In a new "Manifesto for Marketing" that appears in CMO Magazine, Mohanbir Sawhney argues that customer insight is the key to marketing credibility.

"Marketers often complain about the lack of authority and lack of influence over their colleagues in engineering, operations or finance," he writes. "The simple fact is—nobody will give you a seat at the table; you have to earn it. And the best way to gain power is through knowing your customers better than anyone else in the organization."

Rather than trying to reposition their work as valuable, marketing leaders can demonstrate the value they provide by bringing customer intelligence into planning and operational activities throughout the organization. "Customer expertise will provide marketers with the courage of conviction they need to promote their point of view to other parts of the organization," he continues. "Remember that you cannot outsource customer understanding to market research vendors. You have to get in front of customers and get inside their lives."