The marketing director belongs in the room where strategy is made

Listen or watch · Episode 17 · 4:26Why the Marketing Director Belongs in the Strategy Room

When I became Director of Marketing at Newcastle University, one of my first priorities was to change how the team was seen. Like many university marketing functions, it was largely viewed as a service: colleagues came to us with a brief, we produced the campaign, the brochure or the web page. We were good at it, but we were rarely involved in the decisions that shaped what we were asked to deliver.

Over the following years, that changed. By the time I left, the team was regarded as a strategic partner across the institution. The difference wasn’t a restructure or a new title. It was about evidence, relationships and the right seat at the right table.

Why it matters

Almost every major decision a university makes has reputational consequences. Which markets to enter, which programmes to launch or close, how to respond to policy change, how to communicate a restructure, which partnerships to pursue. When those decisions are made without marketing and communications expertise in the room, the institution often finds out too late that a good decision has been badly received, or that a better option was missed.

In the commercial world, chief marketing officers increasingly sit on executive boards because customer insight is recognised as strategic. Higher education has been slower to follow, and I think it’s costing institutions dearly.

Almost every major decision a university makes has reputational consequences.

Earning the seat

I’d be the first to say that marketing leaders have to earn their place. From my own experience and from the many directors I worked with as Chair of the Russell Group Marketing & Student Recruitment Forum, the ones who succeed tend to share a few habits.

They speak the language of the institution. Recruitment numbers, income, research reputation and student outcomes, not impressions and click-through rates. They connect their work to the measures the executive already cares about.

They bring insight, not just output. The most valuable thing a marketing director can bring to an executive meeting is evidence about audiences: what prospective students, employers and partners think, and what’s changing.

They build relationships across the institution. Strong partnerships with deans, finance, the international office and the vice-chancellor’s office matter more than any reporting line.

They’re willing to challenge. Being in the room means being prepared to say when a decision carries reputational risk, and to propose an alternative.

What vice-chancellors can do

The responsibility doesn’t sit with marketing leaders alone. Vice-chancellors and executive teams can make a significant difference by involving marketing and communications early in strategic discussions, asking for reputational impact as a standard part of major proposals and holding the function to account for evidence, not just activity.

Some institutions do this by giving the director a place on the executive team. Others achieve it through a strong relationship with the vice-chancellor and a standing role in key committees. The structure matters less than the principle: reputation should shape strategy, not simply follow it.

The payoff

Institutions that make this shift tend to make better decisions, communicate them more effectively and respond to change more quickly. They also attract and keep better marketing talent, because ambitious leaders want to work where their expertise is valued.

My advice to marketing directors is to start building the evidence and the relationships now. My advice to vice-chancellors is simpler: if your marketing director isn’t in the room when strategy is made, ask yourself what the institution is missing.

Jonathan Sabarre FCIM MBA is Principal Consultant at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a keynote speaker and host of Marketing Greats in Higher Education. Get the weekly email or invite him to speak.