Q&A WITH NICK BAKER, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT BAKEHOUSE COMMUNICATIONS
Nick Baker, Managing Director of Bakehouse Communications, is a Brand and Client Experience Specialist with over 30 years of experience in financial services for clients and agencies. He has held management positions in marketing for life insurance, pension and investment companies. He was Director of Marketing at Irish Life UK and Head of Communications at Barclays Investments before becoming the owner of a successful marketing agency. He has been responsible for bringing countless innovative products to market and over 14 brand-new financial services businesses, including most recently as a NED for a retail real estate investment fund manager. He is the founder and director of the Internet Security Simplified Business Simple and Open. Putting the client at the forefront of the client’s business has been his passion throughout his career.
Media 7: What inspired you to get into marketing? Please guide us through your path.
NICK BAKER: I started in the financial services industry as a technical underwriter, which luckily introduced me to the distribution and marketing teams. I liked the sales environment more than underwriting, but not wanting to be purely selling, I started my first of many startups early in my career. The business environment for startups gave me the opportunity to help develop and promote new products and services, thus my marketing career was born. I then went on to manage the entire marketing discipline from start to finish with various types of financial services businesses and helped launch several new companies along the way.
Finding my creativity and innovation to be more fulfilling, I left the corporate world to help run a marketing agency and open their digital business in the early days of the Internet, before starting my own agency. Over the years I have worked with about 100 different companies, helped launch new startups and have come full circle helping a new brand called free2 as one of the founders of the team.
M7: What marketing channels do you use and which ones do you find the most promising for your target customers?
NB: I use all available channels and mix them constantly to get the commercial results I want. I start by understanding customers to identify key channels, but then use a very dynamic test and study the process of optimizing strategies. The new start-up brand free2 aims to break down the preconceived notions of old demographic groups, and this extends to the media and delivery tactics we use.
M7: What is your approach to market research focused on both customers and competitors?
NB: Market research is essential in everything we do to gain valuable insight into customers and competitors. I like to look for innovative ways to get information to keep knowledge fresh, safe and provide an edge. One of the best experiences I can remember was a 3 day hotel stay with a consumer group. It was definitely a deep dive into how they thought.
M7: How do you ensure that your sales team understands and presents products in a fun way?
NB: I create a communication strategy that connects the brand to the points of validation of products and services and is then reinforced with a set of coherent and coherent messages. I am looking for ways to present messages through innovative formats and channels, both digital and non-digital. For example, in this “scaling world” I have introduced interactive brochures that are much more interesting than traditional linear ones.
M7: What do you think are the top three product marketing challenges in the post-COVID-19 era?
NB: In financial services, where the human factor is vital in many areas, delivery using remote digital channels will need to take into account the need for humanization of consumers.
Keeping up to date is a big challenge as the mindset, attitudes and behavior of consumers have changed significantly. Not every marketing message used before covid will still resonate in the hearts and minds of people. For example, long-term planning suggestions may seem off-target when people are more focused on the present. Keeping your finger on the pulse of people’s thinking is now more important than ever.
Realizing that life after COVID-19 will become more fluid for many consumers, so products and services may need to adapt to new patterns of income and spending, employed and non-employed. This will create additional commercial pressure to develop and deliver products and services to accommodate these new ways of living and working.
M7: How is the tactics of promoting products and services changing during these periods?
NB: Online has been a huge beneficiary of the accelerated COVID-19 lately, while retail has been hit. Television has played a very important role in targeting certain segments during blocking and will continue to evolve. Social media continues to grow with the emergence of new platforms. Video is a must-have advertising tactic, whether it’s a pure campaign or part of a deeper content marketing strategy. Overall, understanding the performance metrics of a multichannel strategy is key to achieving the business goals of any business.
M7: Words of Wisdom for Marketing Professionals?
NB: Be fresh, experiment constantly, measure everything, and don’t forget to talk to the client.
ABOUT BAKEHOUSE COMMUNICATIONS
Bakehouse Communications helps clients meet today’s marketing needs as well as the strategic challenges of tomorrow by creating and delivering brand goals. They do this across all channels for B2B and B2C customers and aim to bring fresh, sophisticated and innovative ideas to everything they do.
