The region’s top marketing executives will be discussing the effect of social media on business branding at a special event in Cumbria next month.

Hosted by the Institute of Directors, the expert panel will give tips to help established local businesses stay connected with their younger customers through platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

They will focus on how values, tastes and behaviours are changing and how branded goods companies can try and compete in order to stay relevant.

Speakers at the event, which is taking place The Villa Levens in Kendal on November 7, will include Gill Haigh, managing director of Cumbria Tourism.

She said: “The Lake District and Cumbria have been long established visitor destinations. In tandem with many other industries our challenge is to ensure that marketing keeps pace with changing consumer habits and that we adapt our practices in order to ensure we continue to appeal and stand out to new markets in a crowded marketplace and marketing space.

“A key focus for Cumbria Tourism is to continue to effectively engage Millennials and Generation Zs, whose patterns of information consumption and what influences them is radically different to older generations.”

The event is sponsored by investment management service provider Rathbones, and delegates will also hear from the firm’s regional director Richard Dawson and its head of equity research Sanjiv Tumkur, who will speak to delegates about branding considerations for businesses in the region.

For more information and to book a ticket, visit iod.com/events-community/events/event-details/eventdateid/12472