needs are a foundation of corporate strategy.”