Industry Insight with Tom Grocott

Posted 2nd March 2010

Welcome to the Industry Insights section of B-Hive. Over the next few months we will be interviewing some of Birmingham’s most successful PR, Marketing, Creative and Digital professionals – the B-Hive employers!

Today Tom Grocott, Director at Leader Communications is telling us his five year predictions for the PR and Marketing sector.

How you do feel the rise of social media has affected your campaigns?   

Media channels have always evolved and will continue to do so.  As a PR consultant our job is firstly to understand what needs to be communicated, and then to consider the best ways of actually doing it.  Social media has opened up a new and exciting channel for PR previously inaccessible to even the best consultants.  The social media landscape presents a unique opportunity to listen in more detail and breadth than ever before.  It also presents a fantastic opportunity for brands to engage directly with their stakeholders.  In answer to the question, social media, along with all other elements of online marketing is rapidly becoming part of every campaign.  The challenge for the PR industry in my view is to step up to the mark, to fully understand the new digital landscape and to not just ‘bolt-on’ social media as part of traditional PR programmes.

How do you see the PR and Marketing sector growing in the next five years? 

My answer really depends on how the industry responds to the digital landscape.  If we simply respond with a traditional PR approach then we could be sidelined by the digital agencies.  However, if we respond positively in the way I know we are capable of, the future is very exciting.  As an industry we are extremely well positioned to understand and interpret the new rules of engagement and to truly understand the opportunities available for companies and brands.

What do you enjoy most about your job/industry/projects? 

I enjoy the fast paced nature of agency life.  I am inherently a restless individual with a very low boredom threshold so this job is perfect for me.  I get to work across a range of clients keeping myself fresh and enthusiastic for each of them.  I do believe that if you enjoy your work and have a real passion for the job you achieve better results.  In our game if you don’t enjoy working on your accounts you’re probably not doing the best job for your clients.

Keep checking the B-Hive website for the next interview in our series. If you have any questions that you would us to ask the B-Hive employers then please direct message them to our B-Hive twitter at twitter.com/b_hive