Introduction
Marketing, advertising, branding and marketing directors play a significant role in a business. These departments influence a business’ image to the public, accessibility of its products, brand image, customer loyalty, sales volumes and the products’ strength against competition. Depending with the size of a business and its budget, these roles can be assigned to different people or be managed by one person or department. Some businesses will prefer to handle their own marketing needs and outsource the rest, while some will have all the departments as part of the company.
Roles and contributions
Marketing manager
Depending with the size of a business, there can be different organizational approaches to advertising and marketing. Advertising and marketing duties can be assigned to one person or a departmental group. These structures are also dependent on a company’s marketing budget. Whether alone or part of a team, key responsibilities of a marketing manager include researching on and developing effective marketing strategies for a business. “A marketing manager is responsible for instilling a marketing led ethos throughout the business” (Belch & Michael, 2000). In Vmedia, the marketing manager in responsible for researching and reporting to the business on external challenges and opportunities. His is supposed to understand current and potential customers’ needs and expectations, and advice on how they can be met. He is also supposed to be able to develop the company’s marketing strategy and help implement it.
Other responsibilities include measuring the business’ strategy success, managing marketing budgets, ensuring timely delivery of products to the end consumer, approving products’ images, developing marketing guidelines and making decisions based on customer needs. Sometimes, the marketing manager may also be required to play some of the roles of a sales manager. Marketing managers contribute largely to a business by directing the marketing plan, which the company is heavily dependent on for its success. They put a business in a well informed position regarding competition and opportunities. This in turn affects the business’ profitability and ability to establish long term success.
Advertising director
Advertising directors work very closely with marketing directors. The roles of an advertising director vary with the size of a company, the budget and the industry in which the company falls under. “Generally, an advertising director is responsible for creating, designing and developing a brand name and an image for the goods or services the business is trading” (Belch & Michael, 2000). In Vmedia, anyone in this position is supposed to have exhaustive information about the industry in which the business is in, competitors’ strategies and the needs of the market at that particular time. He/she is then responsible for creating and directing advertising campaigns that can penetrate the market and offer what is expected of them by customers. It is the responsibility of the advertising director to raise brand awareness and recognition in the market. The department is also responsible for developing brand strengthening strategies. Other responsibilities include implementing creative brand building strategies, and developing artistic campaigns and advertisements for a brand.
As an advertisement director, I play a major role of ensuring the business’ success. Research and information about advertising helps the business increase sales by spending less. A good product’s image is bound to last long in the market, reducing the need to redesign brand images and as a result, minimize costs. Through constant monitoring and campaigns, it is easier to identify areas that are not working in the company’s marketing strategy. It is then easier for the business to make necessary changes in a timely manner and operate within or close to the set budget limits.
Public relations director
According to Bingham (2008), “public relations is fundamentally the art and science of establishing relationships between an organization and its key audience”. For a long time, businesses paid very little attention to this department, which has now among the most important departments in any organization. It plays an important role in helping businesses create a healthy relationship with its customers and other stakeholders. “The overall role of a public relations director is to supervise and asses public attitudes, and maintain mutual relations and understanding between an organization and its public” (Bingham, 2008). The objective of a public relations department is to put in place healthy and efficient ways of a two-way communication between the business and its outside environment.
The most important role of a public relations director in Vmedia company is to inform the public about the company’s products, policies and any other information that attracts the public’s interest. Another important role of the public relations director is to reach government representatives and legislators, to ensure that the business is compliant with all the legal requirements, and resolve any issues that may arise. The public relations director is also entrusted with a responsibility of ensuring that the business’ image and legacy is well crafted and maintained. For non-profit organizations, the director is responsible for boosting support of its activities and increasing patronage through awareness. In Vmedia, the public relations director contributes largely to the business by ensuring a timely transmission of information to and from the business. The business relies on its public image heavily to build customer client, a responsibility entrusted with the director. A public image is also one of the biggest determinant of the business’ success.
Working together as a team
The three positions explained above play a significant role in Vmedia. In the process of implementing our roles, they may overlap in our quest to reach the company’s goals and objectives. The marketing manager is very dependent on the advertising director to create results oriented advertisements and brand images. The public relations director is dependent on the marketing and advertisement directors to set a good foundation for him to sell a positive image of the company. These different departments have different strategies, objectives, goals, executions and material types, all intended at supporting the business to ensure success.
As an Advertising director, my objective is to ensure that the company’s products are differentiated from others in the market. The marketing department’s objective is to ensure that products reach the market in a timely manner, customers are maintained and new ones recruited. The public relations director’s objective is to ensure the positive image and legacy of the business is maintained and all relevant information is communicated to and from the company. Branding and design are mostly outsourced in Vmedia company, but it is the responsibility of the advertisement director to ensure everything is done as per the company’s specifications.
Conclusion
In Vmedia, marketing, advertisement and public relations directors are relevant for developing the products’ strengths. Even though each of the directors have well defined roles, the nature of their responsibilities require that they work with each other to achieve the type of products’ positioning required by the business. The advertisement director has to identify features in the company’s products and design a program that will attract the market’s attention. The marketing director is then responsible for ensuring that the products are available in the market and the designed program is implemented. The public relations officer ensures that the positive image and attitude created by a strong brand is maintained and all stakeholders are updated on the business’ affairs. All these measures form supportive pillars necessary for the company’s success in the market.
References
Belch, G.E. & Michael, A.B. (2000). Introduction to advertising and promotion management. Burr Rudge: Irwin.
Bingham, F.G. (2008). Business marketing management. Lincolnwood, USA: NTC Business Books.