You're my commsHERO
"You're my commsHERO" is a Podcast for commsHERO types, where we speak to people we're inspired by and discuss the comms work they do.
You're my commsHERO
S8 E4: Always on and always learning
Adam is a junior marketer currently working in local government.
During stints in retail and then sales, Adam studied for his level 4 certificate for the Chartered Institute of Marketing before going on to work for them directly as a Content Coordinator.
He now works for Bracknell Forest Council as a Communications Executive where he has led on such projects as Equalities, the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and the response to COVID-19. During this time he became a Chartered Marketer.
In this episode, Adam will discuss how learning and development helped him in his career, offers his tips for learning around a busy lifestyle and suggests why everyone has the ability to learn, and why businesses should encourage them.
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Hello, welcome to another episode in the Yo My Coma podcast. And I'm your host, Asif Chowdry. Today my guest is Adam Pile. Adam is a junior marketer, currently working in local government, uh, during Stintson retail. And then sales. Adam studied for his Level four certificate for the Chartered Institute Institute of Marketing, or CM, as they're more popularly known, uh, before going on to work for them directly as a content coordinator. He now works for Bratman Forest Council as a communications exec, where he's led on such projects as a qualities, the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and the response to the Covid 19 pandemic. And during this time, you also became a chartered marketer, which is gonna be, um, a key part of what we're gonna discuss today. So, Adam, thanks for joining me. It's a pleasure to welcome you on the podcast.
Speaker 2:That's it. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:So before we get into talking about C P D and Chartered and all that kind of stuff, we're gonna get to know you a bit, Adam, and this is the first time I've known you on social for a while, as I do with a lot of my guests. Um, but this is get me getting to know you and also our listeners. So let's kick off with, are you Apple or Android?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's the question I feared the most. Out of all the ones I'll be asked today. I am Android, which I know is unusual.<laugh>. Yeah. Um, I lived with a couple of guys after Uni, their software developers, um, they're still software developers. They hated Apple, right? And so they, I didn't have that technical insight, so I had to get an Android. That was what they made me do. And I've sort of kept the bias. And, um, I was listening to Darryl's podcast with you recently, actually. He was talking about Apple. He said, um, otherwise excellent podcast by the way. Definitely recommend it. He said something like The top 1 billion, most affluent people pick Apple. Uh, so I, I guess I'll be in the 7 billion who don't. But I'm an an, I'm an Android man.
Speaker 1:Android, uh, that's that. I'll remember that one. Cause the, we don't, as you say, we don't get that that often. So there you go. People, Android user, Adam Pile. So, uh, on the Android phone, do you prefer to make phone calls? Are you a texter?
Speaker 2:Uh, it depends. It depends. I text text. My friends, call my mum. It's, uh, it's probably a generational thing, I think. But dice, I'm a, I'm a texter I think most of the time, unless it is my mom or my wife, I ring. And really, those, those is probably the only two
Speaker 1:<laugh>. There's probably lots of listeners just nodding in agreement, uh, as they hear that. So let's ask you, um, are you an early riser or do you love a lion?
Speaker 2:I'm, I'm an early riser. Typically now, now I'm married, uh, especially at the weekend. Cuz she loves, she loves to sleep in. That's sort of time I get to myself so I can go for a walk, watch the TV that only, I'm only I want to watch. So, uh, not Emily in Paris, which is her choice, um,<laugh>, but you
Speaker 1:Know, of marketing lessons. A lot of people. Yeah, a lot of people are talking about the marketing lessons to be learned from Emily in Paris. And I'm probably gonna have a, um, a guest on from the US at some point talking about Emily in Paris. I'm not watched it myself yet, but, um, I might do because apparently there are lots of marketing, uh, lessons in there. So we'll wait and see. I'll reserve judgment until I've watched it. So what you box at binging then, Adam in these early mornings on a Saturday?
Speaker 2:Oh my dear. Well, I've, I've gone back to some of the old ones that I didn't get a chance to watch the first time. Sophia and I have just watched Lofa starring Idris Elba. Oh.
Speaker 1:Which I think brilliant. Yeah, it's a new series coming out, isn't there? Oh
Speaker 2:Yeah. Looking forward to that one. You know, I'm, I'm watching for the Dr I think she watches it for a dress Elba, cuz you know, he's a lovely, lovely man. I'm sure he is very
Speaker 1:Popular. Hey, listen, don't we all, don't we all
Speaker 2:<laugh>. So, but at the moment, watching, oh, sorry. At the moment, watching Inside number nine, which is an old BBC show. So nothing revolutionary. I haven't watched any of the new ones for a while, apart from Italy, Emily in Paris. But I'd recommend, yeah, I'd recommend that if you like a bit of gothic comedy.
Speaker 1:Well, there we go. There's a recommendation from Adam. And final one, are you an e booker or do you prefer a printed book?
Speaker 2:Uh, this is probably where I won't surprise you as much. Uh, I'm, I'm a printed guy. I know you love it as well, um, from your history of it. But I will say this, I have only listened to a couple of audiobooks in my life, but certainly since I've started in local government, they are in amazing things for accessibility and they've opened up learning to people who learn in different ways from me, for example. So even though I'm on the print train, the idea of audio, it just makes it more accessible for everyone. So we'll have both in the world and I'll, I'll stick to the print.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely. Listen, I'm, I'm a massive print fan having worked in print for 20 plus years. But, um, I, I've discovered, um, audible through one I'd interviewed, um, Sarah, the Sera legend, Sarah Waddington. And she, I didn't even, I'd heard of Audible, but I'd not really thought about using it. Um, she's a massive printed book fan and we were talking about print on that episode of the podcast and she mentioned Audible. And since then I've, um, you know, I've got the monthly subscription and I, I listen to quite a lot of audio books cause I still commute into the office cause I've got 30 minutes a day of commute time. So I, I use that for more CPDs. So I'm a big fan of both formats, but the printed book, I think for learning, I tend to learn a lot more retentions just better from the printed book, um, rather than just taking it in passively through, uh, through listening. So it's just a thing that must be an individual thing. But no, I appreciate all that, Adam, and it's been nice to find out a little bit more about you. And, um, so what you, you posted on LinkedIn about becoming a chartered marketer and that, as with a lot of the guests I invite on, um, it's through something that they've posted and, uh, oh, I thought cpd, everyone's talking about it, or a lot of people are, and there'll be people who are doing it, people thinking what is it? Um, and also being a chartered marketer and the value chartership. And that's, I thought that would be a good, uh, conversation for our listeners to, to take in some advice from somebody who's, who's doing it and who's gone through the process. So I wanted to ask you, Adam, to kick us off now, how did he get into marketing?
Speaker 2:It's, it's a long story, so it probably won't be my shortest answer today, but marketing's is kind of a love story for me, really. I, um, I was at school, I was very average at school, um, hanging in the middle for pretty much everything, but I did business studies in year 10. You start to, when you're 15, 14, and 15, you start to branch out a bit more with subjects in school. I just understood it, um, understood it in a way that I could see it apply to business as well. So I could, I could not only did I know what the four Ps were, I, I realized why it was important for business. I could understand it in the real world, which i, I couldn't ever do of maths or science. Yeah. Um, and I, marketing was my favorite part of that. So I took it on to a level. Um, I did okay at gcse. I did okay at a level, and then there was a choice to go to uni, um, or start a job elsewhere. I chose to go to uni, but I, I did English literature instead of marketing, which I do wonder about now. I don't necessarily regret it, but I do wonder. And then kind of marketing went on the back seat for a long time. I didn't really think about it. I worked with my dad after uni in retail. Marketing wasn't really a thing for the stuff we did. And then I was 29, so eight years had passed after uni. I went, went on a speed date with my friends. I met someone. Um, and we talked about marketing and she loved her job. She was a marketer. We talked about marketing on that first four minute date. We talked about it the rest of the evening. We talked about it on our first few dates. And she talked about the c I m course she did. And she said, it's not too late, you know, to get into marketing. I was doing a sales job at the time now. Um, so I did the course, she did. I ended up marrying this girl, this is Sophia, my wife. Um, and through that I eventually went to work for c i m. There are a couple of things along the way, but what I would say to anyone who wants to get into marketing or communications, who listens to this, and I know a lot of people are already there, but for those who want to get in, you are bringing transferrable skills to it. Marketing is very open to that. So it's been brilliant for me to learn some of those things I learned, again when I was 18 and seeing them apply differently. But you bring a whole load of different life experience for it. I say marketing, you're thinking about it, you know, get involved.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Lovely story that you said. The love of marketing. It was actually exactly that. So what, you know, most people fall into comms and marketing as a profession and, um, uh, you kind of fell in love with the person who brought you into the, uh, profession. So, so there you go. It's a big shout out to Sophie there. So, um, uh, no thanks for sharing that story. And uh, I speak to a lot of people who the answer of how did you get into this role is usually fell into comms and marketing. And it would be brilliant. You know, fast forward 10 years from now, that it's the profession or a profession of choice right up there with being a YouTube or a TikTok or whatever is gonna be the social media platform of influencers and stuff like that as, um, as it happens. But it would lovely to, to do that. And we, I talked to you in the intro about, um, you posting about C P D, um, continuing professional development. So we're all ones for demystifying the cluttering jargon here on com zero. So what is continuing professional development, Adam?
Speaker 2:Okay, that's, uh, another long answer I'm afraid as if, but continuing professional development, C P d I'll call it. Um, it's a couple of things now unofficially, it's the way sort of we all learn. It's about keeping your learning up to date and doing that for any number of ways. Uh, like listening to this podcast, for example, if, even if you're not in a C P D program, if you're listening to, maybe not, maybe not my podcast, but let's just say there comes hero podcast in general, you are doing C P D, it's about keeping your learning and development up to date. But officially and through industries such as marketing accountancy, you do hear of, of these things, chartered accountants, chartered surveyor, they're big ones. It's the, it is a way of regulating the industry, making sure you're keeping up to date with your work, with your learning, getting the proper qualifications, and ultimately making sure you are the best in the profession that you can be. So I, I became a chartered marketer a year and a bit ago that involved, uh, that involves signing up for cm. You have to be a member of the body, the chartered body of each profession you are in. And I was signing up to a C P D portal, uh, and putting in your activity as and when you do it. So if I was doing this podcast as I am now, to be honest, I'm gonna add it to my C P d, I will point out what I did to prepare for it. I would talk about what I learned on this podcast, and this is the key bit. I would point out how it made me better at my job for a local authority. And ultimately that's what C P D is. It's a record of how you become better at your job and, and in theory it gets you to sort of those higher levels in your career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and also some sound advice there and, you know, certainly demystified any of the points there, um, for people who will have heard the term c p D branded about and are, if you're on it, great, you'll understand it. If not, then you're probably doing it. And a learning is the key thing with that. But it's official learning that you're talking about here and being recognized, uh, for that learning. What would you say to people who are doing that learning but not going down the official recognition route, as you've mentioned there through C I P R C I M and any other membership bodies that, um, uh, you know, are, that you can become members of, dependent on what you're doing with incomes and marketing?
Speaker 2:Uh, that's a, that's a really good sort of question. I think we have to be sort of mindful of the world as it is. So, you know, maybe people who are listening to this podcast are more, maybe more affluent than average, but I, I pay sort of 20 pound a month for my CM membership. Previously I was paying for my C I P R, uh, and I didn't sort of have the money to keep that monthly. So I've temporarily put it on hold and I'll come back to it. But if you, so you have to kind of, 20 pound a month is a lot to, to some people and you have to kind of justify it. I would say that though, if you are doing it unofficially and you can get involved with it, definitely do for a couple of reasons. One, that chartered element is becoming more and more important now, especially for sort of junior marketers. Uh, so I was saying sort of before the recording began, when I was at c I m, they very much had worked out that that chartership was, it was strenuous. It was tough to get, and it still is, but it was there when you were 29 30 or when you were 10 years into your career, you'd get chartered. And at that time, you're not getting the huge benefits of it because you already have the contacts in the industry. Maybe your next job is someone you know, rather than what, you know, in that instance. So they bought it further back. So people like me who've been doing marketing three, four years, and then they can become ACMs, which is sort of just above entry kind of level. They can do two years of marketing and then a test and then become chartered. And that means that as a junior marketer, you should be able to get the benefits of that chartered program. And there's, there's a second reason. It's more important you can really structure your learning around it. So cons of marketing covers everything these days, to be honest, we're asking, we'll come back to it sort of later, but it's asking big questions of the world as it is. And you, and I think young, certainly marketers have to decide or feel, they have to decide fairly early if they're gonna be a generalist, which sometimes rules them out when they're younger or a specialist, which kind of rules them out as they're older. Um, but join in a chartered body like C I P R, like c i m means you can kind of structure your learning. You are always gonna have the material to learn there. You're not gonna be chasing it. You'll find material that will be relevant to you and ultimately that will make you better at your job. So I would say if you can, if you can afford it each month, then do, because the benefits are, are just fantastic.
Speaker 1:Now, some good, uh, advice there Adam, and thank you for sharing that. And uh, we were talking before the recording started and I've got a few more questions that I'm gonna ask you. But just to continue the point on chartered marketer and you talked about being a junior marketer, there's probably a, uh, in my opinion, a pop popular misconception that you've gotta be in the profession for a number of years before you will, or you can get into chartered status, but you are of a different opinion. So you've educated me today. So what's your take on that?
Speaker 2:You do have to be in for a little while or at least have a marketing element to your role in order to qualify for say, a C I M status as I do. But you don't have to be in it for years and years and you know, it has to be related to your role, but maybe you're doing marketing in your current role, but don't have the title. For example, maybe you're doing communications in your current role, but you are there as a specialist or something like that. You don't necessarily have to be in there a long time. You just have to have been around kind of marketing for a while. When you sign up to these bodies, they will, they will let you kind of know what entry level or whatever you are, you are on for. And I suppose with, with junior as well, it's, it's a word you kind of associate it with like new. Um, but if you're a junior doctor, for example, you've done years and years of training to even be, that is a, that sort of positioned marketing isn't quite the same, but junior marketers still have a couple of levels of experience for them. So if you are in it for a couple of years, you are more than ready to start that chartered process.
Speaker 1:No, some, um, that good advice there. So tell us, Adam then, what are some of the things that have held you back as a communications exec and how has learning helped with that?
Speaker 2:That's another, another good question. Um, this, the short answer is there are, there are lots of things. Lots of things, especially as an older junior marketer. So I, my first marketing role, I was 32, 33. Um, and I studied for the CM one when I was after 30. So I spent years in retail, years in sales. Consequently, you always feel like you are behind. Um, and going through that in, in kind of your head, uh, you think you hear these terms like imposter syndrome and you think, well that's, yeah, that's kind of a made up term really, isn't it? Um, or that applies to me. It can't possibly apply to anyone else. But you do learning, not only do you get better for it, but you listen to, to podcasts like this or CM Marketing podcast, if I'm allowed to say another one. Um, the whole marketer by with Abby
Speaker 1:Dixon. Absolutely. I'm a massive fan of Abby Dixon. Yeah, she's been a guest on the Com zero, um, podcast actually, and a speaker at coms Zero we say, yeah, fire away with recommendations.
Speaker 2:That's it. See this is this, this is also it, it as well I've, when you asked me to do the podcast before C P D, oh I'd been, I'd been having all sorts of panic attacks about that. What could I possibly talk about? When you look at some of the people like Sarah Waddington, Abigail Dickson, um, people I've been on here, uh, believe Louise Dean, Louisa Dean will be on here as well. Yeah, these are big names and I, I do not match up to those. But learning what can I talk about? I can talk about learning and by going through sort of podcasts like Abby's like yourself, where these people, the Sarah Wattington's of the world, um, listen and, and they talk about their own sort of insecurities. You think, oh wow, it's a real, it's a real thing. I'm in sort of the boat that they're in. And importantly they talk to you about how they overcame it. Even if sometimes it's just you have to get through it and being held back as you're older and you have to sort of almost feel like you have to pay catch up learning sort of helps you realize what you bring to the table as well as the gaps you have. And that is, that's the big one for me. I still, I still kind of think I myself as the cat who won crafts, um, getting into Bral forest council because I mean, we with a team of sort of a star performers, they're incredible. Uh, I work with, with 10 women, I'm the only boy. So they definitely keep me in line. Um, but they're all incredible workers and only through learning am I able to think that I deserve a kind of seat at that table. That is the biggest thing to me about how I've sort of held myself back and how learning has helped push me through it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, and then what do you, um, what would be your top tips then Adam for, for studying? And especially as with pretty much everybody has, um, around studying around a busy lifestyle?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that's, that's a big one these days cuz we're all, we're all busy and we're all being asked to do so much. Um, as well as like a number of other worries. Uh, a number of the guests you've spoken to, they talk about their life with their, their children as well. You don't want to spend less time with your children or your family. So if you are going on this chartered journey, if you're committing 20, 25 pounds a month, whatever body you sign up to and you and you want to get that kind of knowledge, but you know, you also want to get the hours in my first place of call would always be my work. So I don't know, uh, I dunno you guys, but we at the council have to do a number of different courses, which we just have to do, right? So gdpr obviously general data protection regulation have to do that. That's the law. Um, we have to do inclusion stuff. So having inclusive conversations, these aren't meant to be tick box exercises. They are meant to make you better at your job. You can add them, they're nice, easy freeways of getting ahead. And then what I would do after that, I would find some training which maybe the company would pay for. You can certainly put the request in. I would sort of bury that trading. So there'd be, if you wanted, if you were going for an option that say costs 500 pounds, it's a one day CM course or something, I would bury that with a three option. I would come to the, uh, to the management with three options. The first would be that CM course, that's the middle pricing of 500. And I would put down every advantage possible that I'd get from that course. I'd put a, a expensive one just to give them a, a little bit of a knowledge that it can be more expensive and I'd put a course that was cheaper, but maybe I sort of talk about the disadvantages of that in, in what I talk about. And then if you go to them for funding, it may be they say no, it may be they say no, but you do have a right to say, is this a no for now? Is this a no period? Because ultimately people don't ask for training enough or they certainly don't ask in the right way. So your work will cover most of what you need really. Um, and then the easy thing is because you're doing it already, listening to podcasts like this, listening to the webinars that C I P R C I M do to you do for you because there is a wealth for them. Um, if you're doing a C I M webinar, for example, it's an hour, uh, a week and you'd be covered in sort of 20 hours if you're at my level. Um, if you're doing C I P R, they do bite size webinars. Um, and you really only need about 12 of those to be sort of at the first level you need. These are all excellent resources that you get and what you're paying for anyway. And then ultimately you get podcasts like this for free. If I've said anything on this podcast and someone's doing CI uh, C P d now if I've said anything that you didn't know before or that would make you better at your job on the off chance I do that, then you, you can put me down as your C P D, you're doing C P D right now. So the resources are out there, um, and you don't have to go too far to find the funding for them.
Speaker 1:So you said that item that the, that lots of, uh, resources are available and contents available for C P D from your membership body, whether it be C I P R C I M, et cetera. Do you think then, do you think this official and inverted coms official C P D, which is official because it's recognized by the membership body you're paying a membership for and you're submitting it as part of your ongoing, um, C P D towards chartered or retaining chartered, um, and eventually Fellowship, do you think then C P D still has a role to play when there's so much free resource? Because let's be honest with social, everybody's a guru and people are giving out free advice and um, lots of websites have popped up with free resources now that, um, you can't necessarily claim C P D towards chartered if you're not a member. But what would you say to, you know, do you think that official CPDs still got a role to play?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, definitely. Um, when, when you sign up for the cpd, when you sign up with the Chartered Institute Marketing, chartered Institute public relations, you are, you sort of on that membership list on that process anyway and you are on the way to getting the official certification. Um, but if, if for whatever reason you only need to use free resources for that, that's, that's more, that's more than fine. That's more than fine. If you sign up for c I m and every single thing you put in for your chartered on your C P D journey is the Comms Hero podcast, you've learned a lot already. That's more than fine. Where I would say that you've gotta make the benefits of those membership. For example, you have to sign up for C I m anyway, use the resources. They're more wide ranging than anything you'll see just like C I P R. But the truth is, if you are doing this unofficial c p D of of learning and development, yeah, that, that is good too. The industry is, is full of people who maybe haven't had the marketing sort of, uh, experience beforehand of bringing in those skills from outside. But I think people need to treat marketing and communications like they would other industries as well. And that is about kind of that official training that that c i m bring, I think, um, the great voice of, of the industry, the great curmudgeon of the industry, I suppose, uh, mark Ritson in marketing, certainly he, he certainly bangs on a lot about the idea that yeah, we don't have trained marketers as much as we should and that training is important. That was the guiding thing about C I m. How can we make training important when we take in so much knowledge from outside? And the truth is, the simple truthful answer is which written say in which CM say, and it's the guiding thing, you are a better marketer, you're a better public relations person. If you go through sort of the official resources that have been vetted alongside the stuff that's super fun like this or other podcasts or those meetings and mingling you get, or at least you did used to have in the days pre covid. I don't think we've quite gone back yet to what it was before. But in free resource you can get that, you can get there, but you are a better marketer, you're a better public relations person if you look beyond that and look to sort of the giants who have stood before you and who've learnt before and will be able to teach you so much. That's, that's my answer to that.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely, that's a good answer as well. And as I would put a call out to any guests who would have the opposing view to the official C p D recognition route and they've been successful or they're on their journey and they're not considering that the reasons, you know, be brilliant to explore that with somebody. If you know there's a call out for a guest to come and tell us why you're not going down that route and what are, what are the reasons, let's explore that and and see if there's anything that the becomes a community the listeners can support with or are just understanding the other side of the fence here really with that. So, um, no, it's been fascinating item to, uh, to just, you know, hear your journey and some of the advice as somebody who's, um, come late into marketing going on that journey, how you got into marketing. You've shared some fantastic top tips as well and also given us a, a good argument really for the official C P D as opposed to all the free resource. Um, and amongst that's, that's out there, that's available for all of us to tap into. So just to wrap up the questions then, what, what do you think the, what are the main challenges then facing communicators today?
Speaker 2:That's, that's a hard question. That's a hard question to answer. Probably, probably volume of stuff, probably for the industry as a whole. When shortly before I joined C I M I I think, cause I had to do a presentation for on it, um, 7% I think of boards across the uk had a, had a cmo, a chief marketing officer. Marketing was not in the conversation. That's, that's, that's less of the case now. I think the pandemic in particular has been a really good platform for communicators, for marketers to show what they can do. But it is, it is kind of like a boxing match. It's had a battering for four rounds. We've, we've, we've won rounds five and six and it's the, you know, it's the second half of the fight now and that has to continue. But the way that is continuing is because there's just so much more, there's just so much more we have to do and be aware of in the, the wider world. We've got a, a cost of living crisis. We, our customers are not immune from that. Our residents are not immune from that. I'm talking as a local authority. We've got wide, wide questions on sort of AI that's coming in. There's so many cool things sort of coming in with AI now. Um, you are, you are a bit of a techie. Have you sort of had any experience or experimenting with
Speaker 1:Some of your, I've seen chat G P T and uh, I've resisted temptation. I've seen lots of people posting, I asked this question, this is a response maybe, um, one day I'll do uh, com a podcast would, I'll ask chat g b t the questions and I'll read out the answers or something. I dunno,<laugh>, we'll have to wait and see. But I'm letting all the um, uh, novelty element of it, uh, go through its natural course and then I'm sure I'll dip into it just out of curiosity, if anything,
Speaker 2:That's it. You get version two as long as it's not like the Terminator, I'm, I'm all for it. But these are, um, these are big sort of questions as well as the environmental one as well as ideas around sort of immigration as well. You can, you only have to watch, look at c i m when I started, the big question was about training. Now, now it's, it's about sustainability as an organization, um, and across the world and uh, our mutual friend, uh, Gemma Butler along with Michelle Carville, brilliant Michelle Butler, absolutely. They run their podcast, uh, can Marketing Save the Planet, which shows the sort of wide questions they do. Most guests say actually it can with a bit of help, it can. So these big questions mean a big workload and I think on an individual level that means mar marketers, communicators, they need to work out or it seems they need to work out earlier if they're gonna be a generalist, if they're gonna specialize. And that's, that's tough. There's so much you have to get head around. It is speaking, it's for someone who's older, um, who came into it older, it's, it's tough. It's tough to learn all that. It's, it's sometimes there's information overload. So that's why I wanted today's title always on and always learning really to sort of claim that back. Cuz sometimes that could seem overwhelming. Like I've gotta be always learning all the time. There's too much to learn, but you just have to sort of do what you can and you always will be learning if you're naturally in the, in the profession and these big questions, they're not going away. But we can't come to them alone. We are just, we are part of the solution and it's really good actually that we are part of that because as I said before, marketing and communications wasn't before. So that, that is the challenge. That is the challenge. The big questions that we have to help answer.
Speaker 1:Oh absolutely. And some good shoutouts there. I'll name check those people in the show notes and what have you as well. But yeah, there's definitely lots of those challenges. Good point made about generalists or you're gonna specialize. Um, the strategic element might take your fancy further down in your career as well as you get exposed to that. But you know, the whole premise of Comms Zero, which as we go into 2023 is now and it's ninth year having worked with and I still do work with a lot of comms and marketing teams and um, you talked about one of the big challenges is the volume of work that's required. It's always been the case because that's why we set it up, you know, celebrate celebrating the heroics that comms people perform every day. That is why Comms Hero exists because in my opinion the unsung heroes, when there's um, reduction in budgets, it affects training and marketing. The first two places tend to be, that's where they tend to cut budgets. Um, and in times of recession, you know, we've seen uh, campaigns like Lucky Saint in January going big on out of home, um, advertising within New Campaign. It's great to see a lot of that stuff. So marketing's coming out, as you say, coming out fighting really. And I think it's important the profession recognize that. But we have a responsibility to ourselves and our profession to make sure people who aren't in this profession understand what it's about. And we've got a whole range of, you know, the com zero t-shirt slogans that um, we've sent out to many people over the years, kind of just justify that we don't just do the pink and fluffy. There's a lot of stuff that we do do. So we really appreciate all that information and um, advice and support that people are gonna take away and be inspired by Adam I'm sure. But you know, we're talking about Comms Hero and the community itself in its ninth year. You know, why is Comms Hero important to you and would you recommend people working in comms and marketing to be part of it?
Speaker 2:The short answer to that last question is definitely, um, and I think you probably put more articulately than I could, the reason for the other one, why is it important to me? Cuz it's a community that celebrates sort of us and really puts into context what we do and why it's important. As you say, uh, during times where budgets are tough, it is often training, it is often marketing that take the first, hit that in a way that I suppose that is understandable, but it's a shame because the issue is there that communicators in general can be good at absolutely everything. The one thing they will always be bad at, the one thing they will always be bad at is talking up themselves. Um, I have to do an awards entry later on today and this, I don't, I dunno how to do it, it personally, I dunno how to do it. I struggle, we, we struggle talking about the good things we do in context cuz we just get on with stuff we're often everyone's go-to for doing things. Um, and the Comms Hero gives kind of a community, like CPD is a community as well. Yeah. And it's been very important. It's very important to me as well to listen to all these people and to find out that yeah, maybe what I do is, is important too. And I'm, it's okay to be proud of that. I've, it's been a long journey to get here. So yeah, get involved with Comms Hero and obviously the main reason as everyone says, but I'll just add to it the swag as well, you know, the
Speaker 1:Swag. Yeah. Great part about working here at resources. We've got the keys to the swag cupboard. So I've only ever used Comms Hero notebooks since we started making them in nine years ago. So it's, um, I've got a collection of them and if you attend the Comms Hero event, you get personalized notebooks as well, which is always, uh, to create extra fomo. So Adam, it's been really good talking to you. It's been a great interview and I'm, I'm sure the com zero listeners are gonna enjoy that. And part of the community is that, you know, I I want people to connect with the, the guests. So how can people find you, what, what the social handles they need to be looking for?
Speaker 2:Uh, I, I am on Twitter. Um, I don't, I'm one of many, many people. I don't come across all that well on Twitter, but you can find me. It's usually me being angry about something or other, but occasionally I might say something funny about Liverpool. Uh, Adam Pile, that's Pappy Yankee Lima Echo in nine, uh, at Adam Pile nine is probably the best one that's a slightly more, uh, friendly one I suppose. But on LinkedIn, uh, you can find me on, uh, Adam Bile, a c I m and, uh, there hopefully this year, uh, get the blog going. I'm joining Guild as well. So, uh, that will keep you all the updates there and happy to have any and all sort of messages if you want to chat to me about anything at all. I think that comes here as a community and to, to keep that going as important.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And Guild, there is a comms hero community, which, um, uh, is on Guild as well. So we've been on there for about a year now as well. So come, come and join us on there. So you're gonna find this podcast on Spotify, apple, uh, and platforms of your choice, but also on our website, comms hero.com. And you can follow us on Twitter at com zero. And if you do listen on Spotify and Apple, please do leave a rating and review. That stuff's important to us. If you have some topics that you're passionate about when it comes to comms and marketing and your fancy, um, being on the podcast as a guest like Adam has just done, then drop me in line. Or, um, dm, do contact me on LinkedIn as if Chowdry or on Twitter or at, you know, get in touch with Comms Hero. I'd would love to have you on the show. So Adam, it's been absolutely fascinating and thank you very much for us being a guest today.
Speaker 2:It's an absolute.