Changing role of marketing in the digital landscape

A few oft-repeated topics doing the rounds of boardrooms today is whether the lines between Sales and Marketing are getting blurred especially for brands that are being built digitally? Is one overtaking the other? Secondly are brands spending more on Performance Marketing for quick measurable results at the cost of brand building?

My take is that yes, there is a significant evolution in the role of marketing, especially in the digital age. Traditionally, marketing and sales have had distinct roles: marketing focused on brand building and creating demand, while sales were responsible for converting that demand into revenue. However, with the rise of digital channels and data-driven strategies, these lines are indeed blurring. Modern businesses are increasingly integrating marketing and sales goals to ensure a seamless customer journey. Marketers are now often held accountable for metrics traditionally associated with sales, such as lead generation, conversion rates, and revenue growth. The availability of real-time data and advanced analytics allows marketers to track the effectiveness of their campaigns with precision. This data-driven approach enables marketers to adjust strategies quickly to improve business outcomes, blurring the lines between marketing and sales functions. The focus has shifted towards a holistic view of the customer journey. Marketers are now responsible for nurturing leads through the entire sales funnel, from awareness to conversion and beyond, ensuring customer retention and loyalty. Marketing automation tools and CRM systems enable marketers to manage and nurture leads more effectively, often overlapping with tasks traditionally handled by sales teams.

Another shift is that a significant portion of marketing budgets is increasingly being allocated to performance marketing spends. This shift reflects the growing emphasis on measurable, results-driven marketing tactics that can directly impact sales and conversions. However, this trend doesn't necessarily overshadow traditional brand building; instead, it often complements it and adapts to the changing landscape of digital sales channels. Focusing too much on Performance Marketing can lead to diminishing returns in terms of cost of customer acquisition. Moreover, a heavy focus on performance marketing can create purely transactional relationships with customers, rather than building meaningful and lasting connections. New-age brands like Nykaa, Swiggy, Zomato, Myntra are intelligently balancing their spends between performance marketing and brand building to achieve both short and long term objectives.

Lastly, the growing importance of digital marketing is indeed reshaping the structure of marketing teams both within organizations and agencies. Companies are adopting more specialized and hybrid roles, evolving the traditional CMO function, and fostering cross-functional collaboration. Agencies are also adapting by enhancing their performance marketing capabilities and restructuring their teams to cater to the increasing demand for measurable, data-driven marketing strategies. We are currently seeing an evolution of many specialist roles such as CDO, Data Analysts, Data Scientists, SEO specialists etc. This shift reflects the broader trend of integrating digital and performance marketing into the core of modern marketing practices. 

To conclude, in the rapidly changing digital landscape, the role of both marketing and sales is changing. However, the most successful companies are those that recognize the strengths of both functions and foster a collaborative environment where sales and marketing work together to achieve common objectives. This integrated approach not only enhances efficiency but also ensures a better customer experience and drives sustainable business growth.

This article is penned by Jiteen Aggarwal, CMO of Hettich.

Disclaimer: The article features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the stance of the publication.