The purists, who still consider marketing as an art form, will be keen to point out that communication mediums have and will thrive to change with the changing methodology. What differentiates a successful and a mediocre marketing campaign, will always be critically important. This is the ability to pull the heartstrings of consumers and build an emotional connection to an inanimate product or service.

From the time marketing gurus like Philip Kotler made such statements, to the present day state of the way the marketing Industry is set up, there have been some paradigm shifts. Two of the biggest shifts in the game have been a direct result of social networks and their use as marketing channels. These days most of the brand consultants and marketing moguls capitalize upon the real-time data that changes the outlook of a marketing campaign. Data collected from different social media channels not only help design a niche campaign but also keep a check on the trends. Numbers are game changers. What it takes to build a successful marketing campaign in the modern age has been redefined thanks to these tools.

Dyar Al-Ashtari, one of the modern day success stories, will sync to the fact that the success he has achieved with the prospects of marketing campaigns across Europe stem from the ability to leverage all the marketing tools and marketing technology available. The innovation he drives might be technical but at the heart of all the data analysis and never-ending optimization of ad buys, it is important to note that a core message or brand ethos is hard to ignore.

While some people might have a natural knack for finding a golden mean between the worlds of data-driven optimization and crafting stories, there is no real replacement to the years of experience and business know how people like Al-Ashtari bring to the table. Sometimes, with an endless amount of data being flown, it becomes difficult to inculcate the right data as a guarantee of your success. But Al-Ashtari with its marketing efforts designed aptly has set a benchmark for many to come. 

His appearance as a public speaker is a testament to the fact that his storytelling skills come to the fore each time he crafts a campaign for his clients. Al-Ashtari is a brand consultant who helps blend the brand, its stories, and ethos, packages them perfectly into plain, crisp information, customized for all the communication channels the brand is pushed through. 

In the modern context, it a hybrid set of skills that bring success to notable marketing moguls like Al-Ashtari. The ability to interpret data and design it accordingly is as important as the ability to craft outstanding tales. When the two skills are put together, it creates the modern day equivalent of a truly successful campaign. 

There was a time when the pillars of a brand building were beautifully written messages filled with emotional connect. Today the value of such content is not the same. It is not that brands no longer need an emotional appeal, it is just that content consumption is at an all-time high that makes smaller brands difficult to saturate under the eyeballs if not repeated frequently. What has evolved instead is the need for deeper integration into the consumers lives? Brands are moving to the community-led  model where they not only talk to their customers on a more intimate level but also allow them to interact with each other in a space aligned with the brand’s ethos. The social media engagement and gratification that stem from these organic conversations is the cornerstone and prerequisite of the positive B2C connect. When consumers become endorsers of a brand, its ethos and thereby its products they pass videos, text messages and other communication through their interconnected social networks spreading the message of the brand without any media buying costs incurred.

In the past television and hoardings put out a brands message but today the consumer can respond to them. The data and engagement it offers are priceless while building a brand in this day and age.

The objective of marketing, in the bigger scheme of things, has been to generate demand for a product and eventually drive sales. There was a time when the impact of a campaign was measured by a set of approximations. Metrics like TRP become gospel and hoardings were assessed merely on the perception of how busy the streets or markets in its vicinity were. Today the angel investors and venture capitalists look for a brand that stands out in the crowd.

Today, an approximation is inconsequential. Media buying on digital platforms has allowed marketers to trace the customers journey starting from scratch on an e-commerce platform. Profiling their customers based on real interactions and preferences, send them to products that they have already shown some kind of buying intention towards. In case it does not turn in a sale, they can rectify what stage of the process the consumer disenchanted. 

To a shrew exponent of digital ads buying, this data is gold. The data helps allocate funds to different marketing campaigns efficiently than ever, allowing them to predict their Return on investment. It has been game changer that has contributed to the rise of digital retail giants.

With all these marketing tools available to make a brand consultant life easier, it is important to note that marketing has not necessarily become the walk in the park people might assume it is. The cut-throat competition and standing out from the crowd have never been so competitive.