MARKETING PROFESSION
Shanil Perera
TIME TO REALIGN
Crossing over to a new era of global consumerism
Marketing profession today
A dynamic profession driven by rapidly evolving consumer trends and behaviours.
Three strengths of the marketing profession
Branding, communication and creativity.
Three weaknesses of the marketing profession
Identifying true consumer insights, reliable analytics and accurate targeting.
Three new prospective customer segments
The digital shopper or customer; the values and ethics seeking customer; and the no-frills simplicity seeking customer.
Three evolving consumer trends or behaviours
Personalisation, transparency and engagement.
Three barriers to the profession’s growth in Sri Lanka
Lack of knowledge or awareness of core marketing competencies; limited marketing job opportunities especially in the public sector; and equating marketing to advertising.
Local marketing talent in a sentence
Immense potential with limited opportunities to thrive.
Regional marketing profession in a nutshell
Rapidly adapting, and mostly on a par with the Western world in terms of marketing strategy and execution.
Local vs regional marketing profession in a few words
Marketing talent is certainly on a par if not better. However, with limited opportunities to thrive, our true potential in marketing strategy and execution is yet to be realised.
Two ways to boost marketing education for students
Improving accessibility to education and increasing post-education opportunities.
Gender balance in the profession
Better than most other professions, in my opinion.
Women in marketing management
They are essential. As key influencers and predominant decision makers in consumer purchasing, women relate better, and decipher consumer insights and trends more accurately.
Impact of COVID-19 on marketing
An instant and drastic change in consumer behaviour and priorities.
Three initiatives to jumpstart the marketing profession post-COVID
Realign activity with speed to leverage current and emerging trends, realign route to market through e-commerce, and optimise targeting and marketing spending through analytics.
Scope of marketing in Sri Lanka
Presently undefined, in my view. So it is up to the marketing fraternity to define and expand on this.
Millennials and gen Z…
Cannot be grouped together – they are quite different.
How to market to them
Some common elements would include reaching out with content driven, purposeful and cause marketing mainly through digital platforms.
Impact of influencers on the marketing profession
Becoming increasingly important, as influencer reach has increased exponentially through social media, resulting in an increased follower
or consumer base.
Sri Lanka’s competitiveness
Relatively strong but not being leveraged and amplified to its full potential.
Technology adoption in Sri Lanka
Quick adoption and slow commercialisation.
Impact of social media on the world at large
A double-edged sword that is here to stay, and must be wielded with clear intent and utmost care.
Productivity is affecting industrial and economic growth
Yes – through low productivity, Sri Lanka loses its competitiveness locally and globally.
Corruption is affecting industrial and economic growth
Yes – we are partly to blame for taking it for granted.
Competition drives innovation
Yes – it pushes you to innovate or elevate in a bid to maintain a differentiated value proposition.
The marketing profession in five years’ time
Heavily reliant on data analytics in a bid to be more accurate and efficient in consumer targeting and messaging.
Rather than pushing products and services alone…
It will be more about brand engagement and experience, and responsible or cause marketing.
The essence of future marketing is…
Best captured in Moneyball – which is based on a true story – because of the use of analytics for accurate targeting, thereby generating a high ROI or return on advertising spend (ROAS).
Out of the box marketing personality
Walt Disney – his primary focus was creating experiences, engagement, happiness and fun through storytelling first, and leveraging the resulting emotional connect for monetisation.
Mantra for success
Work hard. Play hard.
