Connecting Yorkshire through marketing excellence

Propaganda Chairman Julian Kynaston spoke at a recent Connect Yorkshire masterclass event, aimed at passing on marketing and brand expertise to the next generation of the region’s entrepreneurs.

In a Q&A session alongside Simon Gray, Founder of Boost Drinks and a familiar face at Propaganda, the prominent business leaders talked brand, PR, digital and all things marketing. The assembled guests at the event, described by the organisers as “one of the liveliest, most interactive we have ever had” were given a taste of marketing expertise from both agency, and brand perspective.

Digital was a strong focus, as was the idea that more and more social media interaction is being done away from the public eye on ‘dark social’, with messenger services such as WhatsApp and Snapchat, and therefore can’t be measured by traditional analytics.

This leaves brands increasingly competing for a cluttered space, and highlights the importance of an integrated marketing solution. Figures suggest that this ‘dark social’ accounts for as much as 70% of traffic at present, meaning that brands effectively are only able to target and monitor the remaining 30%. Julian commented that this highlighted the ongoing importance of ensuring the product or service is fit for purpose in the first instance, so the ‘dark conversations’ that can’t be monitored, are more likely to be about a positive product, service or experience.

Julian pointed out that the world of brand creation is also changing, with online providing the biggest opportunity to match an audience with a new business idea. Increasingly, entrepreneurs and business people are coming up with hypotheses, which can be validated by what their target audience are searching for online, helping to ensure the opportunity is viable.

The difference between strategy and tactics was also highlighted in the room, with some confusion of ‘marketing’ and ‘marketing services’, suggesting that to some, marketing was simply deployment of a one-off approach, such as PR. Julian took the opportunity to express his view that the role of the outright marketeer is becoming increasingly scarce.