Why Continuing Professional Development is Essential

Yesterday, I submitted my CPD for this year to CIM | The Chartered Institute of Marketing. 

Making this submission caused me to pause and reflect on things I’ve learned over the last twelve months, from my work, courses, seminars and mentoring.

This reflection led me to the following conclusions.

·       That some things in marketing remain constant, like focus on the customer, as Theodore Levitt put it “People don’t want a quarter-inch drill.  They want a quarter-inch hole.” - CPD helps to refresh knowledge and keep past learning in the present.

·       However, business is constantly evolving, particularly in respect of technological advances – CPD provides new learning opportunities to enhance knowledge and maintain relevance.

·       My work and mentoring activities have exposed me to an ever-widening range of sectors and organisation size.  Invariably, the problems to producing business growth remain constant – Vision – Mission – Strategy – Plan.

·       That there is still work to be done to promote marketing as a professional business discipline in the same way as say, accounting and law.  To that end, marketing accreditation is essential.

As a ‘big picture’ overview, I think that there are four current themes and trends developing in marketing.

1.     MarTech and AI:  The 2024 State of MarTech Report identifies that there are currently 14106 products on the MarTech landscape.  The indication is that some consolidation is taking place, but that further integration/open APIs will fuel further explosion.  Gen AI is also developing at a breathtaking pace and can be used to optimise marketing activities in respect of both tactics and strategies.  However, most organisations currently using Gen AI in marketing are using it for tactical purposes (content creation, reporting etc.) – the use of Gen AI for strategy is, I feel, a huge growth opportunity.

2.     Understanding of Finance:  Nothing happens if the numbers don’t work – marketers MUST have an understanding and relationship with finance – both to secure the resources to make things happen and prove the value of marketing initiatives.

3.     Data-Driven Decisions:  As the saying goes, what gets measured gets managed.   Following the two points above – marketing is increasingly about doing more with less and being able to measure marketing initiatives against agreed KPIs/OKRs to clearly express ROMI is essential - both to prove the value of and to drive changes to campaigns where necessary to enhance effectiveness.

4.     Sustainability/Social Responsibility:  Guided by the United Nation’s 17 goals for sustainable development, Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) continues to drive organisations to pursue both profit and purpose to enable business growth. 

I’d be interested to hear your views.