Marketing Unwrapped

"Key skills for marketers in the 21st century, which we have now cautiously embarked upon, conjures up images of great technological advances, of a world utterly transformed, a world perhaps ultimately dominated by Artificial Intelligence. This book thankfully does not indulge in the whole "what might be" debate, but instead sensibly takes a long hard look at where marketing stands today, setting out the key skills marketers must master to succeed over the next decade or so.

Written by CIM's Director of Marketing, Ray Perry, in a very accessible, sometimes amusing manner, the book outlines the evolution of marketing basics in the 20th century before swiftly moving on to the issues that face the 21st century marketer. These range from the proliferation of media and the choices this now presents the marketer, to consumers' concerns over privacy and data protection. These and other key themes are outlined, demonstrating how they will impact and shape the marketing function. What becomes clear is that in order to succeed in the future, "marketers will need to be flexible, adaptable and multi-skilled". Pan-marketing, measuring metrics, knowledge management, CRM and integrated supply chain management will all be important, and it is likely many of them will become specialist marketing roles in their own right.

The case for each role is argued well and supported by a range of well-researched figures and examples, before giving sound advice on how to execute the role. The chapters on the media marketer and metrics marketer are particularly good. Key skills and competencies are laid out with a useful summary of things to remember.The book will help today's marketers face up to the challenges of the 21st century, and help them develop the marketing skills they need for the new connected economy." --John Ling, The Chartered Institute of Marketing

"Ray Perry looks at the wider perspective of new marketing and identifies key success factors - a good read for all marketers" --Andy Jones, Marketing Operations Director, Vauxhall Motors

"To business people this is a breath of fresh air, a disciplined and data driven approach to marketing" --Raoul Pinnell, VP Global Brands Communications, Shell International

"Marketing Unwrapped captures the key issues and challenges facing marketers today and the wider skill set required as marketing increasingly becomes a boardroom issue." --Debbie Brown, Head of Marketing Communications BT plc

The marketing function has long striven to be taken seriously at board level. Much work has been undertaken in recent years to measure the effectiveness of marketing and to make it accountable at 'the bottom line'. However, if marketing is really to find its place at the top of an organization, marketers themselves need to understand and develop some core skills to give credence to their positions.

Marketing Unwrapped literally unwraps the role of today's marketer. Ray Perry creates a blueprint for each facet of the marketer's role in relationship to an organization and highlights the key skills, knowledge, disciplines and competencies necessary for marketers to succeed. Compiled in the form of a matrix, this book unwraps the role of a marketer and introduces the range of 'co-functions' from relationship marketer to metrics marketer that the marketer will need to master to succeed in business in the future.

This step-by-step guide to developing your own portfolio of skills will give you the confidence to sit at board level with a holistic understanding of the workings of business in general, and a clear idea of the difference you in your marketing capacity can make.

RAY PERRY has a BA in Business Studies, a Diploma in Marketing and studied his MBA at Henley Management College. He has been working as a professional marketer for 20 years, on a wide range of household named brands.

He is currently CEO of the E Centre and Director of Marketing at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), and a Fellow of CIM, the RSA, and a Worshipful Marketer of the City of London. He is a panellist for the Sunday Times Enterprise Network in the UK and marketing spokesman on many radio and TV programmes.