Nowshir Engineer, founder and director of EMDI, the Institute of Media and Communication, speaks to managing director of marketing and integrated communications company, Expression, Scott Feasey, about the role of meetings conferences and events in marketing.
What are people looking for when they come to you?
We are an integrated marketing and communications consultancy; essentially people come to us with challenges. They either need to increase sales, build awareness or launch products. We will look at that and provide a solution for their specific challenge.
How far do you carry that process for them?
From A to Z we will try to handle it because it needs a consistent manager controlling that process. It may be at point D and point Y that there is a third party brought in to assist, however the two controlling factors are the client and us making sure there is continuation with brand communication at points of contact with the consumer.
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How do you source your suppliers?
We have a supplier's guide of approved suppliers that we have worked with. Notes are made by account handlers, so if we have a bad experience that goes into the guide. The other account handlers will know there have been some issues and it means we can keep on top of who we use. Normally we find there are three or four suppliers that have delivered time and time and again. If a supplier gets too bad a mark they are removed from the list.
Would you say there is a leaning to a particular form of marketing in the region?
Sadly in this part of the region people tend to bow to the four gods of advertising outdoor, press, TV and radio and tend to miss quite glaringly obvious and better ways of communicating to their database. Direct marketing is not used particularly well here, mainly because of having no letterboxes, names and addresses and the way we do things here. Events are underused and sponsorship seems to be just to shout, rather than using it to properly communicate with the target market.
Do you deal mainly with long-term client relationships?
We would like it to be more long term, but because clients have immediate needs and we are doing our job properly, those needs wont come back. We go in, we do it and they are happy.
There are, of course, clients with ongoing needs and that's a good client and a good relationship is built as we learn more about them.
Have you noticed any trends in the marketing sector?
I predict that there will be a greater spend in the coming months on below the line marketing. Whenever you go into a recession, generally clients start falling to below the line activity which is great for meetings, incentives and conferences - things that go directly to the consumer, and the key is there accountability.
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