What should be expected of "marketing experts"? Part VIII

Earlier this spring, I blogged about the relationship of expertise to marketing leadership (here, and here, for example).  With little effort, I was able to outline at least seven areas in which a senior marketer must demonstrate deep competence in order to be considered a true professional services marketing "expert."

Today, I heard about another competency.  This one is about the ability to assign resources, sometimes independent of each other, to work more effectively together than they might have separately in the past. 

Any seasoned professional service marketer knows the pitfalls of hiring outside assistance, knowing their limitations.  Marketers are judged on the performance of these outside sources, and rightfully so.  But what does one do when the outside resources themselves have limited competence, scope of services, or the special cutting-edge talents that a professional firm requires? 

In this case, a savvy chief marketing officer must cobble together an outside team that itself hasn't been able to provide the most needed services.  Take the example of two critical public relations functions: first, a seasoned and well-connected PR resource, who can tap a deep network to ensure that outside media features a client firm in extraordinarily valuable ways.  Second, an astute and time- oriented PR pro, who thinks it's a thrill to comb the daily media outlets for breaking news, in order to present the client firm's experts as quotable sources.   

This is a classic case of two separate resources who have created powerful niche orientations in the public relations service set.  But what if an outside resource doesn't feature them both?   Enter the seasoned Marketing Expert, whose job it is to bring these resources together, even if they don't know each other, and even if they may be working for separate public relations companies.

In this case, the whole is indeed more valuable than the parts.  It takes a seasoned "marketing expert" to creatively solve the problem. 

Increasingly, professional services executives will expect their marketing leaders to possess this skill.