Things are bad in the world of marketing. In marketing departments and for marketing directors in particular, it’s hard to see how things could get much worse. Deloitte have released a report - Marketing in 3D - which, to put it bluntly, states that marketing is a dying profession. Nothing makes this clearer than the fact that a marketing director spends, on average, only 22 months in the job before being asked to move on to “better things”.

Anyone involved with new media or with companies who have already embraced the idea of the conversation will find this unsurprising. I was shocked, however, to find an article in this month’s Director magazine from the IOD that seemed to deduce all the wrong messages from Deloitte’s report.

Jane Simms is a former editor of “Marketing Business” and believes, with the understandable conviction of someone who has spent a career promoting marketing, that “Marketing should play a crucial role in identifying and satisfying customer demand.” Mmm. She does have a few harsh words to say about marketers whose sole interest is the size of their budgets but she refuses to face reality. It’s no longer about changing a few characteristics of marketing: the game has changed completely. New rules, new stadium. Even the ball has changed shape.

The sad truth for the ‘marketers drive the market’ brigade is that consumers are more sophisticated, have a wider range of communication tools at their disposal, and have grown mightily tired of being interrupted. If there is a role for marketing now, it is surely one that begins with the consumer rather than the company. A savvy marketer is one who relays the mood of the market and tries to effect change in his or her company rather than in the consumer. Customers know what they want, what works for them, and what is simply marketing hype and nonsense. It’s time to accept that it’s the consumer who does the marketing. The smart company listens.

Tags: Deloitte, IOD, Marketing