Marketing, as a function of any business, is more important now than it ever has been in the past. For this reason, more CEO’s today come from a marketing background than ever before.

Good marketers know that almost every aspect of a business has some deal of marketing in it. From the way the product is designed, to the way it is sold, to the customer service people that customers will speak with, to the way the website works. Any function that will have an impact on both the decision a consumer makes to become a customer or not, and the happiness or lack thereof with that decision, will have an impact on the marketing of a product or service.

And the internet only fuels this trend. Online reviews compete with a marketer’s own messaging for the attention of potential customers. A bad product design, or an unhappy customer, can destroy all of the hard work of the sales or advertising teams.

If you are in charge of marketing for a company, you can’t be afraid to be vocal about your needs. Other departments need to know that everything they do affects you, and ultimately the success of the entire company.