Analysis of the Future of Marketing Professionals in Developed and

Developing Countries' Development

Abstract

The study analysed the future of marketing professionals in developed and

developing countries' development. Investigative analysis were done through the
survey of existing literature. Marketing professionals are being looked upon to drive
the strategy within their organizations and elicit concrete development through
proactive marketing practices. The paper revealed that marketing professionals have
the knowledge, skill, and experience to be successful in their chosen markets even
in a developing economy like Nigeria. It is evident that marketing professionals are
explosive phenomena in China and other developed countries like USA and Japan
and they are growing at a rapid pace. Given the impact of marketing professionals
on the consumer market, there seems to be a clear opportunity for Chinese marketers
to use marketing professionals to encourage development. The future of marketing
belongs to the professionals of hybrids. These marketers are the key to increasing
efficiency and productivity, building an insurmountable competitive advantage and
fueling their organizations and countries' economic growth and development.
Despite the numerous challenges facing marketing in developing countries, there
are good prospects for the future, hence marketing and marketing professionals hold
the key to unlock the underdevelopment of developing countries. The study
therefore recommends that government, organisations and stakeholders
should encourage the development and entrenchment of effective and
efficient marketing professional in both developed and developing countries.

Keywords: Marketing, Marketing Professionals, Developed Countries,

Developing Countries, Development

1. Introduction
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 Successful companies know how to track market requirements, know
how to prepare themselves to meet market requirements, and know how to earn
business in the marketplace. A company that does not know these things is
usually one that is reactive and one that is usually marketing or technology
driven. A pro-active company is market-driven and has professional marketing
practitioners.
Marketing is an evolving and dynamic discipline that cuts across every
spectrum of life. This explains why contemporary societies are now involved
in one form of marketing activity or the other,( Nwokah e tal, 2009). The recent
advancement in technology, has aided the free flow of goods and services as
well as information amongst businesses and institutions, thereby turning the
marketing environment into a global village (Ewah, 2007). For the purpose of
this paper, marketing is defined as 'the activity, set of institutions, and processes
for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have
value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large', (American
Marketing Association, 2013). On a general perspective Brown, (2008)
described marketing as a social and managerial process whereby individuals
and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging
products and value with others.
Marketing is intricately linked with the economy of virtually all nations
of the world. It is the major factor, especially in developed economies
responsible for the wealth of nations and the means of resuscitation during
economic depression. For the developed countries as a whole, marketing
experience has occurred as part of the evolutionary cultural process and also
progress of these nations. Therefore practical problems are profoundly handled
as they had arisen, with available resource means at the material time. However,
the developing countries are evidently operating in an entirely different context
today. Time has changed many things. Many circumstances in the business
world now appear to be affected by standardized but environmental factors, so
that operating in these situations amount to operating under conditions of fait
accompli. Countries like U.S.A, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and
Belgium have tremendously benefited from the performance of their marketing
professionals in reality this may not be so with the developing economies,
(Achumba, 2006, Ayozie, 2006 and Hyde , etal, 2014).
For most developing countries, (including Nigeria) the scenario and the
business climate have not been too favourable, due to some attendant problems,
such as poverty, fragmented markets, weak investment culture, prevalence of
sub-standard local products, and the unwillingness of the majority of
manufacturers and businesses to imbibe ethical marketing practices. These

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problems make it difficult for marketing to grow and prosper in developing
economies. Consequently the economy of most developing countries has not
been better off because of the poor development of marketing as the bedrock
for improving the economic prospect of contemporary economies. However,
the economy of developing countries to a large extent dictates the direction and
tempo of marketing activities in these countries.
The influence of the marketer within organizations continues to grow.
Due to real-time marketing, social media and data analytics, marketers are
becoming more informed about the competitive landscape and the customer
than other functions within the company. This invaluable knowledge means that
their authority is increasing and they are frequently being looked at to drive the
strategy within their organizations, hence the need for this paper to analyse the
future of marketing professionals in developed and developing countries'
development.

2. The Concept of Profession and Marketing Professionals

The modern concept of a professional has its origins in the status
professions that emerged from medieval universities (Elliott, 2014). These were
law, medicine, university teaching, and priesthood. Professionalism can be
associated with the increasing specialisation of labour that occurred during, and
since, the industrial revolution. Yet, for professionals, the specialisation became
discretionary in nature; a very different type of specialisation from that
experienced by the pin makers in Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' (Kashani,
2005)). Discretionary specialisation, as opposed to the highly controlled and
managed specialisation seen on factory production lines, implies that each new
task is distinct, requiring fresh judgment. Doctors, lawyers and other
professionals must approach each encounter without an expectation that it will
be a repeat of a previous encounter. Yet, in a modern context, the word
professional has entered 'corporate speak' as a verb to describe almost any type
of work that delivers high standards of service.
The Collins Paperback English Dictionary(2011: 644) defines a
profession as: An occupation requiring specialized knowledge and training in a
branch of advanced learning and often requiring long and intensive academic
preparation.
The same source defines a professional as: One who participates for
gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavour often engaged in activities,
someone highly skilled and doing work for payment. Displaying of a high level
of competence or skill.

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 So, marketing as a profession requires specialized knowledge;
however, that knowledge is difficult to get from an intensive academic
preparation. Do you know any marketing professionals? It often seems there
are more amateurs than professionals in the field, (Webster , 2015).
A profession is simply a calling or a vocation, especially one that
involves some branch of learning or science. A profession provides a code of
conduct and ethics, that serves as a guide to the members of the profession to
practice.
Brown , ( 2015) postulates that the assimilation of the requisite body of
knowledge or education qualifies one to practice the profession. The challenges
and demand faced by the profession dictates the substance of such education.
Thus, a reversible situation exists, where the requisite education and
professional practice constantly interacts. This inter-action takes care of the new
ideas in a constantly changing business environment.
As hinted by Kotler, (2015), markets change, and one key to being a
marketing professional is knowing how markets work and knowing how to
understand market requirements and applying them appropriately to the
benefits of the stakeholders.

3. Marketing Professional's Understanding in Chosen Markets

Marketing requires specialized knowledge and training, and that
knowledge and training requires something not easily obtained with long and
intensive academic preparation. Academic training in marketing teaches some
of the tools of marketing, but it does not teach the market requirements of many
markets, (Acumba, 2006).
In consumer marketing, it is assumed that we are all consumers, and
therefore, market requirements are easily understood. The challenge then
becomes creating a position for your company/products in that market place. If
your chosen market is a consumer market, this approach may lead to success.
In non-consumer or industrial markets, market requirements can be
very specific and are generally known only to the some users of the products.
Therefore, it is difficult for a person with academic marketing training to be
successful in such markets. Users of products often migrate to the marketing
organizations of suppliers in such markets, (Kotler, 2012).
A technologist or user migrating to marketing does not automatically
become a professional. Such a person may have a significant short-term
advantage in understanding market requirements. However, markets change,
and professional marketing people know how to keep track of the changes.

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 Marketing is an occupation requiring specialized knowledge and
training that is generally not available through academic preparation. Marketing
requires highly specialized knowledge of how chosen markets operate and how
to get a company to be successful in its chosen markets.
Marketing professionals know:
What kind of market they work in?
How their chosen market functions?
Who and where their buyers are?
How to find out what their buyers need?
How to get their company to meet those needs?
How to provide the sales tools and training necessary for success?
How to create Awareness of their company and products in their buyers' minds?
How to create Differentiation of their products in their buyers' minds?
How to create Preference for their products?
How to manage and control their existing products to optimize market share
and profitability?
How to plan and present new products to increase market share?
Marketing professionals have the knowledge, skill, and experience to
be successful in their chosen markets.

4. Marketing Professionals and Associations in a Developing

Economy (Nigeria)
National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) is the body for
professionals engaged in marketing and related fields as marketing
practitioners, sales and marketing directors, customers managers, relationship
directors, media planners, channel developers, creative directors, value
builders, brand builders, enterprise builders, corporate and institutional
governors, transformers, marketing and mass communication experts, general
managers and chief executive officers.
The institute was established through the Act of Parliament No. 25
which was promulgated in July 2003. Hitherto, two professional bodies, the
Nigeria Marketing Association (NIMARK) and the Chartered Institute of
Marketing of Nigeria (CIMN) had existed as separate professional bodies
competing for membership and authority to regulate the practice of marketing
profession in Nigeria. The NIMN Act effectively merged the two erstwhile
independent bodies and conferred chartered status on the new professional
body.
The chartered status conferred on the institute, responsibility to regulate
and standardize marketing professional practice through the conduct of

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comprehensive examinations, training, retraining and consultancy activities
geared towards ensuring that members adopt professional approach in
marketing and other related areas of marketing activities. Whilst new entrants
into the profession are being developed through an intensive Programme of
formal learning in marketing structured courses in various institutions across
the country on full and part-time bases, qualified members are being retrained
to enable them adapt to the ever changing demands of marketing situations at
work and society at large. NIMN creates enduring, distinctive value for all
stakeholders, through the development, promotion and application of world-
class marketing professionalism, (Ayozie, 2006).
Marketing professionals are enjoined to be courageous and proactive
in leading and/or aiding their organizations in the fulfillment of the explicit and
implicit promises made to those stakeholders. Marketing professionals
recognize that every industry sector and marketing sub-discipline (e.g.,
marketing research, e-commerce, Internet selling, direct marketing, and
advertising) has its own specific ethical issues that require policies and
commentary. Consistent with the principle of subsidiarity (solving issues at the
level where the expertise resides), marketing professionals in developed
countries represented by United States of America encourage all such groups to
develop and/or refine their industry and discipline-specific codes of ethics to
supplement these guiding ethical norms and values.

5. Principal Objectives of National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria

(NIMN)
Broadly, the mandate of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria
(NIMN) is to achieve among others, the following objectives:
To promote and develop the art and science of marketing to aid formal
learning and rational assessment of members.
To promote marketing research, education and training standards.
To establish and sustain professional codes of practice in marketing.
To set standards of academic development and examinations for students and
practitioners at all levels of Marketing and related fields.
To organize courses and training programmes for individual to assimilate
vocational and academic developments impacting on the practice of
Marketing practice.
To develop programmes of educational support and forum for exchange of
ideas relating to the advancement of the practices of marketing management.
Conduct examinations and other form of assessment for the award of
certificates and membership of the institute.

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 To authorize qualified individuals to use the designatory letters denoting
their grades of membership.
To promote the best practice in marketing by identifying progressive
individuals, management and organizations and encouraging others in the
industry to emulate such practice through a programme of recognition put in
place to reward achievers.
To promote research into the art and practice of marketing management and
to assist individual and organization in disseminating the outcome of such
research work
To publish study manuals to support individuals preparing for the
examinations of the Institute.
To publish and promote materials in order to keep members apprised of
development affecting the practice of marketing education and management.
To provide information for organizations seeking trained members desirous
of employment as well as members seeking employment.
To contribute to policy formulation at States, Industrial sectors and National
level, through presentation of position papers, local and national discourse and
submission of memorandum, workshops and seminars.
To set standard of professional practice through explicit code of ethics for
members of the Institute, monitor compliance and making sure that defaulters
are sanctioned appropriately.
Whether you are an individual interested in personal development or corporate
body engaged in developing human capital for effective marketing
management, do feel free to call or visit us at our office.

6. Marketing Professionals and Associations in a Developed

Economy (United States of America)
The American Marketing Association commits itself to promoting the
highest standard of professional ethical norms and values for its members
(practitioners, academics and students). Norms are established standards of
conduct that are expected and maintained by society and/or professional
organizations. Values represent the collective conception of what communities
find desirable, important and morally proper. Values also serve as the criteria
for evaluating our own personal actions and the actions of others. As marketers,
we recognize that we not only serve our organizations but also act as stewards
of society in creating, facilitating and executing the transactions that are part of
the greater economy. In this role, marketers are expected to embrace the highest
professional ethical norms and the ethical values implied by our responsibility

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toward multiple stakeholders (e.g., customers, employees, investors, peers,
channel members, regulators and the host community).
The American Marketing Association, (2013) ethical norms provide
that professional marketers must:
1. Do no harm. This means consciously avoiding harmful actions or
omissions by embodying high ethical standards and adhering to all applicable
laws and regulations in the choices we make.
2. Foster trust in the marketing system. This means striving for good faith
and fair dealing so as to contribute toward the efficacy of the exchange process
as well as avoiding deception in product design, pricing, communication, and
delivery of distribution.
3. Embrace ethical values. This means building relationships and
enhancing consumer confidence in the integrity of marketing by affirming these
core values: honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency and
citizenship.
The American Marketing Association, (2013) ethical values for marketing
professionals want them to sustain honesty and forthright in dealings with
customers and stakeholders. To this end, marketing professionals will:
Strive to be truthful in all situations and at all times.
Offer products of value that do what we claim in our communications.
Stand behind our products if they fail to deliver their claimed benefits.
Honor our explicit and implicit commitments and promises.
Also the American Marketing Association, (2013) insists that it is the
responsibility of the marketing professional to accept the consequences of
marketing decisions and strategies. To this end, marketing professional will:
Strive to serve the needs of customers.
Avoid using coercion with all stakeholders.
Acknowledge the social obligations to stakeholders that come with increased
marketing and economic power.
Recognize our special commitments to vulnerable market segments such as
children, seniors, the economically impoverished, market illiterates and others
who may be substantially disadvantaged.
Consider environmental stewardship in our decision-making.
Fairness to balance justly the needs of the buyer with the interests of the
seller. To this end, we will:
Represent products in a clear way in selling, advertising and other forms of
communication; this includes the avoidance of false, misleading and deceptive
promotion.
Reject manipulations and sales tactics that harm customer trust.

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Refuse to engage in price fixing, predatory pricing, price gouging or bait-and-
switch tactics.
Avoid knowing participation in conflicts of interest.
Seek to protect the private information of customers, employees and partners.
Respect to acknowledge the basic human dignity of all stakeholders. To this
end, we will: Value individual differences and avoid stereotyping customers or
depicting demographic groups (e.g., gender, race, sexual orientation) in a
negative or dehumanizing way.
Listen to the needs of customers and make all reasonable efforts to monitor
and improve their satisfaction on an ongoing basis.
Make every effort to understand and respectfully treat buyers, suppliers,
intermediaries and distributors from all cultures.
Acknowledge the contributions of others, such as consultants, employees and
coworkers, to marketing endeavors.
Treat everyone, including our competitors, as we would wish to be treated.
Transparency to create a spirit of openness in marketing operations. To this
end, we will:
Strive to communicate clearly with all constituencies.
Accept constructive criticism from customers and other stakeholders.
Explain and take appropriate action regarding significant product or service
risks, component substitutions or other foreseeable eventualities that could
affect customers or their perception of the purchase decision.
Disclose list prices and terms of financing as well as available price deals and
adjustments.
Citizenship to fulfill the economic, legal, philanthropic and societal
responsibilities that serve stakeholders. To this end, we will:
Strive to protect the ecological environment in the execution of marketing
campaigns.
Give back to the community through volunteerism and charitable donations.
Contribute to the overall betterment of marketing and its reputation.
Urge supply chain members to enCsure that trade is fair for all participants,
including producers in developing countries.

7 Contribution of Marketing Professionals to their Countries

Development
First, it is imperative to consider the status of marketing professional in
a developing economy like Nigeria. Is marketing like Medicine, Law,
Advertising and Accounting, a profession or just a vocation. Available

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literature, Achumba, (2006), (Ewah, 2007) suggest the underlying assumption
of the obvious, that if marketing should be regarded as a profession, then it
should be in the same footing as other professions stated earlier (law, banking,
advertising, medicine and accounting). Since marketing is now presently on the
same footing as accounting, medicine or law, engineering it should also be a
platform for country's development. In the marketing revolution blue print
Elliott, (2014), outlines three forces fueling transformation of the marketing-
services industry; namely: change velocity, selective consumption and success
factors. These same catalysts have a direct effect on the type of marketing
professionals that organizations must recruit, train and retain. Elliott, (2014)
opines that change velocity relates to the rate of change, continually accelerated
by technology innovations and has created growing demand for tech-savvy
marketing professionals. Specifically, trends and shifts in consumer behavior,
business processes, software, data analysis, communications and marketing
philosophies have impacted the essential competencies and traits of prototype
marketers.
With respect to the selective consumption, Elliott, (2014) insists that it
is the basic principle behind inbound marketing, the philosophy made popular
by American Marketing Association, (2013). In essence, consumers are tuning
out traditional, interruption-based marketing methods, and choosing when and
where to interact with brands. This is where marketing professionals play
significant role because as organizations in every industry are shifting budgets
away from print advertising, trade shows, cold calling and direct mail toward
more measureable and effective inbound marketing strategiesfueled by
content and socialthat cater to consumer needs there is the for customer
retention. Thus, marketers must be trained to plan and execute inbound
marketing campaigns, integrated across traditionally silted disciplines.
Regarding success factors Elliott, (2014) points out that marketing
campaigns are not about winning awards for creative, building the flashiest
websites, gaming Google for higher rankings, generating mounds of media
coverage, or negotiating the lowest cost per thousand (CPM) as means to
interrupt the largest audience. The job of a marketer is to produce results that
impact the bottom line.
Marketers have the ability to consistently produce more meaningful
outcomesinbound links, click-through rates, website traffic, landing page
conversions, content downloads, blog subscribers and leadsthat can be
tracked in real time and directly correlated to sales.
According to Wood, (2013), the future of marketing belongs to the
generalists and the hybrids. These marketers are the key to increasing efficiency

10
and productivity, building an insurmountable competitive advantage and
fueling your organizations growth.
Marketing professionals have been involved hugely in transformational
technology in the lives of consumers worldwide. On a global scale, marketing
professionals usage has incredible penetration with over 232 million users in
the USA and over 410 million users in China (Statistica, 2015). As at 2015,
there were 1.49 billion monthly active Facebook users and more than 302
million monthly active Twitter users around the world. Firms have been quick
to adopt marketing professionals as a platform to reach consumers and connect
with them (de Vries, Gensler, and Leeflang, 2012). As at 2014, 413 of
the Fortune 500 companies (83 per cent) had active Twitter accounts and 401
companies (80 per cent) had active Facebook pages (Barnes and Lescault,
2014).
Although marketing professionals are widely used by business-to-
consumer firms, Schultz and Peltier (2013) discuss the tendency for companies
to use them largely as a means for communicating sales promotions, engaging
customers and building a long-term relationship. They point out that business-
to-consumer firms often target already loyal customers who do not require
additional incentive to engage with a brand. The authors indicate that
emphasizing short-term sales promotions may not build customer relationships
or ultimately create long-term value for the firm.
On the business-to-business side, the use of marketing professionals has
grown much more slowly. According to an OgilvyOne Global Survey (2010) of
salespeople, only 9 per cent of salespeople in the USA reported having received
specialized training from their organization on marketing professionals use for
sales. While more recent inquiries have shown higher rates of usage among
salespeople in the USA, the lack of training and limited application still remain
(Moore et al., 2015). In some industries, such as pharmaceuticals and financial
services, the use of marketing professionals is highly restricted and firms have
been especially slow to use them among the sales force. Recent reviews not
only point out the generally slow adoption of marketing professionals among
business-to-business sales but also indicate a significant lack of research on the
topic (Pomirleanu et al., 2013; Rodriguez et al., 2014).
Marketing professionals have enormous potential to affect sales at
every stage of the process (Rapp and Panagopoulos, 2012). Andzulis et
al. (2012) proposed that there are six potential roles played marketing
professionals in enhancing the sales process: understanding the customer,
approaching the customer, needs discovery, presentation, closing, and follow-
up. The authors point out specific marketing professionals tactics for each of

11
these stages of the sales process. While this categorization is quite useful, it
emphasizes the use of marketing professionals as a functional marketing
development device. For instance, the authors propose tactics such as
conferences/results/innovations and seminars for further development of
marketing professionals so that they can contribute effectively to the
development the organisation and by extension the country.
It is evident that marketing professionals are explosive phenomena in
China and are growing at a rapid pace. Given the impact of marketing
professionals in the consumer market, there seems to be a clear opportunity for
Chinese marketers to use WeChat, WeiBo, QQ and other marketing
professional platforms in the marketing processes.
This paper may not completely agree with Achumbas(2006)
submission that Marketing Practitioners are a monthly amalgamation of
subgroups that differ sharply in practice and in the nature of their practice". But
then it is still necessary to have both one monolithic marketing profession as in
law, and still permit many different professional groups in marketing, so as to
cater for interest groups in advertising (APCON) sales, marketing research,
public relations, (NIPR) and International Marketing. This is in line with what
is obtainable abroad especially in the UK ad USA.

8. Strategic Functions of the Marketing Professionals of the Future

A marketing professional is a marketing practitioner with expertise in
strategies to engage customers and improve business opportunities, both
through retaining existing clients and attracting new patrons. Through a well-
developed and targeted campaign, a successful marketing strategy and plan will
help companies achieve defined and measurable goals. These are determined
through careful and thorough analysis of the current situation and status of the
company, considering its position in the industry or service and evaluating
successes, challenges and available resources.
The work of a skilled marketing professional is a careful blend of
leadership and advisory roles, with the ability to be both extremely analytical
and creative simultaneously. A marketing professional has the challenge of
quickly and accurately assessing the unique internal and external elements
affecting the business, ranging from customer satisfaction and need to
competitors, market trends, technological innovations and environmental
factors. While determining short- and long-term strategies to reach marketing
objectives, the marketing professional has to ensure that targets are met and the
companys mission statement doesnt become lost in the process.

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 Elliott, (2014) opines that executing the marketing strategy is a delicate
operation and requires someone who is able to monitor progress and adapt the
plan and innovate as necessary. He insists that almost paradoxically, a
marketing professional is a hybrid of the most organized, details-oriented
planner who can also navigate off the map so to speak, initiating changes based
on expert intuition and research-informed decisions. It is like employing a
scientific researcher who knows when to trust his gut feelings. Collaboratively,
Brown, (2015) posits that hiring a marketing professional gives businesses
access to an incredible brain-trust and skill set for far less cost than it would be
to retain a marketing professional on staff. Contracting with a marketing
professional to work on selected projects either independently or in
collaboration with in-house employees works very well for small and large
companies. In this regard this paper submits that marketing professionals of the
future should be extremely good with people and able to demonstrate a depth
of knowledge about consumer behaviours, communications and marketing
processes, (Opara and Nwulu, 2016). They should be typically expert
interviewers who can astutely analyze not only how a company is positioned
within its niche but also what will drive consumers to purchase the products or
services. A good marketing professional to be able to make impact he must have
ideas about how to expand business while staying on budget and work well with
existing management and staff.
For Hyde etal, ( 2014) the best marketing professionals in the business
are highly skilled in communications, psychology and business. They are
innovators and creative personalities who are not intimidated by new
technologies and trying different approaches to achieve the desired goals. It
goes without saying that successful marketing professionals are self-starters
who drive the process to achieve measurable results. By characterization the
marketing professional should offer expertise in marketing strategy and
process. Also, McGovern etal, ( 2014) elucidate that it is not unusual for
marketing professionals to specialize in certain areas or industries such as
travel, real estate, entertainment, etc. They identified some common types of
marketing professionals as:
Small business advisors Working with family or privately owned small
businesses like spas or restaurants, these marketing professionals will help plan
how to increase sales on limited budgets. They will look for opportunities to
work with existing resources to build the business and retain customer loyalty.
Online marketing professionals These marketing professionals are focused
on using the internet to market a business online. Often they specialize in pay
per click (PPC) advertising or search engine optimization (SEO) to drive
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customers to their client sites. Clients range from small businesses to large
corporations.
Corporate branding professionals When companies want to define a
professional look, or brand, and mission, a branding professional is the person
required for the job. This marketing professional is experienced in ensuring a
company has a defined presence in the market that identifies it as unique, from
its logo and printed materials to letterhead, website and signage.
Social media professionals This new frontier for marketing professionals
helps with setting up and managing social media everything from Facebook
and Twitter to Hoot Suite and Pinterest. They will assist in the design of pages
and registering of domain names for websites to writing blogs, Facebook posts
and Tweets that drive traffic to websites. Again, these professionals are hired by
everyone from mothers starting small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations.
Client acquisition professionals If businesses rely on new clients to generate
revenues, they hire professionals who specialize in drawing new business.
Commonly hired by startups, travel agencies, hotels & resorts, lawyers, finance
professionals or real estate agencies, these marketing professionals know how
to attract fresh leads. When hiring a marketing professional, decide what it is
you need and then find someone who has experience and skills in that area and
preferably for your niche industry or service. Ask to see the professionals
portfolio and find out about how satisfied their most recent clients are with the
work that was done.

9. The Future of Marketing Professionals in Developed and

Developing Countries
In the January 2015 edition of Research World the ESOMAR monthly
magazine presented an article authored by Dimitris A. Mavros, the Managing
Director of MRB Hellas, the third largest Market Research agency in Greece.
The article is about the impact of the digital era on marketing professionals.
The premise of that study is that if the marketing professionals remain non-
dynamic, reactive and inactive the impact will not be good for future
breakthroughs in contemporary marketing activities, whether in developed or
developing countries.
Here, Mavros(2015) outlined and highlighted ten (10) predictions about
the future of the marketing professionals in developed and developing
economies as follows:
1. The traditional marketing professionals that refuse to change will go
out of business.

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2. Marketing professionals will catch on even more and will democratise
our sector.
3. Social listening analytics will be a must-have for every marketing and
marketing manager.
4. Agile marketing professionals will become mainstream and will be
facilitated by online communities.
5. Micro surveys and intercepts will eventually replace long monthly
customer tracking studies.
6. Processing behavioural information/data for result oriented branding
and rebranding and delivering real-time customer satisfying packages
will be a core competence of any insightful and proactive
professional managers.
7. Adjacent marketing services such as customer engagement, enterprise
feedback management, customer advocacy, will become solutions
offered by the progressive and proactive marketing companies of the
future.
8. Marketing professionals will be the new insight experts, utilising a lot
more predictive analytics than rear-view mirror analytics.
9. The code of conduct of marketing professionals' associations such
as CIM, AMA, ESOMAR, NIMARK, NINM and MRS will be
revised as if they do not apply to the digital economy. If not, the
new breed of marketing professionals will refuse to be members of
such archaic organisations, and such organisation will latter die out.
10. Marketing professionals will no longer be the largest controllers of the
marketing environment in the world as other professionals have
ventured into marketing functions.
This paper agrees strongly with the positions of Mavros (2015) because
marketing professionals that want to be docile would never be part of the
development in any countries' economic re-engineering whether from the
divide of the developed or developing countries.

Table 1: The Social Media Analytics of Contemporary Marketing

Professionals

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 Source: Mavros (2015)

The above table from Mavros, (2015) more or less confirms some of
the predictions concerning the future of marketing professional in both
developing and developed countries. This data reveal that marketing
professionals can never maximise their stakeholders' equity if they continue to
rely on the old and traditional ways of doing things. The social media analytics
is interesting because 47% of end clients claim to be using it whilst only 34%
of the agencies claim not to be using this approach. This could mean that 19%
of other technology companies are being used by the end clients that are not
marketing professionals.
In any modern company that wants to get results, proactive Marketing
professional holds the key to effective market development and control in
developed and developing countries. The bottom line is; change or perish. This
paper aligns itself with this submission in that if one is a stereo type and reactive
marketer he would have no place in the emerging marketing environment. A
good first step will be to include in professional marketing solutions portfolios
that integrate social media listening and online communities into current
marketing agendum. Future marketing professional is looking for selected
marketing initiatives to be its partners in certain countries and industry sectors.
16
 Many wellqualified professionals feel that the quality of their services
should be high enough to permit them to create a niche and wait for clients to
come. In doing so, the professional is exerting no control over his or her type
of practice.
A competent marketing professional has revolutionized the industry,
and the job market. Corporate marketing departments and marketing agencies
struggle to recruit and retain qualified professionals for career paths that did not
exist some years ago, while academic institutions are faced with the need to
adapt curriculums to the real-time nature of business.
The most valued talent in the emerging marketing whether in a
developed or developing economy will be hybrids. Although specialists,
connectors, and soloists can still excel with focused competencies and service
offerings, disruptors are built on the versatility of social-media and tech-savvy
professionals. They possess exceptional copywriting skills, along with dynamic
personalities that enable them to build strong personal brands. Hybrid
marketing professionals are trained to deliver services across search, mobile,
social, content, analytics, web, PR, and email marketing. They provide
integrated solutions that used to require multiple agencies and
consultants(Nwokah, 2008).
Forward-thinking organizations seek hybrid marketing professionals
who are highly proficient writers, analytical and technological savvy, with a
strong grasp on business, IT and human behaviour. These next-generation
marketing professionals excel in the emerging core-marketing disciplines of
mobile, analytics, social, web, search, customer relationship, networking and
content. They envision on a strategic level, building fully integrated
programme, and they have the capabilities to execute on the tactical level,
conducting activities that drive real business results.

10. Conclusion

The marketing professional continues to rule the world as organisations

look for more engaging ways to connect with their customers. The need for
measurable return on investment (ROI) has amplified the quest for competent
and intelligent marketing professionals who know their worth. Current
information technology and globalisation press their prominence on the
marketing stakeholders to go for the best coupled with the fact that the society
is envisaging the rise of the marketing professional who have technological
expertise. The future of marketing professionals is bright, but exceedingly
encumbered and the marketer who wins in both developing and developed

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 countries will be the one who can sort the substance from the noise and
proactively pays the price in a dynamic environment.
Despite the numerous challenges facing marketing in developing
countries, there are good prospects for the future, hence marketing and
marketing professionals hold the key to unlock the underdevelopment of
developing countries.

11. Recommendations
The following recommendations have been made in this paper:
(i) Marketing professionals should regularly be exposed to seminars, workshops,
symposia and talks to be given by top marketing practitioners from the leading
companies in Nigeria and developed countries.
(ii)Working out exchanges of programmes between lecturers, marketing
practitioners and the companies, whereby the lecturers and marketing
professionals can spend short periods in the companies.
(iii) The much talked about sabbatical leave by very senior lecturers, could be
spent in the companies to observe practical marketing assignments for other
marketing professionals.
(iv) Government should assist in tackling the problem of scarcity and high
prices of locally sources of producing marketing textbooks by providing tax
and other incentives especially finances to lecturers, other marketing
professionals and publishers to stimulate local production of marketing
textbooks.
(v) When marketing professional engage in real marketing practices they will
help to develop appropriate marketing strategies and programmes for
developing nations, provide for the needs of the people and enhance the
standard of living, create job opportunities for the unemployed, create wealth
for entrepreneurs and ginger the means towards affording education and
enjoyment of leisure. Therefore, government, organisations and stakeholders
should encourage the development and entrenchment of effective and efficient
marketing professional.

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