What are best practices that delineate roles and responsibilities between marketing and communications - especially as it relates to leveraging the c-suite and other executive voices in marketing channels?

To avoid appearing disjointed to the c-suite/top leaders, Communications is the point of contact - otherwise too many people are coming at them with disparate requests (and sometimes silly ones) and - probably more important - we want to be seen as experts and establish value. The c-suite needs one point of contact for all communication-related things, which includes Marketing requests. Communications is in a better position to leverage and strengthen those relationships. Plus, we are the ones writing (or heavily reviewing/editing) the talking points or content (internal and external) for them b/c we can more consistently deliver in their voice. Marketing uses Comms as the bridge to get their requests to the c-suite.

One best practice that’s worked well for us is clearly separating who owns the message versus who amplifies it. Marketing focuses on strategy, audience, and channel execution, while comms handles the narrative, tone, and alignment with executive voices. When both teams collaborate early especially before involving the C-suite it keeps the messaging tight and avoids mixed signals across channels

This is an excellent question and one every marketing/comms org struggles with as organizations increasingly use executive visibility as a grown lever. Clear alignment and swim lanes are needed for Marketing and Communications. While both functions shape corporate narrative and brand reputation, they do so from distinct vantage points. Here’s how high-performing organizations delineate responsibilities and ensure a unified executive voice across channels:

Marketing:
- Drives pipeline, product demand, and brand adoption
- Uses executive voices to support commercial outcomes
- Owns customer-centric narratives linked to market opportunities
- Activates executives across paid and owned channels (web, email, socials, events, campaigns)

Communications (Corporate/Executive Comms)
- Stewards corporate reputation, trust, and risk
- Supports executives as institutional figures
- Owns earned channels: PR, media, analyst relations, crisis response
- Ensures message accuracy, compliance, and narrative continuity globally

Great question, Danielle! Here’s what we see working well with our clients:

Marketing owns the creative strategy, they create and adapt content for different channels and audiences (product descriptions, SEO copy, visuals, brand stories).

Communications acts as the governance layer, they ensure consistency, control versions, moderate content, and make sure messaging stays on-brand and compliant.

When it comes to leveraging C-suite voices:
The best approach we’ve seen is creating a pre-approved content library in your PIM with executive quotes, interviews, and video clips. Tag each piece with approval status, expiration date, and which channels it’s cleared for.

How it works:
- Communications owns approval for anything featuring executives
- Marketing can pull from the approved library or request new content through a workflow
- Set up specific attributes in PIM with restricted access for executive content

Quick RACI:
- Marketing = creates campaigns, owns performance
- Communications = approves executive messaging, owns brand safety
- Legal = consulted when needed

This keeps campaigns moving fast while avoiding the common pitfalls, outdated quotes, inconsistent messaging, or reputation risks​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.