Marketing has never been a prominent discipline worldwide, and China is no exception. Bosses' attention to marketing began to wane after 2000 and was largely marginalized after 2010. Marketing only becomes important when performance issues arise; otherwise, it is deemed unimportant. For a long time, Chinese marketing has developed inertially along existing tracks, with marketing being just one functional module of the enterprise—a key reason for its marginalization. Internet companies no longer treat marketing as a sub-module because their entire function is marketing, making the boss the de facto 'Chief Marketing Officer.' In traditional enterprises, marketing is just a module. In internet companies, the entire company is engaged in marketing. From this perspective, traditional enterprises are no match for internet companies. Of course, even if the boss personally oversees marketing, if it's within the original marketing framework, marketing problems remain difficult to solve. When bosses value marketing, they should transform the entire company into a marketing machine, just like internet companies.
Marginalization of Marketing Issues First, let me clarify that this article mainly discusses enterprises of a certain scale.
In the early stages of entrepreneurship, bosses usually pay attention to marketing. Even if the boss doesn't personally participate, there is usually a person with significant power in charge of marketing.
The smaller the enterprise, the deeper the boss's involvement in marketing, sometimes even acting as the 'chief salesperson.' These enterprises don't have the problem of marketing being marginalized; they simply don't have real marketing issues, only sales issues.
In the early growth phase, bosses typically focus on marketing because it determines the survival of the enterprise.
As the enterprise develops to a certain stage, the boss's attention to marketing declines. Based on my observations, there are three main reasons:
First, because the enterprise's initial accumulation cannot support rapid growth, attention must shift to finance, capital, and government-business relations. These tasks are largely irreplaceable and require the boss's personal involvement. For example, if the company goes public, the boss must handle it personally; others can hardly substitute.
Second, when the boss discovers new opportunities and establishes new strategic business units, attention to marketing decreases further.
Third, when marketing enters an upward trajectory for a period, the boss perceives marketing as merely a 'spending' issue.
For a long time, in industry-leading enterprises that have been smooth sailing, marketing is no longer a strategic issue and has been marginalized within the company.
I suspect most bosses would not admit that marketing has been marginalized; they might argue, 'I really value marketing.'
In a company, what truly constitutes strategy? First, whatever the boss focuses on is strategy; second, wherever the boss spends time is strategy. To some extent, merely 'valuing' something means it has already been marginalized. When bosses are truly involved, they don't use the word 'value.'
Take a transformation example from a company I know well: for several years, the boss personally led marketing meetings, and the marketing department was merely an execution unit. Only with the boss's direct leadership could the entire enterprise shift to a new track, including R&D, production, and logistics.
Unfortunately, such phenomena haven't been seen for a long time. Some bosses invite us in but only to work with the marketing department, while they attend to 'more important' matters.
The companies that invite us usually have problems. If the boss doesn't lead, major issues are hard to resolve. So, if the boss isn't involved, I generally don't participate. I find it difficult to solve problems in a company where marketing is marginalized. Marginalization of the Marketing Department Earlier, I mentioned two major focuses of bosses: capital markets and government-business relations, and new investment opportunities. These can be seen as strategic issues that bosses should focus on.
When bosses focus on strategic issues, departments and vice presidents related to strategy hold higher status because they frequently report to the boss and need to provide timely policy and information updates.
So, when bosses no longer focus on marketing, who is actually managing it?
In large enterprises, it's the sales and marketing departments. Despite having director titles, they are essentially middle management, sometimes lacking even middle-management authority.
In some diversified investment groups, the department managing marketing is actually a middle-level unit within a secondary structure.
Some sales directors handle hundreds of billions in annual sales and spend billions annually—truly 'low rank but high power'—yet they rarely have opportunities to speak with the boss.
Some say every company has a sales VP or deputy general manager. I know of two extremes: one stays at headquarters for long periods to maintain contact with the boss but is unfamiliar with market conditions; the other frequently goes to the front lines but spends little time at headquarters, resulting in less contact with the boss. Most fall somewhere in between.
For a considerable time, for established enterprises, capital and investment have been far more important than marketing. Although the marketing department has 'low rank but high power,' its status within the company has become increasingly insignificant. Marketing Is No Longer a Technical Task of a Module For a long time, marketing was a technical task. Planning, advertising, channels, etc., were highly specialized skills, and the boss's main support was providing funds.
Based on my experience in large enterprises, after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, bosses were very focused on marketing. After overcoming that crisis, market conditions changed, but none were as severe, including the 2008 financial crisis.
If it were merely a technical task, whether the boss personally focuses on it wouldn't matter, as long as sufficient investment is made. In marketing techniques, sometimes more boss involvement can create more interference.
However, the environment has changed; marketing is by no means a simple technical task.
First, total volume is declining, and mainstream markets are shifting. Where are the experts who can solve such severe problems? This is a new collective challenge for Chinese enterprises. Even multinationals like P&G, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's face the same issues and currently have no solutions.
Second, the penetration of internet and IT technologies into various industries, such as 'Internet+' and '+Internet,' also lacks experts at present.
If it were a technical task, like advertising, channels, or branding, there are many experts who can be hired with money. The current problems are such that experts cannot be hired because they don't exist. The Essence of Enterprise: Marketing and Innovation Many may not believe it, but internet companies value marketing more than traditional enterprises. In traditional enterprises, marketing is only a department's responsibility; in internet companies, the entire company is engaged in marketing.
Drucker said that a business has 'only' two functions: marketing and innovation. However, the long-standing modular operation of enterprises has treated marketing as a sub-module, increasingly marginalized. The status of marketing in a company can be summarized in one sentence: it's only important when something goes wrong; otherwise, it's unimportant.
Internet companies today best embody Drucker's essence, returning to innovation and marketing.
All innovation ultimately manifests as product innovation and marketing innovation, and marketing brings products to market. So, we see that bosses of internet companies are essentially 'Chief Product Officers' and 'Chief Marketing Officers.'
At every new product launch, Lei Jun appears. At critical moments, Jack Ma also appears. Bill Gates is no longer CEO but remains CTO (Chief Technology Officer).
Didn't Steve Jobs focus on strategy? He was constantly working on products, attending launches, and personally presenting new products. In fact, that is the strategy of internet companies. Once these issues are solved, other matters like capital and finance are not problems.
For internet companies, there isn't a strict distinction between strategy and marketing; marketing is the most important strategy that surfaces. Without traffic, the internet has no blood. Where does traffic come from? From communication. Whether it's product-borne traffic, paid traffic, or traffic from the boss becoming an 'internet celebrity,' it's all marketing work.
Even traditional enterprises need to cross boundaries, integrate, and do 'Internet+,' which is not something the marketing department can solve. Without solving these issues, the marketing department will struggle to achieve results.
Not only externally, but internally there's also a need for cross-boundary integration, organizational change (like platform-based companies), and bringing in new talent. These are also not solvable by the marketing department alone.
We are in a period of social transformation, corporate transformation, and marketing transformation. When the boss steps forward, it's not about personally managing marketing, but about making the entire company a marketing machine, truly practicing Drucker's two functions of 'marketing and innovation.' In early July, our platform will organize the third B-end e-commerce inspection tour, visiting B-end e-commerce platforms that offer reference for distributor transformation. Interested friends can long-press the QR code below to register. Organization Format ************1. Company visits
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