Transformational marketing

Transformational marketing addresses the role of marketing in driving organizational change. As Harvard Business School professor Nirmalya Kumar has indicated in his book "Marketing as Strategy" [cite book |author=Nirmalya Kumar |title=Marketing As Strategy: Understanding the CEO's Agenda for Driving Growth and Innovation |publisher=Harvard Business School Press |location=Boston, Mass |year= |pages= |isbn=1-59139-210-1 |oclc= |doi=] , as the traditional marketing function in organizations has declined, the competitive need for marketing remains critical. To move from the back room to the boardroom, marketing must move from a tactical function to a strategic one – leveraging, but not solely focused on, the traditional "four Ps" of marketing (Price, Product, Placement and Promotion) to become the catalyst for corporate change. Marketing must help CEOs lead organization-wide transformational initiatives that deliver on corporate objectives, including quantitative measurements such as revenue growth and increased profitability.

Transformational Marketing is the process by which marketers engage in organization-wide transformation initiatives. Like Professor Kumar, marketing consultant and university lecturer Jim Gardner believes that while marketing is the responsibility of everyone in the organization, it is marketing’s role create strategic, organization-wide, accountable initiatives with an orientation toward growth. Gardner’s focus is on marketing gaining credibility in the boardroom to drive influence in the organization. Transformational Marketing is, he has stated, an ongoing process to assure continued competitiveness.

Focusing on the customer experience from initial exposure to final billing, Transformational Marketing encompasses processes, intra- and inter-departmental communication, product decisions, distribution methods, the structure of product marketing, marketing communications, and corporate marketing within the organization, and the roles and responsibilities of each department or function. Transformational Marketing encourages, facilitates and inspires the active involvement of employees to work with management in the effort to add value to the customer experience. It transforms marketing into a core function of the company, and in the process transforms the competitiveness of the organization by influencing customer perceptions of value and creating positive brand experiences.

Success in Transformational Marketing is measured not only in the traditional Return on Marketing Investment but in the articulation of, and success toward, the objectives, methods, and processes of the organizational objectives while quantitatively and qualitatively measuring the success of those efforts in financial, quality, customer satisfaction, and human terms.

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