PR, Marketing & Advertising, Where is the Nexus?
There is an infamous quote in marketing. "Anyone who pursues a career in marketing is either madly passionate about it or they do not know what to do with their lives."If you are like me, you probably dreamt of working with world-leading brands, working on exciting campaigns and earning loads from the corporate world.
Then tectonic reality plates shift to you. Where you are now, is probably not where you expect to be, and neither is your job description.The marketing world is extremely upbeat. Everyday, you will realize there is something you are inadequately prepared for, a new tool that organizations are being advised to implement and probably overwhelmed with the moving pieces in your well-thought out marketing strategy.
Issue #1- Lack of Fundamental Knowledge
Communications, Sales, Marketing, PR & Advertising are generally taught as a cluster in school or some disciplines are left out. In an instant, we are graduates in these exciting fields, true & tested by the 3-month internships.Once you start off your career, you realize there are areas where you lack the know how, yet it is a key performance indicator.Where do you begin? There is an overwhelming set of information on the internet where each piece preaches its own gospel.Stress levels slowly mount on you and the imposter syndrome kicks in. You will switch between positions to learn as much as possible, but when it comes to hard work — you realize you know nothing.Take every opportunity you can to learn to become a T-shaped professional, practice and specialize in your area of work.
Issue #2-Demonstrating Value
PR, Marketing, Sales and Communications are entwined and neither is optimally functional without the other. How do you tell business that your efforts positively contributed to critical functions and created a commercial advantage? Clearly demonstrating ROI is a challenge for traditional aspects in PR because there is no single formula that shows tangible impact. In the current marketing era, there has never been a greater need to show results.
In 2017, CIM'S research found that despite marketing being responsible for driving revenue growth of 19%, 60% of marketing directors do not believe their contribution is taken seriously in their company. To drive a buy in for a seat at the table, marketers need to show, clear as day that their impact drives results and drives success for the company. To get a head start, here is show how your marketing efforts drove results.
Issue 3-#Understanding Customer Behaviour
Customer behavior and trends are constant moving pieces. Behavior changes are not linear and their stickiness will depend on satisfaction of the new experiences, or a pandemic as we witnessed in 2020-2021. According to this research, 79% of consumers in South Africa have changed stores, brands, or the way they shop due to the pandemic. To stay relevant, brand managers have to consider, adapt and respond to a rapidly changing world and marketplace.
To create effective marketing and communication campaigns, advertisers need to analyze their target audiences, where to reach them and their consumer behavior. Digital data trail is immensely valuable in this sense. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2020 exposed how social media companies, particularly Facebook, had been collecting personal information of millions of its US users, and sold it to political agencies for purposes of targeted campaigns.
The massive fallout saw stringent data privacy safeguards put in place, placing some constraints in the advertising industry. Cookies, third-party cookies, in particular,which drive a lot of online ads, usefulness will soon be diminished. Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari already ban them, and Google says it will block them on Chrome in 2023.
Advertisers, marketers and publishers will need to rethink how they connect with their readers and customers.
Issue 4-#Creating Substantial Growth on A Budget
Marketers need to deliver growth to their businesses, by creating meaningful and engaging communication with their audiences.Being nimble, creative is what drives SMEs to be so innovative with their marketing, but with smaller ponds to pull from, driving the right results comes from clutching at the straws. In 2020-2021, advertising spends dropped by 31.8 Billion, which catalyzed and sped up significant drastic shifts in consumer behavior and spend. Opportunities for growth therefore must be recognized and pounced on by professionals, to drive the commercial growth that is so crucial
Issue 5#-Where is the Nexus?
We had mentioned sales, marketing, pr and advertising are intertwined. Yet, as a professional in the field, you need to achieve success in a diverse set of elements aggressively.
Which among these is the do you show the biggest impact?
Will these mean that some areas you need to prioritize more?
Consumers have more purchase options and greater market insights than ever before. An increasingly conscious wave of consumers is looking for brands that offer ‘something bigger’ than the products or services they sell. Following your brand purpose is the key to identifying and articulating your north star. When you discover why your brand breathes and shines beyond the revenue, then you get a clear indication of what you need to do and how, you achieve balance; the inconceivable nexus.
Infuse your brand purpose in every part of your communication, marketing, and every sales interaction.
Build a community centered on your brand purpose. Create authenticity, and engage audiences on a deeper level.
This way, every aspect of your businesses is centered on what the brand really is. Where every effort counts, and balance of the moving plates is conceivable.