Ask a Marketing Expert

Its Friday, which means today I host “Ask a Marketing Expert” on my Facebook page. Post a question on my wall at http://Facebook.com/angela.hausman and come back to see which of my network of marketing experts answered it. Its fun… its free… its Friday.

Today, I started the ball rolling with my own question — what do you see as the biggest challenges facing marketers today. I’ve already received one comment to address that question. The answer comes from Nik Dholakia who is a professor of marketing at University of Rhode Island, an active blogger, and prolific author of scholarly works in the areas of e-commerce, m-commerce, and consumer culture. His answer is that the biggest challenge facing marketers today is:

The inability to comprehend that marketing and brand strategies are mere puppets in the play by Finanzkapital…

You’re welcome to interpret this statement anyway you wish, but my interpretation is that marketing and branding come a distant second to issues of financial capital in developing strategy for the firm. This is a common lament among marketing academics, and I would assume among marketing practitioners, as well.

The argument, from the marketing side, goes like this. Marketing, and by extension marketing strategy, is what brings money into a firm. The only other sources of capital are from IPOs (initial public offerings of stock), which happens too rarely, and borrowing. Both create an obligation for the firm and limit its flexibility. The money brought in through sound marketing strategy, however, bears no obligation or loss of control. Thus, emphasis should be on developing sound marketing strategy; strong brands, successful communication campaigns, new products that match customer needs, etc.

Feel free to post your own response to Dr. Dholakia’s comment on my Facebook wall. Or add your own question. Areas where my network has expertise include: