Once we were housewives, then we became stay-at-home mothers, next we gave up on kids and became filofax flapping yuppies. And then we decided we could have it all. Success on the career ladder and the school run could be ours.  The number of working mums has gone up by a million in two decades in England.

Almost three-quarters of mothers with dependent children are now in full- or part-time work according to the Office for National Statistics.

I am one of them.

After nearly 20 years working long hours in PR across multiple sectors, targeting diverse audiences with carefully crafted messages, managing often challenging client expectations and budgets and continuously reviewing and measuring the success of campaigns, I am now working on my toughest brief.

I am a parent.

My objectives are clear: raise a fine young man who is secure, kind, conscientious and an all-round decent human being.

My budget is a bottomless pit.

My timeframe, a lifetime.

Sounds easy right?

The Return On Investment (ROI) isn’t always evident amidst moaning that he doesn’t have anything to do (ignoring multiple toys), refusal to do homework (three times a week) and a strong willed, entrepreneurial spirit (which isn’t always executed in the best way or easy to manage!).

Now, like all good PRs (Parental Responsibility), I am completely focused on my end goal. My tenacity, while often tested to its limit, will not fail. I remain consistent, committed and target driven.

My approach is often challenged. “X is allowed to play violent video games”, “Y stays up until 10pm”, “Z gets to drink fizzy drinks”.

While taking a ‘me too’ approach could be tempting (and make my life so much easier), I am confident that my tailored tactics will get the right results for my individual audience.

I draw much from my professional career to manage my toughest brief.

I regularly reflect on my campaign; review what is working well and what could work harder; measure my results (often simply a hug) and remain on track with my unique goals and objectives – regardless of the temptation to be a ‘me too’.

As the threat of the dreaded teenage years are not too far in the distant future, I take care to listen to my audience, stay alert to his needs, and craft my messages and methods appropriately to engage, influence and convert.

I am the thought leader in our household.

I’m sometimes guilty of talking at rather than to my audience. I am quick to spot the error of my ways however, in the knowledge that this will not help to build the long-term relationship desired.

The needs, behaviours and expectations of my audience will change over time. Every aspect of my campaign therefore, needs to be continuously monitored, reviewed and adapted accordingly.

Like all good PR campaigns, being a good parent requires clear and consistent messaging, a robust – yet flexible – approach and a long-term commitment.

And a supportive employer.

There’s nothing like attending a milestone birthday to get you talking about the good old days. The days when you walked around a shop with a trolley to buy your food, you faxed insurance renewal forms, the closest thing to hummus was Shipham’s paste and you put a needle on a record to listen to your favourite hairbrush-grabbing track.

Like our shopping and social consumption habits, the world of marketing has changed beyond recognition. I doubt if my children (who will probably think that The Yellow Pages are a has-been pop duo) will ever receive a door drop or read a classified ad.

Once upon a time the budget battle was TV versus print. Today it is digital against traditional. Twitter versus LinkedIn. Alexa or Invoke. Hyper-personalisation and localisation battling influencer-isation. Social against the world.

Credit and loyalty cards were once the business-changing technology for monitoring what customers liked and wanted more of. To ascertain which brands were in and which were on their way out – cast aside like a once coveted rah-rah skirt. Now we have appliances in our homes that we talk to while they listen. And then maybe they share our secrets with who knows, out there, somewhere. Our very own in-house spy.

The rules of marketing have changed. The players are unrecognisable. The targets never stay still. The playing field is a mine field. The joy of winning is short lived. And your loyal fan base has become flighty.

However, the fundamental basics of marketing remain the same today as they were in the good old days of pedal pushers and Look-In. The search for differentiation. The need to understand customer behaviour. The battle for brand supremacy.

The need to win. Whether it be sales or conversion, brand recognition or esteem, number of likes or shares. The need for industry–accredited awards. We all still want a pat on the back. Real or virtual. From the company boardroom or the Facebook chatroom.

So they may have been quite good those old days, but back then you couldn’t offer your 40th birthday party guests 178 brands of gin to wash down their vegan chipotle foam hors d’oeuvres could you?  Now that’s what I call progress. Gordon may disagree.

Had Gordon had a secret spy he may have known that London gin was so last year. He would have known that customers need a rare and exotic blend of berries and the name of their local town on the label for a gin to make it onto their drinks trolley. Yes drinks trolleys are back. Ah the good old days…