3 things a CEO can do to strengthen your company's marketing prowess

Today's troubled economy demands more marketing savvy than ever. As an executive, how can you help?

Consider these tactics suggested by John Quelch, one of the marketing experts profiled in the book, Conversations with Marketing Masters:

Set an example for other executives by visiting customers on their home turf to gain insights into their needs. You won't learn much from looking at market research data on a computer screen.

Spearhead the identification of customer-related metrics that are leading indicators of sales or profit performance. Select metrics specific to your enterprise's strategy, not just the usual "customer satisfaction" (a lagging indicator). Then benchmark your firm's scores against direct competitors and outstanding organizations in other industries.

Help develop marketing talent throughout your organization; for instance, by infusing customer-centricity and marketing-strategy capability into the workforce over the long term.


John Quelch has been a professor at Harvard Business School since 1979, and is known worldwide for his research on global marketing, global branding and marketing communications. John is a non-executive director of WPP Group plc, the world’s second largest marketing services company, and of Pepsi Bottling Group. He served previously as a director of Reebok International.

His comments were posted on the Harvard Business blog, Marketing Know-How.