Does every year need to be the year of the relationship?                            

Last week we were lucky enough to be invited as a guest of one our clients to the annual Evening with TechMarketView, which this year centred on why 2019 is the year of the relationship. As renowned technology industry analysts, it was no surprise that TechMarketView’s presentation was filled with lots of fascinating facts, stats and insights about the technology partner ecosystem – how to cultivate relationships, set boundaries and grow together.

When discussing the topic, they acknowledged that suppliers and end users must effectively develop an array of relationships to effectively compete in the digital marketplace. For technology suppliers, these relationships span employees, partners and their customers’ customers … whilst not forgetting the all-important client/prospect relationship.

The evening also saw guest speaker Miguel Gamiño, Executive VP for Global Cities at Mastercard, take to the stage, to discuss the company’s approach to forming public-private relationships. As Miguel discussed, Mastercard has successfully driven the City Possible initiative, boosting civic efficiency, inclusivity, equality and promoting a better quality of life. It sounded like a challenging task to bring so many people together, but as he rightly pointed out, the future of our world depends on the health of our cities.

The overall theme of the event really got me thinking about the synergies with the PR industry. There is nothing new in the phrase that ‘people buy people’, but more and more I’m seeing this in action. Whether it be across your teams, how we engage with the media, client relationships and new business initiatives.

Even if you have the best offering/price/USP, it’s all about the person-to-person relationship. Both sides of the relationship need to demonstrate trust, respect, intelligence, personality, and quite frankly you need to like working with each other.

Whether you are working from home, in the office or on-site with clients, building up effective relationships is the heartbeat of the comms industry. But they need to be nurtured, supported and even challenged to ensure we stay front of mind.

Why not strike up a relationship with Babel? Get in touch to find out how we make every year the year of the relationship – and the benefits this has had for our clients.