The Changing Role of the Marketer

On February 5, the Calgary Marketing Association held a panel discussion on The Changing Role of the Marketer. The CMA, for which I sit on the Board of Directors, asked me to participate and to think of the impacts the new Marketing landscape is having on employees new to the workforce, mid-level employees, and also senior level employees. The panel also included Suelyn Howe from Bing, Ryan Gill from Communo, and Vincent Duckworth from The ViTreo Group.

This blog post contains my thoughts on the changing role of the Marketer. It’s an exciting, ever-changing period, and hopefully readers can take bits and pieces of this and make it make sense in their day-to-day professional careers.

These views expressed are my own, and do not represent the views of the CMA or my currently employer in any way. They also represent forward-looking statements.

1. How has the role of the marketer changed in the past 5 years?

Are Marketers now technologists? Can you be successful without a pretty fluent knowledge of how technology and digital and data work together? In my opinion, you can’t.

I still think Marketing is the correct term. I don’t think we need to change that. But without a solid understanding of technology and digital, I don’t think Marketers can succeed over the course of the next 2 years or so. Marketers may struggle to find work, struggle to get ahead, struggle to lead. The most successful Marketers of the future will tie branding, technology, media, data, and creativity together to win.

2. Is there one thing in the Marketing realm, over the past 5 years for example, that you absolutely did not see coming?

Being in the Retail industry, I think 5 years ago, I would have said invest in Ecommerce and your online channels, and let the strong stores in your network  survive, and kill off the weaker ones. But now, I think you need a strong store network in order to survive online; look at Indocino, Amazon, and Tesla – all using stores to cater to an experience, and to help their Omni Channel brand. Think of a simple thing like returns. If you have a store near your house, think how easy it is to return an online order, free of charge, and get your refund right away. Look at how Indocino and Tesla use their showroom (i.e. store). Very little product, but tons of customer experience.

Another thing that, while it has not surprised me, but is happening: generalists seem to be in need now more than ever. It seems to have shifted from, for example, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialists and Analytics Specialists, to teams being made up of Optimization Specialists – those people that know a touch of everything and have a well-rounded knowledge of the business. As budgets get tighter, companies will expect fewer employees to do the job of many. So I think generalists will become in need more than ever. (P.S. I have a bias on that, as I am a generalist).

3. What do you predict will happen in the next 5 to 10 years?

I think Marketing will be in-sourced rather than outsourced. And what I mean by that is that internal teams will be built and will be stronger than agencies, or at the very least, have an equal skill set, making it more efficient to run everything in-house. For example, with programmatic media, it’s a good example of where technology exists that could take power away from agencies and into the hands of internal marketers. Young people (i.e. millennials) are smarter and smarter and want to affect change in meaningful ways.

I also think about these 2 terms – Agile and Action: If Marketers are not working in an agile manner, they will not win. The day of setting marketing up and planning a year in advance and walking away no longer exist – there is no more set it and forget it. Marketers have to be agile, ship their product and service, even at 80% complete, and allow user generated feedback to provide input for a future release. (I am not just talking about technology product releases here – this could be products and services like marketing campaigns, consulting services, t-shirts, shoes, fitness watches, books, teaching courses, influencer campaigns, blogs. etc)

And a final point on this question, but Marketers must embrace technology. All Marketers need not be computer geeks. But all (let me repeat: ALL) Marketers better embrace technology at the core of what they are doing, or be left behind by those that do. And I mean really embrace it, not just read a blog post and say you understand it.

4. What do you think is the biggest challenge for Marketers at the moment?

There is too much out there – so many distractions, so many “motivational” speakers and Instagram influencers and podcasts that have Marketers telling you what to do. It can give you a headache and along the way, you may find yourself back at the start. You can’t take what everyone says and run with it, because you will get lost. So I think the biggest challenge Marketers face is prioritizing the information that is pertinent for their career or role, and trying it out.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example. I love Gary Vee. But you can’t take everything he says and make it work for you because you’ll go nuts. You have to take it with a grain of salt and take what you want to accomplish first. (Besides, I don’t think Gary Vee ever sleeps with the amount of amazing content he puts out).

But Gary Vee said something interesting a few weeks back. He said he hopes people who have listened to him for a while stop, because that would mean they have taken his inspirational advice and teaching and have then done something with it and don’t need to rely on him anymore. I thought that was so interesting, valuable and true.

5. What are the most critical changes that we as Marketers must make to face the future effectively?

Be a change agent. Disruption and transformation are words you hear quite often in today’s Marketing landscape. To succeed, everyone in Marketing needs to be a change agent. The pace of change has never been this fast, and it will never be this slow again. Read that over again: The pace of change has never been this fast, and it will never be this slow again. So for me, if you’re someone who does not embrace change, you may struggle in tomorrow’s Marketing environment. Correct that: you will struggle.

6. What effect has technology had in the role of the marketer?

The four main ones for me are payments, advancements in mobile, data, and voice.

Payments: Think of 10-15 years ago and all you could use was cash and credit card. Now PayPal, Square, Apple Pay, Amazon Payments, dare I say Bitcoin. The way we pay has been disrupted, with no slowdown in site.

Mobile: Probably the biggest impact, and why most sites now have more than 50% of visitor traffic coming from mobile, has been optimizations in that field. And it will continue as networks get stronger, and phone providers wisen up in regards to data and usage, and brands get better at making changes to their mobile experience. Has any brand or Marketer not had to think of mobile and how it affects their customers? I think it would be hard to find an example of that.

Data: Easy access to data can make everyone a Marketing scientist. We have no excuse to win more often. Think of sports’ use of data. How many more data points does the National Hockey League (NHL) use now, compared to just 5 years ago? Whereas before it was goals, assists, points, plus/minus, shots, and time on ice, scouts and executives now review hundreds of stats to predict when players are on a decline in their careers, when they should be traded or obtained, when shifts are poor, quality shots in the offensive zone, and when players should be put on waivers.

Voice/SmartHome: How will Marketers adapt to the importance of voice? This is crucial for the next 2 years.

7. Who do you feel is making the greatest advancements in these new Marketing roles, and what are they doing?

Entrepreneurs (and/or start-up founders) may be the single greatest Marketers right now. Think about it: they come up with the product or service, they launch it, they create the website, they market it, and they sell it, and to top it all off, they then service the customer and make sure they’re happy. I think Entrepreneurs are the greatest Marketers right now, whether they succeed or fail in their endeavour.

8. What is one piece of practical advice you would give to a Marketer who is early in their career or starting out?

Read, network, and be curious. To stay ahead of your competitors – and your peers – you need to research, read, launch, fail, learn, and do it all over again. Leaders are everywhere. Forget your title and forget the hierarchy. Everyone can be a leader. You don’t need a title to lead Marketing anymore.

Here’s an immediate action for you: take 1-3 items from every book you read and work on it o practice it. For example, if you read a book on communication about dealing with difficult people and you read it and don’t try it out on your Manager or someone that is difficult to deal with…is it really helping? Prioritize a few action items from each book or blog you read.

9. What is one piece of practical advice you would give to a mid-level Marketer who is looking to advance as far and as quickly as they can?

Don’t pay much attention to title, status, what your former classmates’ title is on LinkedIn or what your friends are making in terms of salary. Gain your knowledge and experience. If you want to be a future leader, and you have the knowledge that comes with the positon, you will also garner the respect of your peers (and the future team you will lead). Knowledge is more important than title at this stage in your career. If you chase a title, say you want to be a Manager so bad by 25 or 26 years of age, and then you become one and lead a team of 4; you will gain their respect so much more if you are a solid listener with a solid knowledge base. You don’t need to know as much as they do, but you need to understand their challenges on a day-to-day basis. Imagine they come to you and say I can’t get this done because of such and such. Rather than simply saying “well get it done, I’m your Manager.” You can look at the challenge and help them find a solution, and maybe they’re right – maybe the challenge is too big for that deadline. And you can work with them to help them.

I always say, chase a mentor, not a title.

 

Marketing today is not easy. But it is extremely fun for those who love taking on challenges and coming up with solutions for them. Take advantage of the pace of change and be a superstar in the Marketing field.