The Importance of Marketing

Financial success often depends on marketing ability. Finance, operations, accounting, and other business functions will not really matter if there is not sufficient demand for products and services so the company can make a profit. There must be a top line for there to be a bottom line. Many companies have now created a Chief Marketing Officer, or CMO, position to put marketing on a more equal footing with other C-level executives such as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Press releases from organizations of all kinds—from consumer goods makers to health care insurers and from non-profit organizations to industrial product manufacturers—trumpet their latest marketing achievements and can be found on their Web sites. In the business press, countless articles are devoted to5 marketing strategies and tactics.

营销的重要性

企业的盈利能力取决于其营销能力：如果没有充足的对于产品和服务的市场需求来保证企业盈利，那么企业的财务、运营、会计和其他方面的努力都会毫无意义。销售是企业盈利的基础，为此，许多企业设立了首席营销官（CMO），其地位相当于首席执行官（CEO）和首席财务官（CFO)等主管（C)级别的经理。从消费品厂商到医疗保险企业，从非营利组织到工业品厂商都会发布宣传其最近营销业绩的报告，这些都能在它们的网站上找到。商业媒体上有着数不清的关于营销战略和战术的文章。

Marketing is tricky, however, and it has been the Achilles' heel of many formerly prosperous companies. Large, well-known businesses such as Sears, Levi's, General Motors, Kodak, and Xerox have confronted newly empowered customers and new competitors, and have had to rethink their business models. Even market leaders such as Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Intel, and Nike recognize that they cannot afford to relax. Jack Welch, GE's brilliant former CEO, repeatedly warned his company: "Change or die."

然而，营销是复杂而又微妙的工作，它也成为许多曾经辉煌的大企业的阿喀琉斯之踵。许多大公司，如西尔斯、李维斯、通用汽车、柯达和施乐等知名企业都承认，面对更强大的消费者和新的竞争对手，它们不得不重新审视各自的经营模式。甚至如微软、沃尔玛、英特尔和耐克等市场领导者也承认有这种压力。杰克·韦尔奇(通用电气公司的前任首席执行官)曾不断地告诫他的员工：“要么变革，要么失败。”

But making the right decisions is not always easy. Marketing managers must make major decisions such as what features to design into a new product, what prices to offer customers, where to sell products, and how much to spend on advertising or sales. They must also make more detailed decisions such as the exact wording or color for new packaging. The companies at greatest risk are those that fail to carefully monitor their customers and competitors and to continuously improve their value offerings. They take a short-term, sales-driven view of their business and ultimately, they fail to satisfy their stockholders, their employees, their suppliers,and their channel partners. Skillful marketing is a never-ending pursuit.

要作出正确的决策并非易事。营销经理面临着一系列重大的决策，比如，在新产品设计中产品特征是什么，制定怎样的价格，选择怎样的销售渠道，在广告或销售上投入多少资金。他们还要面临着一些更细节化的决策，例如，新产品的包装上用什么确切的字眼或颜色等。公司最大的危机是没有密切关注它们的客户与竞争对手，无法不断提升它们产品的价值。如果只以短期销售驱动对待业务，最终它们将不能维护股东、员工、供应商和渠道商的利益。营销的技巧性是永无止境的。

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