Digital Marketing Career Insights

A smart young digital marketer just left my team, and on the way out, he asked me to share some advice as he considered his next steps in his career. I'm a sucker for a smart person who seeks my advice. This is what I wrote: 1. Keep up the kind of professionalism that you exhibited at GoTo and during your transition.  Your willingness to go the extra mile and package your work so others can continue without dropping the ball will definitely be remembered.  Your reputation is one of your most valuable assets. 2. As you progress through your career, remember to maintain a focus on the business purpose that is driving your activities.  You might be surprised to find out that most people don't think about (and some don't understand) the business reasons behind their marketing activities.  Make sure you can always connect the dots and explain why you are recommending a decision in terms of financial outcomes. 3. Skate to where the puck is going. Lean into new technologies as a lifelong learner.  There are some amazing new AI tools coming out for marketing.  Spend some time learning about them, form an opinion about which ones would be most useful based on their business impact. It's easier to become an expert in something that is new.  There is a lot of new right now...dig in. 4. Find opportunities to sell an idea inside a company. The most successful people I know are great at convincing people to change the way they do things. If you think that something can be done better, do some research, run some experiments, model the improvement of doing something different, and sell the idea of making a change. It will be one of the most compelling stories you can tell when you are interviewing for jobs, and you will learn a ton along the way. 5. Be thoughtful and professional in your communication with others.  Writing and speaking in complete sentences is becoming a lost art. Leaders will take notice if you can write a concise, compelling email with proper grammar and no spelling errors.

I am frequently asked about my career shift from leading enterprise account teams to achieving success in both Scale and Digital domains. Many of my colleagues are either recruiting digital leaders or transitioning to digital careers due to the evolving job market. Both endeavors pose challenges, given the rapid changes in digital and the growing necessity in the current economic landscape. The transition has been incredibly valuable for me, propelling me as a leader and providing opportunities for significant impact, along with a deeper comprehension of CX/Services strategy. Coming from a background as an enterprise account leader, I gained a profound understanding of the complexities involved in managing large accounts but I noticed when moving into the digital and scale realm I required a shift in mindset. No longer was it a focus on singular accounts but rather a holistic approach to the entire base. Insights Gained: 1️⃣ Agility: In the world of digital, trends evolve rapidly. Embracing agility has become the cornerstone of my success. Staying on top of industry pulses through networking, events, and daily consumption of thought leadership enables me to pivot strategies swiftly, positioning me as an industry leader. 2️⃣ Data-Driven Decision-Making: Data is the compass in navigating large books at scale. Analyzing insights and understanding trends empower me to make informed decisions, impacting key metrics like RR and NPS. Every percentage change matters, and I take responsibility for those outcomes at scale. 3️⃣ Customer-Centricity: Shifting the focus from accounts to customers allowed me to foster deeper relationships across all personas. Understanding the digital customer journey became instrumental in tailoring solutions that resonate with everyone from decision maker to individual users. Transition Benefits: The shift from enterprise account leadership to digital success opened doors to unprecedented growth and innovation. I've progressed from managing an Enterprise team to leading global teams across both Scale and Digital/Self-Service. Embracing digital strategies enabled me to reach a broader audience, drive scalable results, and significantly contribute to the organization's top-line metrics. Advice for Trailblazers: 1️⃣ Never Stop Learning: Stay updated on digital trends, emerging technologies, and industry shifts. Continuous learning positions you as a thought leader in the digital space. 2️⃣ Champion Collaboration: The digital landscape thrives on collaboration. Build relationships with cross-functional teams, share insights, and instill a culture of collective success. Support the entire organization's journey in understanding the evolution of both digital and self-service. 3️⃣ Tech Literacy: Develop a strong understanding of digital tools and technologies. Being tech-savvy empowers you to leverage the latest innovations and stay ahead of the curve. #DigitalSuccess #LeadershipJourney #Digital #CareerAdvice 

My background is in journalism, and I have found marketing media to be a very unique creature. As the emphasis on creating content has increased over the years, there's also been less critical evaluation of that content. It's much like the 5-Minute Crafts that really show stupid methods of doing simple things. Marketing media has become swamped with cheerleading content that simply recites the findings of a study commissioned by the same company that will benefit from those findings. I've put digital and media literacy at the top of my seven digital marketing skills that are never going out of style because modern marketers need to think critically and spot logical fallacies in marketing media. Marketers need to have a wider knowledge of the market beyond tactical applications such as a knowledge of global trends, populations, spending power, and growth claims. If you want a mature marketing department or organization, then this is the core skill of those marketers that will get you there. #digitalmarketing #contentmarketing #socialmediamarketing

Here's my advice for anyone looking to stand out in their career - whether it be #cybersecurity or #marketing... Teach yourself how to learn new things that add value to your business. The more you can cross-train skills the more value you can provide. I have a marketing degree and a fancy MBA (I know... I know...) but digital marketing wasn't a career path I could study when I was in school. I had to teach myself SEO, UI/UX design, content marketing, web development, email marketing, social media marketing, YouTube, Adobe Primer, and much more. I didn't get certifications. I didn't seek out a mentor. I didn't wait around for someone to show me the way. I saw an opportunity to take something that I was interested in and developed those skills. One could argue I took the hard road. But I like figuring things out myself. Sometimes you don't improve or you lose interest. That's okay. Now you know what's not worth the effort and you can move on to something else. However, taking that initiative and maturing your craft over time is where the magic happens.