Successful marketing thanks to the right leadership

LEADERSHIP Marketing is a leadership task. This is shown by the recently published "Swiss Marketing Leadership Study 2015" by the ZHAW School of Management and Law. What successful companies do right is reflected in their strategy, structure and culture.Marketing is changing fundamentally, taking on a steering role in modern companies toward customer and market orientation. Successful companies have recognized that marketing belongs on the CEO agenda. The "Swiss Marketing Leadership Study 2015" by the ZHAW School of Management and Law (SML) shows the influence that the understanding of marketing has on the performance of companies.Marketing is a management taskOwners, managing directors, marketing, CRM or product marketing managers from 525 Swiss companies of various sectors and sizes took part in the study. The companies were divided into top, silver and underperformers based on their performance. 41 percent of the top performers give marketing a strategic weighting within the company much more frequently than silver and underperformers, and the significant differences show the impact that the importance of marketing has on the performance of companies. For almost two thirds of respondents, customer satisfaction is the top corporate objective, ahead of quality and profit targets. Although this claim can be seen in the concrete goals and measures, it is often not implemented consistently. For example, only just under a third of respondents go so far as to pay attention to customer orientation when selecting new employees.Relationship management stands and falls with data qualityCustomer relationship management (CRM) and product management are included in the study as important success factors for customer satisfaction. Almost half of the companies surveyed measure their success on the basis of customer satisfaction, while around a third of the companies surveyed do not measure CRM success at all. The respondents named data quality as the greatest strength, but also as the most frequent source of problems in the area of CRM. The success of a CRM project depends directly on this. Without support from top management, however, relationship management is doomed to failure from the outset.Major weakness market researchIn product management, too, the most important trends are the implementation of customer orientation and anchoring it within the company. 34.8% of the companies surveyed have placed product management at management level. The clear differences between top and underperformers clearly speak in favor of more marketing leadership in product management. Around three quarters of respondents identified market research as the greatest weakness of product management.Background and detailsThe "Swiss Marketing Leadership Study" is a merger of the two proven study formats "Swiss CRM" and "Swiss Product Management" and will be published for the first time in 2015. The SML Institute of Marketing Management randomly selected 2910 medium-sized and large companies, 525 of which completed the questionnaire. The detailed results of the study will be presented on September 15, 2015 at the Kongresshaus Zurich as part of the Swiss CRM Forums published. The study will be available to download free of charge after the event.