As a marketing professional for more than two decades, I have seen the value that strategic marketing brings to a company.


I have been very fortunate to work with many great product and professional service companies during my career from Apple Computer and Intel to Levi Strauss, Mayfield Fund, Goldman Sachs and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. With all of these companies, I have been involved in their strategic marketing at some point in their business development--creating and defining products and marketing plans-- and implementing more tactical marketing and communications programs.
I believe that there are many value points to marketing practiced strategically. They are:
1) Building a consistent advantageous identity in the marketplace
2) Building leadership/ownership in specific market areas
3)Translating leadership into leverage for more quality customers or deal flow
4)Generating more visibility/broadening market reach
5)Enhancing credibility/brand of the company or firm
What is striking to me today, is that it seems many companies are not practicing strategic marketing. They are getting involved in the programs and tactics of what they want to do, but when pushed and asked about what strategic business goals and objectives these programs and tactics ultimately address and what return they want to get on their marketing investment, many can not answer these questions.
I know that social media marketing metrics are hard to attain, but what I am hearing is also for marketing in general. I am wondering if what I am seeing is more commonplace today than it was three years ago or is it just my perspective? I thought I would throw it open to the community to discuss.