by Faheem Chaudhry (@FaheemChaudhry) The marketing industry has always been synonymous with having too many buzzwords. For that, we’re guilty as charged. It’s the currency that advertising schools arm their young horses with as they charge into day one out on the front line.
Too fixated
The problem with buzzwords is that people tend to get a little too fixated on them, and so it follows that one chooses a side. Traditional vs digital. The big idea vs big data. The odd maverick will even put out a rebuttal or two against the current trend, such as fellow Marklives.com columnist, Bob Hoffman the @adcontrarian.
For young people entering the industry, it can all become a little muddy. And, as the industry continues to change at a pace like never before, how do we focus on what’s most important?
I’d like to argue that it’s time we write the new rules. It’s time to rethink how we orientate ourselves in the ad industry. We’re in the midst of our own revolution — the consumer revolution. So let’s take a moment to zoom out a little, and focus on what is really going to drive remarkable change for organisations and businesses in the years to come.
Persuasion game is changing
Marketers used to control all communication that brands were associated with. Consumers’ perceptions were shaped by the messages that companies used to put out. Well, comrades, the persuasion game is changing.
The reasons consumers choose brands are influenced by a growing number of variables. None more important than the views of consumers themselves. People now own brand conversations. Everyone is an author. Everyone is an advocate and influencer of brands and what people think of them.
As young marketers growing their careers during such a time, there are a few things we need to change up and realise.
1. Experience isn’t always expertise
While many of our seniors in the industry were able to learn from their predecessors, very few people in the industry today can truly claim to have the experience in how to navigate the changing tides of the industry. This is simply because the rate at which the communication game is changing far outpaces the speed at which people are able to master new capabilities.
We’re finding various other industries having a growing influence on communication. Techies and coders, for example, are playing a massive role in the persuasion of brands and how consumers are exposed to, and experience them.
Additionally, young people are becoming far more influential much earlier in their careers. The buzzword-lot call these digital natives or something of the sort.
The point here is, that from a young age, far before we even studied communication, we were engaging with technology and learning skills that are of critical importance to the way brands communicate today. We were giving and sharing our opinions on companies and customer service way before we were in jobs, where managing this is now of such importance.
So, having past industry experience doesn’t always translate into having the expertise necessary to be ahead of the game. As young marketers we’ve got to embrace this shift, and sometimes look to previously unconventional industry sources to increase our overall expertise.
2. Agility
Those who adapt fastest will win. The industry is no longer looking for only those who are specialists in a particular discipline. More so, the youngsters who show a strong hand at their core discipline, but can add value across the communication spectrum, are the sought-after talent.
Being able to influence the communication of a brand at every point that it meets a consumer is a skill set that we’ll need to grow in. Bringing a singular skill to the table just won’t be enough at a time when adapting to change is fast becoming a core competency of success.
As new efficiencies enter the market and brands by effect are influenced in such ways, being flexible enough to welcome, understand and grasp change with speed will be of the highest importance. Things are going to keep getting faster; best we do, too.
4. Good isn’t good enough
The industry has forever been criticised for how much average communication is put out there. Now, more than ever, good just isn’t good enough. More and more companies are entering the competitive sphere. A startup of eight people may be as successful in reaching its market as a 50-year-old established organisation of 500 employees.
So pushing out good communication, at a time where clutter is becoming king, isn’t going to get you noticed. Great communication is what might get you noticed. Stand-out communication is what gives you permission to speak.
Consumer’s lives are just too fast and too busy to give their time to brands talking the same talk. As the next generation, we’re going to operating at a time when clarity and distinction will win. Anything that risks becoming part of the clutter will struggle to hold much of the consumer attention.
5. Finding new connection points
It’s time we take what the textbooks say about channel advertising with a pinch of salt. Consumers are connecting with brands in some of the most unexpected places in the most unexpected ways. These are the brands that are trailblazing their categories, as they’ve explored unique moments where they can enter their consumer’s lives in the most meaningful and persuasive of ways.
Let’s take Tom Ford, for example. Las year, on the album Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay-Z dropped a track named after the designer himself. Whether this was a marketing stunt pulled by Ford or not — the alignment with Jay-Z was a masterstroke.
What better way to make your name and brand synonymous with youth and popular aspirational culture than by having a global icon of such a movement name a song after you on his much-anticipated album?
As the next generation looks at planning the communication of brands, the most unique and relevant connection points outside of the ordinary should be at the core of our thinking. It will help us drive meaningful communication out to consumers, as opposed to the tried and tested ways of the past.
Lead the charge
As the industry continues to push and learn about its boundaries and growing capabilities, young marketers need to lead the charge in redefining how we do business. We’ll need to make full use of our growing experience and, through being agile, grow our expertise in as wide a way as possible.
As more and more businesses leverage technology to enter the competitive environment, millennial marketers will need to be far harder on ourselves than ever before. To repeat, only stand-out communication will give brands the permission to speak to consumers who, in turn, have a growing influence on the perceptions that shape business.
It’s an ever changing dynamic for us to wrap our heads around, but what an adventure it’s going to be. It’s time to write the new rules.
Faheem Chaudry (@FaheemChaudhry) is a passionate marketer at M&C Saatchi Abel. With a focus on the future, his aim is to better entrench the importance of creative thinking to solving critical business problems. Faheem contributes the monthly “Millennial Ad-grad” column to MarkLives.
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