Shopper Marketing is growing fast. No matter where you look – The Hub Magazine’s Shopper Marketing Survey or the upcoming survey conducted by engage and Nielsen in Asia – more and more companies are looking to grow their shopper marketing teams. Yet, if the number of calls I get from headhunters or clients looking for talent is anything to go by, there appears to be a chronic shortage of shopper marketing talent. How then should business leaders, Marketing Directors, or Heads of Shopper Marketing approach what is arguably the biggest barrier to shopper marketing excellence – how to create a fabulous team brimming with shopper marketing talent?
Talent shortage is a global problem, and not one limited to shopper marketing. There are more graduates being produced around the world, but from India to the United Kingdom there are concerns of a mismatch between what educational establishments produce and what the marketplace needs. Consumer goods companies in general are facing an even bigger squeeze: In 1998 over 20% of Fortune Magazines “Best companies to work for” were consumer goods companies; but by 2011 it was only 5%. It appears that consumer goods isn’t seen to be the ‘go to’ career choice that it used to be.
Shopper Marketing Faces a Tougher Talent Squeeze
And within this shopper marketing faces unique challenges driven by its rapid growth and by its relative newness. Even in the US, The Hub suggests that up to a quarter had set up shopper marketing within the last two years fuelling the demand for talent. And the growth is going to continue: In both The Hub and the engage/Nielsen survey the majority of companies surveyed were planning to increase both the size of their teams and the money being spent. Tellingly, as focus and funding increases, the quality of what is being done comes under the microscope. In the US, the number of practitioners rating their work as average or below rocketed: in Asia over 90% of respondents said that their teams lacked the core capability to perform well in shopper marketing.
So if the global talent market is going to get tougher, and shopper marketing faces arguably a bigger squeeze than most, it appears that the ability to attract, develop and retain shopper marketing talent will be key to the success of any manager’s shopper marketing endeavor. So, beyond the usual, what specifically should CEOs, Marketing Directors, and Shopper Marketing Heads do to win the talent battle?
Winning the battle for shopper marketing talent
Coaching and training your team
Whilst it is obvious that developing existing teams is critical, it is worthy of mention as it underpins everything else. It is also harder in the shopper marketing arena. There are typically less processes to follow, less experienced peers to mentor or coach, and fewer high quality training companies. There are also fewer resources for coaches to reference. At engage we work hard with our clients to ensure that managers have ‘coaching kits’ to enable on the job coaching; and to support managers who may not have access to the resources that, say a consumer marketing head, or a sales director, may have at their disposal. Providing adequate support resources, plus guidance and support through the coaching process, has in our experience had significantly better results in terms of competence development as well as retention.
Sell internally
Recruiting internally is often the best way to build a team; and this is also true for shopper marketing. Unfortunately shopper marketing often has a tough selling job on its hands. Amongst marketers, a really good source of potential shopper marketers, it is often seen as a lesser discipline, too close to sales to be truly ‘marketing’. This is changing slowly, but if you’d like a queue of talented brand managers knocking at your door asking for a job, then you need to get your PR right. Your shopper marketing needs to emphasize that it is marketing in everything it does, and the importance and role of shopper marketing in the total marketing of brands needs to be understood throughout the organization.
Sell upwards
What gets said by the CEO gets listened to. And what gets said frequently by the CEO gets absorbed. If the CEO isn’t talking about the strategic importance of shopper marketing, and making decisions about the business which mirror this, then the internal selling will have limited impact. The same goes for the CMO. If these key influencers aren’t on board, then internal recruitment will be an up-hill battle
Let your best talent go
OK – perhaps not all of them, but recognize that people will want to move on in their careers. This is great news. If they had a fabulous experience with you, they will become your biggest advocates. And, after time in other companies or functions, they’ll come back as even better shopper marketers.
Recruit raw talent and attitude
Not exclusively perhaps, but remember that the number of experienced shopper marketers is far smaller than that which the market demands. Recruit those with some of the core skills from other functions (the ability to create insights, for example) rather than the number of years they have spent in a shopper marketing role previously. Recruit someone who has what it takes to be a great shopper marketer, rather than someone who already is.
Shopper marketing is a booming industry: retailers, manufacturers and agencies are falling over themselves to find the best talent. There simply isn’t enough to go round. Searching for top quality, experienced shopper marketers is rapidly becoming like searching for a needle in the proverbial haystack. Rather than searching fruitlessly, the smarter solution when searching for a needle in a haystack is either to make the needle want to come to you, or make your own needles! For more information about how engage can support the training, coaching and development of your shopper marketing teams; or if you would be interested in being coached personally by me, please contact us
