Marketing has become a challenging profession lately. Technology has finally come to disrupt the communication industry across the world. Many companies, particularly established ones, are struggling to find a stable foundation. Growth has become a challenge even for giants like Coca-Cola.
A new era of consumer consciousness coupled with new precision technology, scarcity of attention, and other challenges has made the field of marketing an incredibly interesting one. While challenges are high, the opportunities follow as well.
One thing, however, apparent from all these changes is that marketing is a dynamic profession and it demands that in order to be effective as a marketer you become one too. In simple, this means you have to be constantly evolving and learning.
In an interview with Future Startup, Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar, one of the highest rated professor at IBA, Dhaka University and one of the influential experts in the field of marketing, strategy, and management in Bangladesh, suggests something interesting for new world marketing. Let’s dive in.
People and major topic mentioned in this story: Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar ( read our interview with Dr. Anwar here) and marketing (read our coverage of changing landscape of marketing and marketers here)
Be a relentless learner
“The world is changing fast, the only feasible way to keep up with it is through learning daily”, Dr. Anwar says. This is, according to Dr. Anwar, is the first basic quality a marketer must master.
Dr. Anwar continues:
“We are lucky that internet and this small boxes (mobile phones) are there now. We can understand changes in real time. In the past, access to knowledge and information was very difficult but things have become a lot easier for us now. We can access things instantaneously and understand things on the go”.
Be honest with your customers
The world has become a different one in the past few years. If you are not doing something good for the society or doing something opposite, you will be questioned.
One significant shift that has happened over the last few years is around secrecy. It is almost impossible to keep things secret. The best way keep a secret, it not having one. Try to be open to your customers and communicate transparently. Dr. Anwar suggests:
“When building a product, you have to create something that benefits the society. The world is increasingly becoming transparent- a shift that is hard to avoid. If you look at the rise of organic food and similar trends, the shift is evident. So be authentic and good.”
Explore and be a critical thinker
The world is becoming complex on a daily basis. It is hard to operate effectively without a certain level of critical thinking.
“I think if you have an eagerness to learn, do good things for the society, are sensitive to changes, can think critically and creatively and have a willingness to explore then you are well on the way to becoming a good marketer”.
(Ruhul Kader contributed to this story)
