Kerry Leng discusses marketing as a profession, her role as head of marketing, communications and information at NEXUS and being a North East board member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing
Marketing is as creative a profession as you’re going to get.
We get to think creatively, influence hearts and minds and change behaviours. But we need to take ourselves and our profession seriously, too.
In my experience marketers are great at many things; understanding motivations, creating innovative solutions to problems and engaging with the right people at the right time. But what we’re not very good at is extolling our own virtues – promoting our own profession.
We need to make a conscious effort to demonstrate the fundamental role that marketing plays in the success of a business.
Marketing can suffer a bad reputation. Because we’re creative thinkers we can be viewed as flighty, dreamers. Because we’re output-driven, we face the assumption that we’re at the end of the line, simply creating pretty pictures for products and services developed elsewhere in the business. Because we often call upon budgets, we’re viewed as a business expense.
Good quality and authentic marketing is about putting the customer at the heart of business operations and business decision-making. And every serious marketer knows that.
I’m a fully qualified chartered marketer. I’ve worked in a variety of marketing roles in the North East for more years than I care to remember. I’ve also tutored many students through their own CIM journey. My advice to them is to enjoy being a marketer and all the creative freedom it offers. However, always remember to prove your worth within your own business setting, whatever that is.
Justify your decisions and your actions by evaluating what you do. Modify your plans based on insight you discover along the way. Talk the language of the board room and demonstrate the value that your activities bring to the business. Prove your return on investment (ROI).
Brand and reputation management is a key feature of the marketing day-job. By taking ourselves seriously we protect the reputation of our chosen profession.
The current pandemic is a game-changer for all industries. It is forcing businesses right across the world to re-evaluate their structure, their processes, their raison d’etre. It’s forcing all of us to go back to the beginning and examine who we are, what we do and what we’re doing it all for.
Many of us may not be in a position to actively promote and advertise our business products and services right now, but we can go back to the core principles of marketing.
Businesses across the world are innovating, many have been forced to. They are developing new products and services, they are building new distribution strategies and they are finding new and different ways to communicate with and engage with their customers and their stakeholders.
At Tyne and Wear Metro we are focussing on reassuring customers that when they need to use us, we’re here for them and that we’re doing everything we can to provide a covid-secure environment. We’ve maintained a train service throughout the pandemic, providing Metro trains for key workers and those making essential journeys, staying a key part of everyday life in Tyne and Wear. As we look ahead to the easing of lock-down we’re investing in innovative anti-viral cleaning solutions, re-imagining passenger flows to maintain social distancing and fast-tracking innovative ticketing solutions. Recovery won’t be easy for any business, but our customers are at the very heart of all our activities right now.
That’s why we’re pressing ahead with our investment plans. Over the next five years Nexus will be investing more than half a billion pounds in a new train fleet, and in track upgrades to increase the frequency and capacity of Metro. Our work continues, to ensure Metro is here to deliver a modern-day transport system that our customers can depend on.
In my role on the North East CIM Board, I connect senior marketers, creating positive and beneficial networks. Marketing departments vary hugely in shape and size. You might have a team you can bounce ideas off or you might be a lone ranger, single-handedly carrying the marketing mantle for your whole company. In the North East there is a ready-made network of marketers who are happy to share ideas, experience and knowledge. Even to collaborate. You just need to make the initial connection. After all, you never know where a conversation might take you.
