E
very now and then I go through
periods of intense reflection.
Lately, I’ve questioned my career
as a marketing professional. It’s probably
silly, right? I’m sure if companies like
Nike, Unilever, P&G, Safaricom, etc. were
asked, they’d immediately vouch for their
marketing departments. They’d probably
say the following:
• The marketing department is responsible
for creating and sharing messages about
our company and its products that allows
for repeat business and thus consistently
positive revenues. Additionally, this allows
us to remain top-of-mind to our various
publics.
• The marketing department is responsible
for keeping our stakeholders aware of
occurrences relevant to us such as product
launches, mergers & acquisitions, etc.
• The marketing department ensures
equitable and efficient resource utilization
for the different product offerings.
• Because of marketing efforts, we’ve
developed and continue to iterate our
route-to-market strategies to ensure that
our products get to the market in good
time and in good condition.
• The marketing department, through
continuous research, is alert to changing
consumer needs and as such, we’re able to
create or adjust our product offerings to
meet their needs.
• The marketing department helps
determine the prices we should charge
for our products, bearing in mind not
only inputs but other elements such as
perception and positioning.
• The marketing department understands
the power of brands and is as such
responsible for managing our corporate
and product brands.
• Because of its customer centric nature,
the marketing department is first to vouch
for innovation in terms of product, price,
place and promotion keeping us relevant.
• The marketing department ensures that
we are present on strategic platforms
both online and offline to promote our
corporate and product brands.
In addition to this, marketing as a discipline
is relevant to society because it allows
for healthy competition, meaning that
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consumers receive products that enhance
quality of life, at reasonable prices and at
places that are accessible to them; Through
educating consumers on product use,
contributing to knowledge pools; Through
building demand for products, expanding
labor force; Influencing behavioral change
positively that enhances way of life (e.g.
hand-washing campaigns); and ultimately
building economies.
Knowing all this, why, would I ponder the
path of a marketing professional? Possibly,
the seismic shifts in the profession have
given it a completely different shape that
makes me wonder exactly how I fit in. As
such I feel somewhat out of place and
question just how relevant I still am. For
this reason, I did a little digging and found
that I’m not the only one in this quagmire.
Mutua M. Mutua discussed the relevance
of marketing today in his article, “Is
Marketing At Crossroads?” He posited
that marketing has recently experienced
the most disruption in comparison to
other professionals. This is something
every marketer can attest to. Just 12 years
ago the term digital marketing had just
come to the fore and suddenly, it became
imperative to understand a whole new
dimension to marketing. Pundits as a
result proclaimed the death of marketing
as we know it.
Technological advances seem to solidify
this claim. AI assistants are expected to
use algorithms and predictive analytics
to offer information, goods, and services
to customers. When chatbots can have
conversations like human beings, there
probably is need to worry.
Marketing additionally is one of those
professions that requires understanding
of many subjects. An article from Inc.com
titled, “100 Marketing Skills That Build
Great Marketing and Sales Careers” reveals
the extent that marketing professionals
have to stay significant in today’s
competitive market. Some of the skills
include: blogging, copywriting, content
creation, design basics, photography,
influencer marketing, media planning and
buying, budget management, emotional
intelligence, project management, brand
management, market research, analysis
and statistics, public speaking, storytelling,
and the list continues. However, there
is a problem as they say with knowing
everything; in actual sense you really don’t
know anything…
I love reading. I recently completed Phil
Knight’s book ‘Shoe Dog.’ Below is an
excerpt from his book: “Why him?” Hayes
asked. “Uh well,” I said, “for starters, he’s
a CPA…” Hayes waved his hand over
his head. “Just what we need, “another
accountant.” He had me there. I did seem
to hire nothing but accountants. And
lawyers. It wasn’t that I had some bizarre
affection for accountants and lawyers, I just
didn’t know where else to look for talent. I
reminded Hayes, not for the first time that
there is no shoe school, no University of
Footwear from which we could recruit. We
needed to hire people with sharp minds,
that was our priority, and accountants and
lawyers had at least proven they could
master a difficult subject. And pass a big
test.
Most had already demonstrated basic
competence. When you hired an
accountant, you knew he or she could
count. When you hired a lawyer, you knew
he or she could talk. When you hired a
marketing expert, or product developer,
what did you know? Nothing. You couldn’t
predict what he or she could do, or if he or
she could do anything.
That last paragraph in all honesty was
And then I graduated. More than eager, I
was sure the world was for my taking. A
few months in and I realized that the world
wasn’t quite for my taking. The jobs I got
initially were in sales. Baptism by fire prob-
ably best captures the shock I met in the job
market. Then I was advised that if I want-
ed to get ahead in the market, I didn’t have
much choice but to pursue professional qual-
ifications.