MARKETING PROFESSION
Compiled by Lourdes Abeyeratne
CATCHING ON TO NEW MEDIA
Janmesh Paul Antony underscores why businesses must understand consumers
Q: Have the capabilities of our marketing professionals evolved in line with their global counterparts?
A: I believe that they have; and the profession is growing with many opportunities for marketers in Sri Lanka. Local marketers have also taken on more prominent roles in the global context and performed well. I have witnessed brilliant work by our marketers, which has been recognised at the highest levels on the world stage.
However, the intensity of competition in Sri Lanka is less than in other countries where marketers are kept on their toes all day long to ensure they have an edge over competitors and produce world-class communications. This could compromise the quality of work in Sri Lanka at times.
Also, if you were to generalise the work done here, there is a disparity between local and international campaigns. But this has more to do with the market as a whole rather than our marketers per se. While the preferences or perceptions of consumers in global markets are more evolved with regard to the media or content they consume, the local market and consumers are still evolving.
But there is a shift as Sri Lankans are becoming more affluent and knowledgeable about what they consume. It may take some time for the local market to catch up but as this evolution continues, our marketers will be able to produce better content on a par with international markets – we certainly have the tools and capabilities to do so.
Q: What do you consider to be the main limitations of the profession?
A: There may be challenges or limitations in communicating effectively as consumers are continuously evolving. Despite having large budgets and great communication materials, if the content is irrelevant because businesses don’t understand what consumers want, marketing campaigns may fail. So marketers must always keep their audience in mind.
The speed at which products, services and campaigns are launched is also a key to maintain their relevance as trends don’t last long.
Furthermore, given that they have the capital, everyone has access to technology that enables them to manufacture anything of any complexity. So sometimes, marketers have very little to play with in terms of product differentiation or USPs. This can be limiting at times, and simultaneously inspiring in sparking creativity to find new and artful ways to position brands.
Q: How has the digital age impacted traditional marketing channels?
A: There has been a significant impact globally but in Sri Lanka, most of the population still consumes some form of traditional media with TV retaining the highest penetration. But this is not true of the entire population as millennials and generation Z are tech savvy, and consume more digital media.
To address this, traditional media operators have established a digital presence, and are uploading content on platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, in addition to producing content for traditional marketing channels.
This shift is not taking place as quickly as in the global setting but Sri Lanka is well on its way to embracing the digital age.
Q: What should businesses keep in mind as they look to leverage digital media platforms for their marketing and branding activities?
A: Digital media is a vast arena; it encompasses not only social media but different forms of mobile platforms, other devices through which the internet can be accessed and e-commerce among others. So it’s important to identify where consumers spend time and how they consume content.
There are many ways to do this – big data, analytics, digital agencies and IT companies offer insights into consumer behaviour online. Marketers must understand what consumers are doing on digital media and try to integrate communications or create them for the media that are consumed.
Moreover, businesses must adopt an omni-channel approach and ensure their presence on all channels where their consumers interact.
Marketers must also ensure that they do not focus entirely on a single platform unless they have extensive evidence to support such a move.
Q: How should the marketing profession develop in the years ahead?
A: Marketers must adopt a startup mindset – this mentality will be important going forward because they must learn to fail fast and fail small. If you’re trying something new and risky, it should be done on a small scale with the flexibility to change course as and when needed.
I’ve witnessed many companies driving this behaviour in marketers and believe it will offer endless opportunities in the future.
