“Everything has changed, yet nothing has changed…” so the saying goes. When I look back and reflect on the last five years in the communications and marketing industry, everything around us has indeed changed; digital disruption has changed consumer expectations, increased productivity and efficiency; Covid revolutionized how and where we work; the climate crisis has put purpose and front and centre, and ESG has emerged as the moral compass, guiding corporates and organisations towards a more responsible way of doing business. We are only now beginning to see the impact on AI and Gen AI…

Surely this has all had a massive impact on the fundamentals of how we do our job? Well, the answer it hasn’t… even though we are on the brink of the next industrial/AI revolution, the five fundamentals of working in marketing and comms hasn’t changed. 

I would argue that it’s even more relevant now as we now live and work in a world of a perma-crisis. 

Here is what I wrote: 

1. We are strategic partners and advisors

The starting point is always lots of questions. Why do you want to speak to the media? What are you seeking to achieve? Who are you trying to target? Who needs to hear this message? What do you want them to do as a result of the campaign?  We ask a lot of intelligent but important questions at the outset. From here it’s about coming up with the best way to communicate and on what channels.

Still true. Our role has become even more important in the past five years, as many CEOs look to their CMOs and CCOs to help shape the corporate narrative. We talk about “Challenges before channels” – we start with our clients’ goals, business objectives and priorities and then map out the right solution to meet them.

2. We think differently and are creative

We are very focused on how companies and our spokespeople fit into the conversations, we become experts in understanding the subject matter and proactively find the right opportunities that set our clients apart from the competition.  We constantly need to come up with new ways of making content stand out in the market that is saturated with stories.

That is still true. The challenge is even more relevant now with the advent of AI and personalisation. According to Adobe, personalised content grew two-fold last year – with the introduction of Gen AI is expected to expand another fivefold. Standing out from competition has never been harder; the need for greater creativity will need to capture the imagination of the media, buyers and your target audience. Continue to get out of your echo chamber, go to exhibitions events, travel to new places and meet new people, and experiment with technology and tools.  Inspiration and creativity come from everywhere around us. 

3. We build influence and reputation

Generating real brand equity and a strong reputation takes time and investment. Key to this is understanding how to develop a strong and valuable brand in B2B financial services and the array of communications tools needed to achieve that. Get it right, and it can help your salespeople close deals, attract top talent and secure investment opportunities that provide a springboard for growth.  

This is still very relevant especially when we think about what it means to be a responsible business today. Even five years ago, a business could operate without being aware of its carbon footprint, environmental impact, or how its supply chain is impacting stakeholders or society. The increased importance of social media means today, you can’t hide. Businesses need to be on the front foot when it comes to their reputation – understand their impact on the environment and society at large, be authentic with their stakeholders and be transparent about the preventative and proactive measures they are putting in place to protect and enhance their reputation. 

4. We are channel agnostic

Traditional channels such as financial media and platforms like LinkedIn still carry a lot of weight, but we increasingly experiment with channels less associated with financial services such as Instagram and Google Adwords. In short we need to pull on all the levers and channels to make a story fly for the media and for the target audience.

In the last five years, LinkedIn membership has grown from 600 million global users in 2019 to as staggering one billion users as of January this year, with B2B audiences now looking to LinkedIn as a source for buying decisions. For CEOs and the C-suite, owned media is becoming more important than earned media, with many citing podcasts and LinkedIn as their preferred engagement channels. A seamless experience for all audiences is now imperative, no matter where they are; when creating a cross-channel strategy, the focus is to create a clear roadmap of what each channel will achieve, how they work together, what customers in each channel expect, and how they interact.

5. We are multi-taskers

The joy of working in PR is that no day is the same. Some days we are meeting journalists, others writing messaging, others brainstorming ideas for a social media campaign or helping a client deal with a sensitive issue.

This is still the same. It continues to evolve, any comms and marketing professional now needs to be able to manage multimedia, podcasts and video, understand SEO and PPC, be content specialists, event specialists (virtual and in-person events), as well as become data and AI specialists. The consideration and integration of AI into any communications and marketing role is no longer a choice and today we all need to experiment and embrace AI, as well as understanding the pitfalls and limitations, so we remain cautious and considered. 

One thing is certain however, human judgment is irreplaceable when understanding nuances, maintaining relationships, and providing contextual and emotional intelligence that AI currently lacks, so we’ll still be around in five years time…. for the rest who knows…

See you back here in five.

Yvonne Maher is EMEA Chief Growth Officer