EXODUS from the private to the public sector continues apace, despite plans for a major cull of quangos and promises to axe thousands of civil service posts. Many would agree that this ‘brain-drain’ from the private sector has been a positive trend.
However, there is still a long way to go before the public sector cottons on to the importance of the marketing function, a good marketer and the embracing of modern marketing techniques implemented by professionals.
The skills needed by public sector marketers differ greatly from those in the private sector. In business, directors are happy to bark: “you’re the marketing manager – get on with it and make us some money.” This carte blanche is a dream ticket for talented marketers who can quickly see their creative ideas come to fruition in the race to make money. Results can be neatly assessed and a pat on the back can be earned.
However, this luxury is often not afforded to public sector marketers where the ability to sell ‘up the line’ to bureaucratic civil servants without a commercial bone in their body is a core skill. Marketers in the public sector need to be thick skinned. Rejection, blank gazes and arched eyebrows are all too common in the lonely world of public sector marketing.
The new breed of public sector marketer needs to be an educator. Appointing ‘yes’ people without the clout needed to make those at the top realise the importance of sustained marketing is a backward step. Without the right people at the helm marketing departments at organizations wither on the vine with weak zombie-like jobsworth marketers.
Public sector organizations typically fall into two camps. In some, astonishingly large amounts of cash are wasted on external research or marketing consultants. In others, there is no budget for marketing at all as bosses don’t see any value in it. In some public sector organizations the teabag budget is bigger than the marketing budget.
What often happens in the public sector is that administrators are promoted internally to marketing roles or juniors are recruited who grow into the marketing managers of the future – moulded by – you guessed it – the silver topped mandarins.
If there is no professional marketer to manage a coherent strategy in these organizations, marketing is more of an experiment than a science. The wrong techniques get used, don’t work very well and budgets get slashed because “it didn’t work”. All this knocks the creativity out of a restricted marketing department. You can often see them tucked away in the corner, hiding behind a yucca plant: issuing leaflets, arranging sponsorship and muttering about seminars. If you see them – be nice to them. They won’t be around for long.
Public sector chiefs must understand that the correct use of marketing by the right people can transform the internal corporate culture into a more driven, dynamic and exciting culture to work in. It also helps foster a more positive perception amongst the public about the work it does. In turn this should lead to a greater uptake in the services they provide, leading to a greater budget allocation for the future so the public body can swell.
Lessons must be learned from marketing people who have had private sector experience and they must be given the power to apply modern techniques. The ultimate aim is to grow a team with a decent mentor so that marketing truly works.
Jenny Cainer is an experienced public/private sector marketer and founding director of Marketing Professionals UK specialising in recruiting for public sector marketing jobs. Contact 0161-236 6789
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