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Marketing Week offers bespoke business advice to LSST’s students

Kunal Chan Mehta

By Kunal Chan Mehta | Article Date: 21 December 2016

IMG_0332 No matter what you are studying at LSST – marketing ​can always be an integral part of your career. ​Marketing Week is the industry leading brand delivering news, insight, trends and tactics in print, online and at live events to the marketing industry. ​The publication now reaches an audience of over 130,000 marketing professionals every week via the magazine and website. Mr Ali Jafar, Director of Marketing and Admissions, caught up with Russell Parsons, Editor of Marketing Week, to find out more about the publication and how its knowledge-bank content, research and job sections can assist LSST’s students wishing to set up or develop their own business.​
Photo source: used with permission (C) Russell Parsons 2016

 

1. How did you get started on Marketing Week?

I joined as a reporter in 2009 before becoming news editor in 2011. I was named editor in 2015. I regularly contribute to the national media on marketing matters and have recently taken part in high-profile European panels on trust, brand purpose and loyalty. Prior to Marketing Week I worked at Travel Trade Gazette, Financial Times Business and Institutional Investor.

2. How many people work at Marketing Week?

There are 10 people on the editorial team.

3. What are the key trends in marketing for 2017?

There are many things we will see become more a part of marketers’ thinking and jobs in 2017 – new team structures, measurement shifts and price inflation, to name just three – but the big one will be accountability. As post Brexit economic uncertainty continues, marketing budgets will come under more scrutiny. With this we see companies demand more from marketers. The need to demonstrate effectiveness of spend will increase and will see more brands introduce “zero-based budgeting”, a cost management system that requires marketers to earn budgets by justifying commercial imperative for spend. This is a big shift from having budgets on the previous year’s spend or revenue. This demands a more business orientated approach.

4. Many of our students have small businesses, how can they undertake marketing on a small budget?

Start with the basics. Insight – who are your customers, what do they need and at what point can you most influence them. Don’t start with a media plan and work backwards to strategy, you may end up spending money you don’t need too on ineffective media. Also, understand that marketing is more than promotion, there are so many other ways to be different and distinct and engage with customers. From delivering a better multiplatform experience to better data and insight, through product enhancement to improved targeting.

5. How can Marketing Week assist our students with their research and assessments?

Through Marketingweek.com and Marketingweek magazine we have a huge archive of news, insight, analysis and opinion tackling the biggest issues, challenges and opportunities of the day, whatever the day. ​ Explore the magazine at: https://www.marketingweek.com/ ​ Follow Russell at: https://twitter.com/russellparsons
Please email the author of this article kunal.mehta@lsst.ac for any questions or comments.

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