إدريس التمسماني

By Driss R. Temsamani

To strive for competitive differentiation in a commoditized world, businesses should rethink their approach to product innovation, attracting, retaining, and expanding profits. In other words, they need to rethink the role of marketing in the overall business strategy.

To boost the impact of the marketing department on sales activities, the spotlight falls on the product marketing unit to develop and market new products efficiently and effectively. In order to understand the role of the marketing department in delivering product innovation we should first examine the nature of the organization and reporting structures of the business model.

While product marketing units located within a central marketing department enjoy visibility into the product innovations targeted to customers across revenue segments, reducing duplicative activities and improving communication between business silos; decentralizing product marketing within lines of business or within a decentralized marketing department allows for closer communication between product development and the line of business which facilitates the creation of tailored product solutions.

The relationship of Marketing function with the Sales organization is another key driver to understanding customer needs and the product development process. A sales marketing oriented strategy enables product managers to avoid pitfalls in developing new products and helps ensure that the sales force will find the new products easy to sell to their clients. A sales marketing focused strategy in an environment of compressed margins drives higher performance.

In summary, aligning the role of marketing with the strategic business priorities will drive a better understanding of client's needs hence a high product relevance and a differentiated value proposition.