Why Telecom Service Providers Need Better Marketing Talent
Ovum forecasts a 2 percent annual growth rate in telecom service provider revenues between 2012 and 2018, as these carriers struggle to combat increased over-the-top (OTT) service competition.
Moreover, their customers seem more interested in buying devices or mobile apps than telco services, and they continue to resist usage-sensitive billing for internet access.
Once telecom service providers realize that they can’t cost-cut their way to increased revenue and improved profit margins, then the demand for professional marketing staff will likely accelerate. But here’s the showstopper — that qualified marketer talent is clearly in short supply.
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Marketing talent is not necessarily in short supply. It is, however, hard to find by just looking at the herd of people claiming to be marketers. And from the company perspective, if they keep looking for people with “3-5 years experience,” then they are going to keep getting people not up to the task of integrated marketing in a complex market space.
@Emily, thank you for sharing your perspective. Point taken.
However, l was referring to a specific set of challenges that are somewhat unique to the telecom service provider marketplace.
In our industry it’s common (due to complex technology) to find tech-centric engineers acting as marketers. That being said, telecom domain expertise is a requirement for the selection of marketing talent — but it’s merely part of the preferred skill set.
In summary, finding and retaining qualified “multifaceted marketing people” continues to be a gating factor for telecom service providers that have underestimated the demand for savvy marketers that are proven to be skilled in advancing their growth strategies.