Marketing teams have a lot of responsibility these days. They get a lot of the credit when things are going well, and a lot of the blame when things are not. And I think that is very fair, given the job we have to do.

But there is one thing your marketing team might be doing that is destroying any chance that your company has for continued success. What is it?

Keeping to Themselves.

The marketing team has a responsibility not only to plan and execute the marketing strategy for the company, but to communicate that strategy to other departments within the company and ensure those other departments execute as well.

The worst thing for any marketing team is when they do a killer job crafting a brilliant campaign to drive more customers and more sales, but the sales team or the customer service team drops the ball. But even then, the blame should start with the marketing team. Because if they don’t do a good job communicating the marketing strategy to those other teams, how can they expect them to execute?

When taken from the customer’s point of view, marketing is more than just the advertising. It’s the entire experience from first touch, to sale, to use of the product or service. And that experience must be consistent in order to be effective.

A sales team that undercuts the marketing message, or a service team that fails to make people happy after the purchase can damn a great marketing plan.