From Visibility to Influence: Marketing’s Real Seat at the Table

Marketing has spent years chasing attention. But attention alone no longer proves value. In a recent interview with Indian Startup Times, Ishani Doshi, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Gallagher India, argues that the function is shifting from brand communication to business influence.

Same people, different industries

Doshi’s career spans advertising, banking, mobility and now insurance and risk management. Her observation across those worlds is that industries change far more than people do. Buyers do not grade an insurer against other insurers only; they compare every brand with the best experience they have had anywhere.

That raises the bar. Trust, simplicity, relevance and value become universal expectations, not category-specific ones.

Making expertise legible

Insurance and risk are full of specialised knowledge. Doshi’s approach is to anchor communications in familiar business realities: business continuity, employee well-being, cybersecurity, growth and asset protection. The marketer’s job is not to dilute expertise but to connect it to what stakeholders already care about.

In that framing, communication becomes a bridge between what a business knows and the value a stakeholder experiences.

The CMO as business leader

Doshi also makes the case for a bigger mandate. In her view, growth strategy, customer experience, digital transformation, data analytics, talent engagement and corporate reputation now sit inside marketing leadership. Credibility matters especially in financial services, where marketing leaders must understand regulation, operations and customer expectations before they can shape direction.

That is the difference between a function that publicises and one that influences.

Trust as the real moat

The interview’s sharpest line:

“Visibility gets you noticed. Influence gets you a seat at the table. Trust is what allows you to change the conversation.”

It is a useful hierarchy for brand teams:

• Visibility buys attention with media and reach.
• Influence earns a role in decisions because you bring relevant insight.
• Trust lets you reframe how stakeholders think about risk, value and choice.

Doshi says reputation is built through everyday consistency, not campaigns. Customers experience it through fulfilled promises, employees through culture, and partners through transparency.

On AI, her stance is measured: use it for segmentation, personalisation, prediction and measurement, but keep human judgement for cultural nuance, empathy and ethics.

Source: Indian Startup Times