As I sit here celebrating my birthday today, I can’t help but think about the luscious ice cream and cake I’m going to dive into later today. Decadent chocolate cake with white icing and cherry vanilla ice cream. But, what does cake and ice cream have to do with marketing? Well, I’ll explain.
As I think about cake and ice cream I also think about how marketing and marketing communications departments (or marketing services as they sometimes are now called) work together. Just like cake and ice cream can’t live without each other, they still can be eaten separately. It used to be that the marketing communications manager reported in directly to his or her respective V.P. of Marketing. But, now marketing services tends to be worlds apart away from the day-to-day activities of marketing. Just like cake and ice cream go hand in hand so should marketing and marketing communications.
Many marketing communications managers of the past were classically trained in marketing. They just chose that path because they enjoyed the creative part of marketing. But, it seems now that the ice cream is melting its way away from the cake. Many marketing executives seem to think that marketing services only entails the creative design and implementation aspects, so they call on that department when they need an ad or a brochure to be designed; but, I beg to differ. Many marketing communications personnel are highly educated and highly experienced in the art of marketing. They bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the marketing process and therefore should play an integral part in the strategic activities of their company’s marketing culture.
If your marketing services department is located miles away (that is, in another building, off-site location, or even another state) you should consider relocating them closer to the executive marketing personnel. Interacting with the marketing communications personnel on a day-to-day basis puts everyone more in touch with the corporate goals and objectives.
