Like so many of you, when I started studying marketing the focus was on the 4 P’s. As I started my career new tools and technology increasingly became available to support our activities. The increase in data and technology now is dramatically changing the way we market to consumers.
The ability to personalise marketing on a mass scale was something that could only be dreamt of not so long ago. Now I see our marketing teams personalise many of our marketing activities to enrich the brand experience or how a customer interacts with the brand. These changes are opening new possibilities for marketers. From different ways to reach customers to different insights that support campaigns, technology is fast tracking the evolution of marketing.
It won’t be long before marketers will have an even greater amount of access to a rich array of data to build customer profiles. Understanding, interpreting and harnessing this data is essential for a modern marketing team. The pressure is on to innovate rapidly and create new offerings that speak to consumers at a deep level. The challenge many organisations face is whether their marketers have the technical skills to enable these changes.
Speaking to colleagues across the industry, they often advise of their struggle to find staff with the skills a modern marketer needs– beyond marketing, an understanding of data, AI, and machine learning for example. Like many industries, we are seeing a skills shortage in marketers to effectively bridge the digital-data-insight divide required to drive digital transformation and lead the growth agenda.
Soon we’ll have job titles such as Machine and People Ethics Managers, Subscription Strategists, Algorithm Bias Auditors and Mood & Empathy Manager and Master Storytellers1. There will be a reduced need for the type of work a traditional campaign manager would undertake as we scale Personalisation. Having an always learning culture will support the preparedness for the evolution of these roles as the marketing function evolves.
The commitment to upskill and retrain through your career will pay dividends. From career progression to employer demand, a diverse range of skills will always be sought after.
For ANZ, we identified the changing skills our marketing team needs and recognised implementing an internal capability building program would help future proof our team. With over 300 marketers annually taking part in our Marketing Masters program and Brand Academy courses, we are seeing significant uplift in capability.
Speaking to some of our marketers recently, I was humbled with the positive feedback. The willingness to learn by my colleagues is energising and makes me proud to be part of the team developing capability building programs. My colleague Amy Rattray, a Marketing and Strategy Lead with Business Owners at ANZ, said, “The number 1 skill of a marketer is recognising the world is evolving so quickly, to say that you’re an expert in something shows you need to continue upskilling, learning and being curious.”
“Getting those insights to then take the best path forward for them in terms of their customer journey, that is something in marketing I love.”
But while the skills to reach the decisions evolve, the basic aims for our marketing team remain the same. Malcolm Murdoch said to me, “What I will always be looking for is someone to tell me a story about actions with results, and how they were able to connect those results to those actions.”
Malcolm’s words reinforced in me that the basics of marketing have not changed. We’re always looking to connect consumers to stories, brands and experiences. But how we reach customers is evolving and the data to support this is far more plentiful. As automation increasingly merges with our lives, marketers need to ensure they are at the forefront of harnessing this information.
Committing to further training and development is important for all marketers as we witness significant change occuring. Investing in yourself and your team is the best decision a marketer can make now and effective leaders who support and enable this learning will be the ones who will have the highest performing marketing teams.
Act fast, change is here now.
By Kate Young, Head of Customer Centricity and Capability at ANZ
