Career Option: Brand Safety Officers: An Upcoming Career Choice for Marketing Aspirants
With social distancing norms in place, digital has become the new way of staying connected. From our daily routines to social interactions to travel aspirations, digital adoption has become the new normal and will remain so in the times to come. This shift towards digital has also changed how brands approach their customers.
The 24*7 online culture has resulted in more and more people looking for products and services online, indicating a magnanimous scope for business growth. The online culture has also resulted in an increase in the digital threat landscape, disrupting the traditional approach due to challenges to advertising environments as well as brand safety components.
The most important part of being a marketer today is to identify crucial markers such as if your ads are appearing in brand unsafe environments. When the customers themselves can differentiate between safe and unsafe environments, why shouldn’t marketers and brands address the same? A meaningful and substantial experience is what customers require and the up-and-coming marketers of today need to be able to deliver the same, keeping brand hygiene at the center.
One negative news about the brand directly hurts the goodwill, revenue, and brand experience – instantly impacting the ROI. Building trust and relationships with your customers is paramount importance, especially in times like these where a single incident leads customers astray. Marketers need to adapt themselves with skills that look at the entire gamut of marketing in its true sense – capturing brand safety and addressing ad-fraud. This new breed of marketers can aptly be called Brand Safety officers.
Not just brands, marketers are equally responsible
The onus now lies not just with the brands and CXOs but largely on marketers and brand custodians to implement strategies to effectively leverage the opportunity to increase sales and brand visibility. Long gone are days where marketers had to justify ad budgets basis the impression, reach level data or sales conversions. In present times, they’re marred with more complex challenges like brand infringement issues like fake websites, counterfeit products, fake customer care numbers, ad-fraud issues such bot traffic, fake installs, geo-location fraud, as well as brand safety issues. These have brought forth a major skill gap in the digital ecosystem, which is, an understanding of brand safety components in marketing and advertising.
The importance of upskilling and specialising
Today’s market requires very specific skillsets. There is a dearth of digital marketers that understand cybersecurity in its entirety. India needs almost half a million specialised personnel to rise up to create a prosperous digital ecosystem safer for brands. This lacunae of skill deficit can be filled by upskilling in due time to successfully keep the digital ecosystem robust. Today’s youth needs to equip itself with skills that not only add value to the organisations they as marketers work for but also better their career progression.
