What’s the most important role for marketing in your business?
Growing sales? Increasing mental availability? Using price to defend margins? All of the above?
Over half (57.9%) of respondents to Marketing Week’s 2025 Language of Effectiveness survey, in partnership with Kantar and Google, claim growing market share is the most important part of their remit.
Some 54% of the more than 1,000 brand marketers surveyed say communicating a consistent and desirable brand image is a core function of marketing, followed some way behind by defending or growing sales (36.2%) and maximising cut-through with target audiences (36.1%).
Under a third (27.7%) of the total sample define ensuring the mental and physical availability of brand/products as the most important role of marketing, followed closely (26.4%) by ensuring the product portfolio is right for market demand.
Less than a fifth (19.7%) of respondents view category growth as the most important part of their remit, while just 12.7% see defending/growing profit margins through price as the central function of marketing.
Some 60.1% of CMOs and marketing directors agree growing market share is the key role of marketing.
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This opinion is shared by almost two-thirds (64.8%) of B2C marketers and 61.5% of those working within large organisations (250 employees and over).
Marketers within SMEs are marginally more likely to see communicating a consistent and desirable brand image (59.3%) as the main task of marketing, followed by growing market share (51.9%).
Similarly, 60.6% of B2B marketers believe communicating a consistent and desirable brand image is the most important function of marketing, followed again by growing market share (57.6%).
Interestingly, defending and growing sales is not being prioritised in the same way.
While over two-fifths (42.1%) of CMOs see defending/growing sales as the most important aspect of marketing, just 27.8% of B2C marketers feel the same. The data suggests growing sales (37.6%) is, however, more of a priority for their B2B peers.
Some 37.2% of marketers working in large businesses and 35% of their SME counterparts see defending and growing sales as central to the marketing remit.
Looking at the data in greater detail reveals driving category growth is not a major focus for many marketers. Indeed, just 16.9% of CMOs class growing a brand’s category as the most important job for marketing.
Category growth is a priority for under a fifth of marketers working in large organisations (19.1%), as well as those working in B2B (18.8%) and B2C (17.9%) businesses. The number prioritising category growth is only marginally higher (21%) within SMEs.
Likewise, just 16.9% of CMOs regard using price to defend/grow profit margins as the most important part of the marketing remit.
Defending and growing profit margins through price is consistently rated the least important task for marketing. This is regardless of size of business – with SMEs at 11.7% and larger organisations at 13% – or whether the marketers work in a business or consumer market – be that B2B (10.3%) or B2C (13%).
Market volatility
However, when asked how the importance of these various jobs has evolved as a result of the current economic climate, delivering sales growth has assumed greater importance.
The vast majority of the sample (78.1%) say the need to defend/grow sales has increased in response to market volatility.
Over two-thirds (68.9%) claim the focus has ramped up on growing market share, while 64.4% of respondents are putting more energy into maximising cut-through with target audiences.
More than half of the total sample (59.6%) have seen interest increase in communicating a consistent and desirable brand image, defending/growing profit margins through price (58%) and ensuring the product portfolio fits market demand (55.6%).
Category growth has become more of a focus for 46.8% of marketers, at the same level (46.1%) as ensuring mental and physical availability of their brand/products.
Returning to sales specifically, most B2C marketers (81.7%) claim sales growth has taken on greater importance in the current economic climate, a view shared by 71.4% of their B2B peers.
Sales growth is the element of the marketing remit which has risen most in importance in the current economic climate for marketers within small firms (72.7%) and large businesses (80.8%).
Growing market share has ramped up in importance for more than two-thirds of marketers working in SMEs (68.9%) and large corporates (68.4%). The focus has heightened on market share growth for 69.3% of B2C marketers and 65.9% of their B2B peers.
In response to the current market volatility, need is growing to use price as a mechanism to defend and grow profit margins.
Almost two-thirds (65.7%) of B2C marketers agree attention has shifted to using price to maintain and grow margins, which is seen to a lesser extent (48%) among those working in B2B businesses.
Utilising price as a lever to deliver improved profit margins has ramped up in focus for 60.6% of marketers in large organisations and 53.3% of those in smaller firms.
To a lesser extent, interest is increasing in category growth, regardless of business size. Some 46.9% of SME marketers and 46.5% working within big businesses have turned their attention towards category growth in the current economic climate.
Interestingly, less than a third (31.7%) of B2C marketers have increased their focus on growing their brand’s category, versus 42.6% of their B2B peers.
With economic volatility only set to increase in the coming months, the need for marketers to drive sales, grow market share and defend their margins shows no sign of abating.
Marketing Week will continue its reporting from the Language of Effectiveness research in the coming weeks. Click here to download our report on the data.
