Digital Media Will Deliver Defining Moments in the Economy in 2022

Chief Executive Officer of digital marketing/PR agency, Bold Brand Buzz, Yomi Olaniwun in this interview shares his expert views on the digital marketing outlook for 2022, insight into the PR practice in Nigeria, as well as expectations of the industry in light of the forthcoming 2023 elections.

What is your assessment of the digital marketing and PR industry in recent times?

The scope of digital marketing revolves around identifying target audiences for a business. It often aims to convert them into customers stemming from advertising backed by market research
while PR focuses on Professionally maintaining an impressive image of a business, organization or company in public eyes leading into more brand awareness via news amplification.
So assessing them based on their key functions, I will say the industry evolved putting into perspective how brands have leveraged on digital tools to create awareness and shape perceptions in the last few years. Digital platforms have created more reach for brands and more opportunities for direct conversations and feedback which have helped brands improve on promise delivery and own their narratives. Most importantly, the digital space has created an opportunity for brands to measure PR activities and mileage.

What is your expectation on the projected shift of advertising budget to digital?

Digital advertising is the new TV advertising

The shift is driven by the Changes in consumer behavior—especially on mobile devices. Research shows the amount of time people spend with digital media on a daily basis continues to climb each year with mobile devices making up the time spent.

As consumers spend more time accessing the Internet, advertisers have become savvier about reaching potential clients across various digital platforms and devices.
Clients know that Digital advertising allows brands to segment their audience and hit the bulls eye spot on rather than casting a wide net (reaching everyone watching a certain television program, reading the latest issue of a particular magazine, driving by a specific corner), you’re able to reach segmented audiences—the exact types of clients you’re looking to retain
So my expectation is that clients are going to get more satisfaction from result driven campaigns by the digital agencies who have deep understanding of consumer’s online behavioural pattern and can creatively think without the box.

What are your projections for the sector, in light of the coming 2023 elections?

2022 will be an eventful year in the political space leading into 2023 which automatically suggests that Digital Marketing Agencies will be very busy in terms of developing marketing campaigns, crafting key messages & tactics and ensuring effective budget spend.
The key deliverable is to ensure a candidate’s attention-grabbing messaging is having an impact on voters on all marketing channels, including campaign websites, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, email marketing, social media, SEO, design, mobile applications, and television commercials.
Political parties are going to deploy aggressive digital marketing tactics that will be backed by a heavy budget in order to outdo competition so as to establish an enormous and passionate following.

What are the major challenges you think the industry might face this year?

I think there are three key challenges the industry might face this year and they are (1) lack of substantiated data (2) Non predictability of approval processes by digital channels. (3) influx of quacks.
Many agencies do not have access to data from qualitative research that can help mine insights into developing effective marketing campaigns. You must understand your audience’s state of habit at every moment of the day in order to gain conversion. It is only verifiable data that can provide this.
Digital platforms are not very consistent with measures guiding the approval of contents. In a bid to be very creative, clients are going to struggle with key messaging substances that will be lost by approval processes.
The entry barrier into this profession is low due to the affordable starter pack it requires. This has given room for the influx of quacks. For you to solve marketing problems, you must have acquired a versed knowledge of marketing and the tools to be deployed. This is not the case at this moment in the industry.

What are the marketing imperatives your company has put in place for the year 2022?

We have equipped ourselves with adequate training that can solve marketing problems in the year 2022. We have the best media monitoring team in the industry which suggests we have a reliable data collating unit as a resource that can help clients make important business decisions.
Also, the use of digital tools that can deliver reach and conversion is key in our business, as an agency we deliver effective services to our clients by the use of these tools. It’s our competitive edge.

Most importantly we have a bunch of talents who just enjoy being creative.

How would you benchmark the performance of the Nigeria PR industry with the global PR industry?

PR as a profession has come into focus in Nigeria in recent years, as business and political activities have driven up competitiveness in the market. The industry has evolved stemming from the consistency quest for relevance in the marketing communications landscape bringing about trainings, adopting glocal methodologies, managing industry stakeholders and the ability to disrupt and stay ahead of the curve.
Benchmarking its performance with the global PR industry, one can easily deduce that the Nigerian PR industry has measured up using the above indices. The players have particularly excelled in the areas of perception management, issues management and consumer PR with strict adherence to industry best practice.

What will you identify as the major shift for agencies in the outgone year 2021?

The move from in-person events to virtual or hybrid models has created incredible opportunities for communications teams to step up their game.
Online events draw in audiences that may not have been able to previously attend. This has forced marketing teams to think of new ways to attract consumers’ attention, online. But it also means one can scale brand events to new heights!
Also there was emphasis on brand storytelling in 2021. Marketers have realised that people want to shop with brands that matter and tell a real story that relates to their emotions, lives, and struggles.

Why do clients still trust more in their advertising agency for brand building initiatives than they do PR?

It’s majorly because of the leading role advertising agencies play in developing marketing communication direction for the brand. They’ve always been saddled with the responsibility of birthing the big idea and communication road map. Traditionally, Ad agencies have been positioned as the think tank team for the brand marketing team.

Don’t forget that public relations is majorly about managing perceptions and maintaining good relations with the company’s stakeholders. So, it’s easy for clients to tilt towards advertising agencies for brand building initiatives.

What would you say is the missing link in the growth and development of modern PR practice?

PR is all about connecting people with brands through storytelling, so we have to shift the narrative to reflect what people need and want! The missing link has been the ability of brands and practitioners to accept local trends. Recent social events have shown that consumers have a clear awareness of what happens in their immediate environment triggered by popular culture. They want to see the brands that they consume reflect this culture. It is the responsibility of the agencies to help clients align their values with pop culture. This we have not been able to achieve seamlessly and it’s stunting the growth of modern PR practice.

Given that the industry is evolving at an unsteady pace, what do the agencies need to do to remain relevant and find new growth opportunities going forward?

Agencies need to create the events that can create the stories. We need to identify how to become conversation starters and establish ways to tap into the passion points of consumers thereby creating convergence that brands can leverage on.
PR has gone beyond sending out press releases to announce brand activities. Agencies need to task themselves on new deliverables around strategy, content, channels, creativity and measurement.
Until we start owning events, contents and channels, we might be missing out on growth opportunities.

How will you assess the ugly incident of poor regulation and compliance in the PR sector?

The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations is an apex body that regulates the activities and behaviours of the public relations practitioners in Nigeria. The body has so many functions to perform in order to attain its goals. To the best of my knowledge, they have been performing well. There’s no sector that doesn’t have one or two cases surrounding regulations but it does mean they are reputed to be poor with enforcing strict adherence to laid down regulations.

How would you assess the current State of the digital and PR Practice in Nigeria as compared with contemporary advertising practice?

I think digital marketing in Nigeria has consistently accomplished it’s top 4 goals namely: Increase web traffic, drive search engine rankings, make conversions & generate leads and deliver return on investment. This is a pointer that Digital marketing has been effective in Nigeria.

Back in the day, public relations could do well without the use of the digital space. Traditionally, most of the brand and company coverage we needed was in print (newspapers, trade magazines) and broadcasted over the radio and television. But now Brands and public figures can no longer get by without a reasonable online presence, and must strive to reach their target audience with relevant content that fully resonates. This new normal has made the practice of PR very relevant in the marketing communications mix.

Compared to traditional advertising, PR and Digital have fared better in terms of innovations.

The digital space has made life so beautiful for the average consumer. Beyond digital marketing, immersive technology like augmented reality has now become the reality of most tech enthusiasts. Artificial Intelligence voice assistants like Siri and Alexa have created a new form optimization called voice engine optimization.
These innovations are tailored to make human existence less complicated. It’s such a great time to be alive.