COACHING
A MARKETER
AND A COACH?
By Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia
A
s a marketer, you will have
experienced first hand how
the world and the profession
is fast changing. Digital marketing,
disruption, big data, internet of
things – all these complex sounding
terms are now a hard reality. The
skills required by a marketer of
today are vastly different from
those needed by marketers of yester
years. Yet one thing still remains
constant: the essence of working
with and through people. the P of people and a marketer
must understand how this P can be
leveraged best to deliver optimum
results.
Marketers are in a unique position
because most times they do not
have people reporting directly
to them, yet they are expected
to build strong cross functional
relationships with people in
different parts of the organization.
Within the 7Ps of marketing lies But how do you as a marketer
then manage to work with
and through people? As a line
manager, one has a superior –
subordinate relationship in place,
where authority can be exercised.
A line manager would typically
make decisions on behalf of the
Then there is the aspect of
customer experience. The entire
organization must be responsible
for delivering a delightful and
exceptional customer experience
if it wants to have loyal customers
who are retained and who then
become brand advocates.
‘‘ Every single person likes to be listened
to and values the attention. A marketer who
practices listening to others, will be valued
as someone who cares and therefore it is
easier to build stronger relationships and
get killer insights. Anyone in marketing will
tell you, insights drive key decisions and
communication messages.’’
18 MAL 17/17 ISSUE
organization, and also instruct
subordinates on things to do.
Many organizations have the sales
and marketing functions split into
different departments. In 2006,
Philip Kotler et al published an
article in the Harvard Business
Review titled, “Ending the War
between Sales and Marketing”
which advocates for stronger
integration and better ways of
working in order to achieve the
set organizational objectives. The
article also goes on to highlight the
importance of relationship building
skills in addition to analytical
skills.
Now when it comes to relationship
building, it would be pretty
important to have people skills.
Ask any individual who manages
teams and they will tell you
that this is not as simple as it
sounds. People are all different,
having different motivators,
different strengths and different
aspirations. Managing people can
get very complex. Not only must
performance be managed but
people must be trained, motivated
and their well-being addressed.
As a marketer, you may or may not
have people reporting directly to