much more of a practice rather than a profession as there are specific parameters that a profession must meet in order to qualify . A keen interest in a discipline does not make one a professional in that discipline .
To be regarded as a profession , a discipline must have a barrier to entry , there has to be a minimum qualification that allows one to practice that profession . The usual route is academic qualifications but an apprenticeship with the necessary experience could work .
A profession should have a community of practice , once one is admitted into to the profession there has to be a way to maintain a sense of community which is achieved by a common practice . The practice is common but specialization is optional .
A profession should also have a body of knowledge that is enriched by academic input , research and experience . The case studies in the profession are the beacons by which students and new entrants in the profession find their footing .
A profession has to have an ethical framework , a code of practice that must be adhered to and there must be penalties should a person choose to infringe on the code . This protects the profession from unscrupulous people who would like to pass of as professionals .
A profession must also have continuous professional development schemes . Qualifying and acceptance into a profession implies a commitment to keep oneself abreast with all the development that appertain to the profession and help in increasing the body of personal or general knowledge .
A profession needs to be entrenched in law so that the decisions of the profession have the backing and the force of law to ensure discipline and compliance with the set standards of the profession which every professional agrees to on admission .
We thought that instead of going through the sometimes rigid regulatory path of professionals in the health and building industry , marketing would opt for the voluntary institutions that would enroll members and carry out all mandates that professional associations do .
But this path has failed miserably and in the mess the country has suffered unnecessarily as we progressively drifted from marketing professionalism and adopted a laissez-faire attitude and allowed unqualified people to hijack the profession .
A return to professional status for marketing is not a nice to do thing but an essential part of the economic recovery of the country . If all the borrowing we are currently doing was for setting up manufacturing industries and improving service delivery Kenya would be thriving .
The value of hiring a professional marketer is their expertise and experience coupled with commitment and talent . You would be tapping into their network of relationships and you are guaranteed reliable and consistent quality of output .
This can only become a reality if you can guarantee that the professional has gone through the necessary training and experience for matriculation into the profession and the confidence that the individual is not only vetted but is committed to continuous improvement within the profession .
The gauntlet has been thrown down and it is up to marketers to reclaim their rightful place as drivers of the economic recovery that the county is in dire need of . Marketers have shirked their responsibility for far too long and the result is the sorry state the economy is in .
To do this there is need to look into the training curriculums to ascertain that the taught syllabus is in line with the needs of the economy and its political dispensation to ensure that the marketing function is also devolved into the county structure .
We then have to look at the existing institutions that are supposed to regulate the practice of marketing and confirm that they are adequately staffed and funded to be able to deliver on the overarching vision of the marketing profession which will need to be reworked to reflect current reality .
Being professional means that the customer is handled with utmost care and respect , he is not lied to , conned or mislead by business . His privacy is protected and access is not abused . For this state to prevail marketers must revert to professionalism .
The basic principles of customer care and relationship would automatically be observed if the professionals belonged to a body that ensured that standards and practices are adhered to apart from being the determinant of these standards by training and vetting .
The crux of the challenge is to get practicing professionals to become engaged and active members of the profession by recreating effective and credible institutions that will train and certify the practitioners and eventually weed out those that have brought disrepute to the profession .
A very important and key attribute of a profession is its ability to exclude errant members who willfully or otherwise are unwilling to follow the code of practice that ensures that the country is in a position to grow and create employment for its youth .
Marketers need to take up the challenge to reclaim their profession and to regain the role of the drivers of the business engine that drives development . Marketers need to sell this new vision to the country ’ s leadership and that is what marketers do best ; we sell ideas that move the country forward .
The road ahead is both exciting and challenging but it is a road that should never have been allowed to get derailed . But what matters is the collective resolve of marketers to forge ahead and create an enabling environment under which the revamped marketing profession will operate .
To fix the country we need to first fix the profession and we are confident that our professional voice will once again reverberate as we strive to regain the coveted title of not only the fastest growing economy but the hub of commercial activity in in the region .
The cover piece was assembled by the Marketing Africa editorial crew . For feedback or any more discourse please drop us a line at : Info @ marketingafrica . co . ke .