At what level of importance is Marketing within your organisation?

So, I accept that marketing isn’t the first things people focus on when setting up a new business. Unless a funded start up, resources are tight and most businesses rely on the quality of their product and service and positive word of mouth. But now you are established, how important a role does marketing play in your business? It is likely that the answer is mirrored by the level of seniority a marketing professional has within your business.

So, do you have a marketing director at board level, an experienced marketing manager, a marketing executive recently graduated, or have you tasked “marketing” to someone else within the company as a secondary responsibility?

Perhaps you outsource your marketing to a third party or the MD themselves are managing it (along with everything else). 

The reason I am asking is because the most successful companies in the world, in any sector, absolutely nail their marketing. So, consider where you are trying to get to, and the current level of importance you are applying to this vast discipline. Are they aligned correctly, or are these elements of your business on divergent paths?

So in order to fulfil your ambitions for the business, what level of marketing support does your business need and within what sort of timescale?