forbes.com
Missing Middle" in Marketing: How to Build a Scalable System
Christine Pilkington, CEO of Crisp, highlights the gap between marketing theory and practice, emphasizing the need for a structured, scalable marketing system integrated with business objectives, and offers a four-step solution.
- How does the absence of a structured marketing system affect business operations and outcomes?
- The absence of a structured system leads to disjointed marketing efforts, hindering scalability and efficiency. Marketing becomes reactive rather than proactive, failing to leverage technology and data effectively to achieve strategic goals and missing opportunities for consistent, measurable impact.
- What is the proposed solution, and what long-term benefits can businesses expect from implementing it?
- The solution is to implement a marketing operations practice—a structured, repeatable system—aligning marketing with business objectives, ensuring consistent processes, leveraging technology, and prioritizing scalability and efficiency. This will lead to clarity, consistency, and long-term impact, transforming marketing from chaos to a predictable, proactive, and systematic function driving sustained growth.
- What is the core problem described in the article, and what are its immediate consequences for businesses?
- Many businesses lack a structured marketing system, leading to inconsistent results, wasted resources, and an inability to align marketing with overall business objectives. This results in marketing becoming an afterthought rather than a strategic function driving growth.
Cognitive Concepts
Framing Bias
The article presents a clear framing bias, focusing heavily on the problems of unstructured marketing and the benefits of a structured approach. While acknowledging the existence of successful marketers, the narrative strongly emphasizes the shortcomings of the 'traditional' approach and positions the author's proposed system as the solution. The headline, if one were to be created, could reinforce this bias by highlighting the 'missing middle' or the gap between theory and practice. The introduction of a specific client case acts as a concrete example, setting the stage for the subsequent arguments in favor of the structured system.
Language Bias
The language used is largely persuasive and promotional. Terms like "afterthought," "struggled," "loss," and "disjointed" carry negative connotations, painting a bleak picture of traditional marketing approaches. Conversely, the proposed system is described using positive terms such as "structured," "scalable," "consistent," and "clarity." The repeated use of contrasting pairs (chaos/clarity, unpredictable/scalable, etc.) further reinforces this bias. More neutral language might include terms like 'unstructured,' 'underdeveloped,' and 'improvements'.
Bias by Omission
The analysis omits perspectives from marketers who successfully operate outside the proposed framework. It doesn't address potential drawbacks or limitations of implementing a highly structured system, such as increased rigidity or reduced adaptability to changing market conditions. While acknowledging space constraints is reasonable, including a brief acknowledgement of alternative viewpoints would strengthen the objectivity.
False Dichotomy
The article presents a false dichotomy between traditional, unstructured marketing and the author's proposed structured system. It oversimplifies a complex field, implying that only one approach is effective. It fails to acknowledge that many successful marketing strategies exist outside of this binary. The narrative consistently positions the presented system as the only solution, neglecting the potential for hybrid approaches or context-dependent strategies.
Sustainable Development Goals
The article directly addresses the importance of structured marketing operations for business growth and improved efficiency. By advocating for a systematic approach to marketing, it promotes improved business performance and increased profitability, contributing to economic growth and creating better job opportunities within marketing departments. The emphasis on scalability and efficiency also suggests a focus on optimizing resources and productivity, aligning with the SDG's goals for sustainable economic growth.