In our always-on industry, how many times do we have to tell ourselves ‘after this week, things will calm down’ before we start actively making the time to focus on what’s important to us?  

This ‘say-do gap’ between what we want to achieve and what the action we take to achieve it will remain vast. unless we take the time to show up and take control of our own careers.

When Visha Kudhail was approached by publishers to write her new book, Authentic Marketing, she had to find the time to invest in herself. “To start something new you have to let go of something else,” she explains.

To mark the launch of Authentic Marketing, Visha Kudhail, Global Marketing Leader and Author, sat down with Nicola Kemp, Editorial Director at Creativebrief, at an event hosted by Quiet Storm and Bauer Media Outdoor.

In a room of marketing leaders, Kudhail discussed how marketers can build their brands and put authentic marketing into practice. As a marketing leader with an authentic lens, Kudhail is steadfast in the importance of living by your values and passionate about sharing how people can go further in their own careers.

Putting passion into practice 

Kudhail shared that the focus for Authentic Marketing came from working with her core strengths and writing what she knows as a marketing practitioner. Kudhail had always wanted to write but faced rejections and feedback on book ideas in the past. Looking back, these setbacks redirected her toward the right path. “Always ask for advice,” she shared was her key learning. 

“Saying yes to an opportunity is always worth your while,” added Kudhail. In writing her book, she shared that she approached the exercise as a job with clear intentions and setting goals. “We are all used to backing a business, you need to back yourself,” she explained.

Kemp added that finding time to invest in yourself is an act of self care as the pair underlined the importance of building a personal brand. While the phrase ‘personal brand’ might give people the ick, Kudhail urged the audience to think of it as ‘how do you show off best assets and qualities’. “It’s less about vanity and more about values,” she added.

The pair explained that a strong personal brand can build a career. Being able to articulate why you are good at your job is essential in telling your own story, before someone else does it for you. In essence in order to own your own narrative, you have to get comfortable with having a personal brand in the first place.

Telling your own story

“If you're not telling your story, someone else is,” explained Kudhail. This is not only true in personal branding but in getting marketing further up the funnel. A key part of authenticity is speaking in a language that other people can understand to communicate the importance of marketing.

For this reason, Authentic Marketing is a jargon-free book. Instead, it is written as though Kudhail is explaining marketing to a friend. Conscious of her background in tech, where businesses speak in acronyms, the book aims to make marketing more human. 

The book is intentionally personal, inspiring and practical. It has been designed to be dipped in and out of and used as a practical guide. Having both studied marketing and spent years as a marketing practitioner, Kudhail is conscious that ‘theory doesn’t always match reality.’

“In the job it’s very different,” she shares, adding:“[theory] doesn’t accommodate for pivots, challenges, crisis management and budget cuts.”

Kudhail balances theory based thinking with hands-on experience.

Authenticity in the era of AI

Amid political unrest, misinformation, distrust and the rise of AI, authentic marketing is a particularly poignant topic. 

Kudhail shares that she believes authenticity is an area brands can make headway in at a time when people are seeking to make sense of the world through authentic storytelling. “People want brands to align with their values,” she explains. 

She defines authenticity as matching behaviours and values. Pointing to the examples of Nike and Dove as brands that live and breathe their brand and commit to a cause. Whilst On The Beach is a great example of one that has responded to the cost-of-living crisis by meeting consumers' needs. With frontman Paddy McGuinness, it speaks to audiences' travel needs with truth and authenticity.

While AI has been a key part in the rise of distrust in information, Kudhail believes it has the potential to play a positive role in authenticity. “Technology is supposed to enable people,” she shares. She urges marketers to work out where AI fits, be it in automating work flows, research or data, and being ‘smart and strategic’ about its use. 

While maintaining that we should proceed with caution, Kudhail champions a test and learn approach to AI. Being aware of the AI gender adoption gap, she urges women to lean in, sharing that she watches webinars and educates herself to keep up to date. “Try it and then say yes or no,” she adds.

In an industry obsessed with the new and the next, it can be hard to look through the hype. Kudhail tries to look beyond industry inflated conversations to instead recognise good work. In looking at what makes great work work we are able to see what is meaningful and what is hype.  

Instead of talking in circles, Kudhail advocates for the power of doing. By focusing on the good and dedicating the time to grow, marketing leaders can create meaningful, long-term impact.