Nata Gogoladze: Constant Development and Adaptation of Strategies to all Modern Challenges is a Must in Order to Succeed

Interview with the Head of Marketing and Commercialization Departments of Tbilisi Mall (Rakeen Uptown Development), Nata Gogoladze. 

Tell us about how you got into the field of marketing, and what factors played an important role in choosing this profession?

I have a bachelor’s degree in International Relations, I still think I would make a great diplomat if I had continued in that direction, but when I was 19-years old I ended up in the United States in an internship doing Sales and Marketing in one of the biggest hotel chains, and it radically changed my decision making. Psychology and Math were always two of my strongest sides, and thinking about how I could combine those to reach the desired goals inspired me, and I chose Marketing as my major for my MBA .

What challenges do you face as a leader in marketing, during a time of technological change?

Technological Changes have been literally flying with rocket speed for the last decade, and will continue along the same trajectory for the next few years, too. Everything is changing so quickly, that no classic approach can be applied to many things. So,  constant development and adaptation of different strategies to all modern challenges is a must to succeed. 

What has changed in the field in the last 5 years, and what changes are expected?

A lot of changes have happened in the marketing field over the last 5 years. First of all, digital marketing. Classic, static advertisements are reaching their targets less and less. Customers have also became more aware of marketing tools, and are not so easy to convince any more. This is where influencer marketing steps in; customers tend to believe somebody who they think has a good knowledge of the field, and are ready to trust their advice. So it became very popular to hire experts in the field to promote products. Together with a huge number of available channels of digital marketing, restrictions have also come into effect to protect customers, for example, influencers should indicate that it is a paid partnership, most advertisement display that it is an advertisement, and so on. 

In the future, customers will be even better educated about how advertisements work. Because of all  the YouTube channels and the possibility to have millions of followers, and make money through it, even school kids understand the basics of marketing tools, and it will be hard to sell them anything through advertisement.  Advice sharing platforms will become more and more popular, such as TripAdvisor, we “<3” it, and so on, and companies will have to spend less and less on the advertising part of marketing, and focus more on research, product development, and customer satisfaction. 

What do you think are the most important qualities a marketing manager should have, and what is his or her role in the organization in general?

Marketing plays a key role in any company, nowadays. Marketing comes up with the idea of the product/service, tests it on market through research, finds a targeted market for the product, determines prices, gives a recommendation as to how to present a product or service, promotes it, analyses sales and correlates it with money spent on COG and promotion, decides when it is no longer in demand, and when it should be removed from the market. In other words, marketing is everything, and the Marketing Manager needs to have a lot of skills to manage all of these, but still, I think in terms of developing the world as it is today, the most important skill is to be able to adapt to changes very quickly, and learn fast. As changes in our field take place every day, and it is crucial to fine-tune with them. 

What do you do to keep the organization from falling behind on new trends, and keep applying innovative approaches to marketing?

My company invests a lot in our development. It never leaves  a burden if we want to learn new skills or trends on the market. We often  exchange visits with different malls to see what is new and how can we think ahead and bring in novelties. 

What’s your organization’s business model, in terms of marketing? 

The customer plays a major role in our business, as in any other business. For a small country like ours, it is very important to have satisfied customers, that they come back to you to generate enough traffic for successful operations. So we always do our best to not have any unsatisfied customers. We constantly improve our services, and the variety of products we offer. 

One word that describes your job.

Challenging 

The most useful advice you’ve ever received in your life?

I do not remember where I got this advice from, but I try to always follow it, and it always works. It is ‘whatever you do, do it with love.’ The well known Georgian writer, Chabua Amirejibi, says in his famous book Data Tutashkhia: ‘‘If you don’t have love, you cannot even kill anybody” it sounds very impressive in Georgian.

Think of a person who inspires you, professionally.

I have one and only role model for my whole life, this is my father. He is perfect in everything – as a professional, as a person, as a friend. He has the answer to everything, and is a person who is equally good at everything. When I was little, he used to teach me hundreds of poems, and we used to read endless numbers of books, about our country, love, passion, arts. Everything I am and I do well, I am grateful to him. I wish I be half the parent he was.