Published in Caribbean Business
There is good news in the marketing sector, according to a joint study by the Puerto Rico Sales & Marketing Executives Association (SME) and local ad agency Arteaga & Arteaga.
“There is a much more positive attitude in the sense that marketing professionals see a lot of opportunities to reach and engage consumers, much more than last year,” said Juan Arteaga, president of Arteaga & Arteaga. “However, marketing professionals know that success is related to the extent that value is added to those opportunities.”
The study explored the concerns and expectations of what could become trends and opportunities in 2015 for the island’s marketers. These included their investment focus, assessment of consumers’ frames of mind and evaluation of their own marketing teams. Regarding investment, most said that more than changing marketing plans, they would implement better ways to document the return on investment and effectiveness of strategies.
The report shows that marketing professionals consider digital media to be an important platform where they can market brands and products as well as receive feedback on those efforts. When they looked back on 2014, 37% of those surveyed said they would have invested more in socialnetwork media, while 20% would have invested more in advertising and 10% would have carried out a more results-focused investment.
Esteban Colón, president of SME, which represents more than 600 professionals in the areas of sales, marketing and related fields in Puerto Rico, explained that the findings validate the fact that digital media has become not only a mere ingredient, but also an essential platform in marketing efforts.
“About four or five years ago, digital media was still seen as somewhat of add-on to a campaign,” Colón said. “Today, it is an obligatory part of a campaign, and it may increase in importance as the basis of strategies to market products and receive feedback on the effect of those efforts.”
As for 2015, about 80% of those surveyed said they plan to increase their investment in social-media networks this year, and 54% would invest more in generating sales through the internet. While this may not be surprising, other findings were unexpected, for example, 50% would increase their investment in research and 40% would increase investment in public relations. The results regarding research are probably related to the constant atmosphere of change and active participation of consumers spurred by the continuous developments in digital technology.
“There is an overall sense of urgency in the whole process, from staying informed about consumers’ attitudes to always having presence in the media,” said María Elena Lampaya, executive director of the SME. “The added investment in public relations [as shown in the study] is due to the fact that it is a discipline that goes with the possibilities of digital media.”
She explained that digital media has revolutionized the field in terms that it is no longer a one-way street, meaning from marketers to consumers. Through digital media, consumers react at the moment they are being marketed to and can immediately engage the brand in a dialogue.
“Mass media is one-way, but social networks are two-way, and you need experts who know how to take that message to consumers and how to communicate with them effectively,” Lampaya said.
