As part of our commitment to People Relations and Deep Connections, we recently hosted a dinner, talking at length with marketeers and business owners around the challenges and opportunities out there right now when it comes to promoting brands and organisations and importantly, connecting with audiences.
This sits alongside wider quantitative research we recently conducted with clients and contacts.
Our overarching aim is to ensure we understand marketers’ minds so we can deliver the most effective campaigns possible.
Here is taster of what we have been looking into. And it starts with asking challenging questions.
What keeps you up at night?
How well do you know your audiences?
What are your most effective comms channels and why?
How significant is the value of content creators?
Is there anything more important than sales?
Below are the top ten insights. I’m interested to hear, do you agree? What are your biggest challenges and opportunities?
Connecting with audIences – Challenges and opportunities
- There is considerable pressure on brands, compounded by the impacts of price increases and surcharges. This makes marketing tougher than ever right now.
- In this environment, it’s vital to scale business with the right teams. It’s all about the right people.
- Retail/supermarket buyers are much less available than they once were – meaning B2B comms / and trade press are key in order to get in front of them. And we discussed at length how to build relationships with buyers and have the opportunity to ‘sell’ products in the way we once could. This is what we call ‘People Relations’.
- There were discussions on balancing profit and doing good. Good doesn’t (necessarily) pay the bills or meet the bottom line – but kindness costs nothing. But happy and cohesive teams with strong and supplier relationships can definitely help profit.
- Some marketers felt disconnected from their audiences and wish to know them better; deep connections and knowing what is culturally relevant makes campaigns land.
- Intergenerational dialogue and lived experience are undervalued. We all have something to contribute at each generation.
- The value of content creators can be measured in metrics, but their true value is in influence, not just numbers. Shaping perception, relevance, and brand desire isn’t always fully quantifiable or definable. It may take two years to truly recruit a customer – it’s long-term.
- We also explored role models – from the power of the right kind of influencer to parents – and what this means to people today. It’s less about what the brand has to say, it’s about who says it and how they say it.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of peer-to-peer networking and validation. Giving another brand director or business owner a cheer from the sidelines goes a long way.
- And finally, what’s more important than sales? Profit. Profit that is delivered via a well-oiled sales and marketing team, working together, supporting the sales function with strong storytelling for the team to take to buyers, be that insights or success stories delivered through multiple channels, including earned and influencer comms. Everyone works together to drive the sales that make a valuable difference to the business.
A huge thank you to those who have joined the conversations so far. Watch this space as we continue to explore many of these topics, and hopefully we’ll see you around the table at a future event.