In uncertain times, it is more important than ever to share experience, insights and advice with your peers so we can all learn from one another. With this in mind, we are having conversations with members across various sectors to understand how they and their teams have adapted their marketing strategies throughout the pandemic, what they have learned from it, and how they prepare to return to the new normal.

For this week’s instalment in the series we’ve chatted to Gary Joyce, Managing Partner, Genesis

MII: Hi Gary, how has your approach to marketing changed over the past year, and will this continue into the new normal?

At Genesis we are fortunate in that most of our business comes to us on the basis of referrals by previous clients. Relationship management and knowledge sharing are our core marketing activities. At the beginning of the pandemic, like every other business, we had no idea what would happen or how long it would last so we made a concerted effort to stay close to clients and support them as best we could. This included creating a greater presence for Genesis in the market through undertaking research studies based on issues of concern to clients and a series of webinars that we delivered, some in partnership with clients.

How did you adapt your positioning to connect with clients during this time, and how do you plan to move towards normality?

Genesis is a business advisory firm. We help businesses to win in the marketplace by enabling them to address complex market, customer and organisational issues. Our positioning is as relevant now as it was pre-pandemic so we haven’t changed it. However, we evolved several of our processes to enable clients to reimagine, reinvent and renew their strategic direction, business models, strategic plans, organisation and brand strategies faster and more sustainably.

What was the most important lesson you learnt from a marketing perspective during the pandemic?

People have always talked about the pace of change being unprecedented. The pandemic brought that into stark reality – and most of the trends that have been emerging post the Great Recession have been accelerated by Covid-19. We’ve learned that we need an ‘always-on’ strategy. Staying close to the market, to clients and to consumers has helped us to remain responsive and relevant at a time of great uncertainty.

What are you most proud of from a marketing perspective that your team have delivered?

I am incredibly proud of the flexibility, resilience, loyalty and focus of our team. At the first lockdown we made a decision not to furlough or make redundancies and instead, asked everyone to accept a pay cut, which they did with good grace. We were all working remotely but despite our separation, the Genesis team spirit was evident from the beginning. Everyone worked their socks off to deliver value to clients, refine our processes and undertake research and speaking engagements. They really supported our business and I’m very grateful for that.

What did you learn about yourself over the last 15 months?

That having lived and worked through several crises doesn’t make handling a pandemic-induced crisis any easier! The big lessons for me have been about the importance of sensing the mood within our team, telling it like it is, being comfortable about my own vulnerability and asking for support. Managing our collective energy has been vital. The pandemic has made our interdependence more evident and collaboration even more important.

If you are a member who would like to feature in the In Conversation with series please send an email to editor@mii.ie