Recently I had the pleasure and privilege of being one of six speakers on a panel for the Southern division of the Marketing Association where we gave our two cents worth on “What will Marketing look like in 2025 and beyond? A mainland perspective”. We were encouraged to be forthright and controversial if we wished – great way to rally the team to share their true thoughts!
The other speakers were passionate, articulate and emotive - and it was an honour to be in the mix with them. It was a fun event and a great way to get different perspectives communicated in a short space My thoughts were centred around the biggest challenges coming up being for marketers to stay relevant, funded and effective, and to add value to clients and the company. Not exactly controversial, but perhaps they are so in that they're not sexy, they're not about developing the best OOH campaign or dance for Tiktok, they're really about the fundamentals, and being clever marketers and managers.
Taking a leaf out of comedian Tom Sainsbury’s book, I got creative with an acrostic:
F Found
U Undercook
T Touchpoints
U Understanding
R Review
E Enchantment
Here's a quick summary of the key points:
F Found – be found! There is growing tension with the tech platforms, their algorithms, what brands want and what customers need. A game plan for voice and video search from your customer’s perspective is critical. These are all being indexed by search engines and it's how people want to find and consume content. It’s not hide and seek – being easy to be found is a good thing. Not just for your brand, but for the value you deliver.
U Undercook budgets. Times might be tough, and getting tougher, it’s all out of our control, what we can do is create effective budgets, and get clear on the must-do/have actions and what’s nice to have. What would you do with half the budget? Constraint breeds creativity. It helps you trim the fat and if the call comes later that numbers are down, you’re prepared. This is the permission slip you need to stop doing things the way you’ve always done them. Do less but better.
T Touchpoints – marketing fundamentals aren’t as sexy as advertising but that’s what gets attention and somehow eclipses what actual marketing is. Yet what retains and grows your customer base (not just the 'audience'!) is managing every touchpoint well from the initial moment of brand exposure to the NPS survey or invoice at the end of the process. Know your customer’s needs at each one and meet or exceed these.
U Understanding business context and strategy, and ensure your organisation’s leaders know your value. Marketing is not the colouring-in department and the future of marketing is predicated on marketers now securing resources, budgets and attention from all decision-makers. Own being the voice of the market and customers back into your organisation and input into and shape the organisation’s strategy from this viewpoint at every chance you can.
R Review your brand and business ‘truths’ and what’s developing as a trend. Get myth-busting. What works now might not work next. What’s on trend, might not be the right fit for you and that’s okay. Challenge your assumptions and allow room for innovation and new ways of doing/being. It’s easy to add more on and do what “they” are doing, but be bold, cut the dead wood, say no to TikTok if your clients aren’t on there or it doesn’t suit your brand – choose your path, don’t get sucked-in by momentum and history, or swept up into what’s trending.
Enchantment. Those that win in the future won’t be enchanted by the latest cool thing or the platform they themselves love, the winners will explore what’s possible and marry that with what’s relevant for the brand, business and customers. Stay informed, extract value so you can keep learning from your suppliers. Most marketers harness the power of an outsourced team of experts, ask a tonne of questions, work them hard, get the value you’re paying for! You can’t be all-knowing so ask their advice and insight, do experiment a little, and all the while building off a solid foundation.
