By: Amelia Reyes Mora – President of AF Strategic Communication – areyes@afcomunicacion.com

Recently during an interesting seminar organized by the Dominican Microfinance Network, an exhibitor shared the following thought that they may have read it many times:

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up; She knows she must run faster than the lion, or he will kill her. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up; He knows he must run faster than the gazelle, or he will starve. Every morning, when the sun rises, and it doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle, you better run. ”

This thought has continued to bounce in my mind and somehow has made me reflect on how challenging the daily career we have to live the companies and communication consultants to support our customers effectively.

We used to say that the big fish ate the little one; then we understood that rather fast fish eats the slow one, but now we not only have to be fast, but we also need to be more creative and innovative in order not to be devoured.

It is a well-known certainty in the corporate world the need to run faster and faster than the competition, but we also have to dazzle our clients with creative proposals and, in particular, be able to adapt to change and, even more, see it as A true source of motivation to innovate.

Public Relations continue to create a space in organizations and board of directors, but it must be a place earned based on their ability to add real value to companies. We need to keep evolving and understand our customers and their environment.

• Related: A vision of the future of public relations, by Amelia Reyes

In that sense, I continue to comment on my recent experience during the last seminar, the speakers were conducting an excellent analysis of the economic perspectives of our country and the region, as well as the potential impact on our economy of international decisions, known certainties, and others absolute unknowns of which we have no control, which could determine our future. Global, economic, and environmental risks that can stop or limit the excellent growth that the Dominican Republic has shown.

Here I am, as a “wannabe” economist, with few lights on the subject, but with high sensitivity as regards the interests of our clients. The latter is what motivates me to share these ideas with my colleagues because to earn a place at the table of our customers. We must generate a positive impact increasingly, contributing to the permanence of their companies.

That is, we communication strategists must understand our environment, contribute with plans adapted to the current and future demands and needs of our clients. The observation of circumstances, research, trend analysis, and planning are essential in the work of a good consultant.

To cite an example, we need to understand that demography changes and, therefore, it is necessary to design innovative strategies and plans with a vision of the future.

Currently, we need to dimension that the participation of millennials (generation Y) in decision making represents a segment of the population that is growing and occupying command positions. According to Deloitte, in 2020, they will represent 75% of the planet’s workforce.

It is estimated that 42% of the population of Latin America is generation Y, members of a generation of digital natives, with great appreciation for interconnection and immediacy. A generation very different from its predecessors is generation X. This raises the need for a way of communicating that integrates very different groups.

Sometimes, I still see professionals resisting new trends in digital communication. To talk to large groups of consumers, there is practically no other channel more effective, less expensive, and faster. However, considering the noise and the diversification of channels through the digital world, we have to move forward with increasingly attractive and differentiating proposals, discerning which one is the most appropriate according to the objectives and audiences.

However, we believe that in the end the digital world, although wide in scope, is a channel, that what is really important is the substance, the content, and the way of communicating it.

In this, we do have to be very good. However, I have sadly seen content that bristles the hairs due to its mistakes, motivated by the desire to have a digital presence without a strategic sense or purpose.

In summary, it is essential to keep up to date, study the environment, adapt to changes, develop increasingly creative strategies, generate interesting and differentiating content and make use of the different communication tools in an integrated way to win the race that starts every morning.