Frankly, it’s just not a fun time to be a marketer. Those who have a job are fearful and waiting for the axe to fall and those without a job are struggling to secure one in a sea of rough competition. How can marketers prove their value during a recession?
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Frankly, it’s just not a fun time to be a marketer. Those who have a job are fearful and waiting for the axe to fall and those without a job are struggling to secure one in a sea of rough competition.
And, it seems, those in a position to hire a marketer know they have the upper hand when it comes to negotiating salaries or project fees. Just recently a company offered a laid-off marketing friend $20.00 an hour to do senior-level work on a project. That is not only offensive, it’s unrealistic to expect a senior level marketer to develop and deliver top-notch work for a junior-level fee. She, of course, declined the offer. I am really hoping that this type of scenario is not commonplace, but I think that it might just be the case. My fear is that marketers who need the income will except project fees like this just to get by, thus re-enforcing that senior-level work really isn’t worth that value that has been set as a standard. Honestly, I can’t blame anyone who does because it’s tough out there right now. But could this adversely affect a marketer’s value overall?
“Anyone can be a Marketer.”
Is part of the value problem the sometimes notion that anyone can be a marketer? Does this breed lack of respect for marketing? I don’t know about you, but for the past 15 years I have bumped into people who have this mindset. I think part of the problem is that those who are great at marketing make it seem effortless to put together those integrated campaigns or get the Wall Street Journal to include a company in a story. What isn’t being seen is those years of rolled-up sleeves work that includes trial and error or the relationships that have been built up over time that lend a hand to getting great media placements.
What is the Value of a Marketer?
So then, what is the value of a marketer to a company? Is it the years of experience? Is it knowing and understanding the audience or community? Is it knowing to when to use the right message at the right time? Is it being able to build relationships with customers so that better products/services are developed?
How do we explain the value that marketers bring to a company? Is it important to be able to first explain what marketers do? (Yes, I think some company’s still don’t understand all that marketing does, they just know they need marketing).
Proving the Value of a Marketer
Once we explain the value that marketers bring to a company, how can marketers prove their value as individual contributors to either a current or new employer? I have listed some ideas, but would rather hear yours.
- Write a plan for every project or campaign (even if your boss isn’t asking for one)
- Be creative
- Be a thought leader and innovator
- Don’t become a commodity
- Wear multiple marketing hats (sometimes being the ‘jack of all trades‘ has its benefits!)
- Measure and show quantitative proof (remember that plan?)
- Develop relationships with customers (having their insights can make you invaluable)
- Engage other departments for information, trends, etc. (these relationships are a plus)
- Stay up-to-date on marketing trends (especially the ones that aren’t going away, like social media)
Have you been in a position to prove your value as a marketer? If so, what advice would you offer?
Tags: Marketing, marketing value, Recession
Very timely Beth.
There are a lot of “accidental marketers” – people with no formal training who prove to be very good at promoting their own companies or businesses.
At the same time, there’s a lot of talk about how social media is a “do-it-yourself” thing that anyone can do. And lots of people who believe that writing a compelling blog is no more challenging than sending an email.
The combination devalues what we do.
The solution, which is tough for a lot of people (myself included) is to market ourselves more aggressively, rather than take a background role. To toot our own horns and take credit for what we’ve done. Which is exactly we do for our clients only for ourselves.
Too many companies are also cutting back on there efforts. When the economy gets tough, it makes even more sense to increase marketing campaigns.
While social media is easy to operate, it takes tactics to be good at it to increase the value.
Beth, good article. I especially like the advice to always write a plan. We need to let ourselves be held accountable.
Beth:
Um, that’s it? I have to admit that if you’re a marketer and you are NOT doing those things as a fundamental part of your job, then you should be worried about getting the axe. When did those elements become the things to strive for rather than serve as the core of what we do?
I think this list is woefully mediocre if this is what we need to do to demonstrate the value of what we marketers do. What about issue we’ve been reading about for years now:
1. Demonstrate the financial impact of marketing to topline revenue and contribution margins.
2. Develop robust competitive intelligence to assist in product positioning and differentiation.
3. Uplevel segmentation profiles to identify the best customers, the ones that are costly and need to be dropped, and targeted campaigns to move the needle for each group.
4. Provide information, not data, to managers across the enterprise identifying specific ways for each to improve the customer experience — tie all efforts to corporate strategic plan.
These are just a few, but ones that take us from minimum standards to acting like the strategic contributors we need to become. If we only do everything on your list, we’ll continue to be marginalized into a cost/expense category and our value is severely diminished.
I think we need to stop holding back. If something seems insanely stupid? Say something. Sometimes the best way to prove to someone that what they are doing is wrong is eviscerating their strategy…then saying exactly what they can do to fix said strategy.
Beth-
Articles and blog posts many moons back warned of cuts in marketing. It takes a special person or business to go it alone without a solid marketer, marketing division, or marketing company backing them. I think cuts can be made, but a strategy like Eric shares here http://www.apartmentveteran.com/2009/05/ditch-traditional-and-go-it-alone.html is not for everyone. Everyone is not a marketer.
I believe your point about wearing many hats is right on in these times. Specializing in one area is almost no longer acceptable. We must be a jack of all trades, even if a master of none.
Thanks for your post.
Mark
The biggest problem we will always face is that everyone thinks they can do Marketing, and that they want to do the fun stuff (until they realize that’s only a tiny portion of what true Marketing professionals do). With the user engagement and interactivity of brands using social media only becoming more prominent, people will feel more connected and empowered to the brands, which may only increase this notion that ‘anyone can do marketing’.
You have provided a nice, concise list of things to make sure we are doing. I also agree with David’s reply about some more detailed, strategic things. However it will always be difficult to make one list that covers all of marketing, because there is a definite distinction between, say, product marketing and marketing communications, which have similar objectives but will need to use different tactics.
For the value of the marketer, I hope and am confident that your $20/hr senior-level story will be more of an anomaly than a trend, especially once the company who is playing Wal-Marketing will see the difference in quality they receive, and hopefully will only increase the previous value of a solid senior-level Marketing professional. I am about to start my MBA school, and my personal ROI on this degree are betting on it!!
Beth -
Great post. Ironic that I am writing a section for a proposal outlining the value that we as marketers bring to social media. Some folks think that if they sign up for Twitter and Facebook they’re ‘doing’ social media. There are so many strategic intricacies involved to create a successful presence. Yet these rarely get mentioned to the client/boss and therefore they often don’t understand the value of an experienced marketer. It’s time for us to blow our own horn and garner the respect we have earned.
Beth,
This is a good post, as far as it goes. I agree with David, however. In my 35 years, the list seems more designed for a Marketing Specialist (and maybe it is) than a marketing leader. Just one example: Inbound Marketing built around customer touchpoints (not just SM, which barely qualifies as Inbound Marketing) is the key to the future. Every marketing leader should be preparing for that future.
Beth
I would have to say that you nailed those recommendations. I plan just about everything that happens at work. Yet, one thing that you forgot. Marketers must also plan for the bad stuff. Just a simple plan B, when things go wrong, goes a long way when you have to react fast.
I especially liked the recommendation to be the “jack of all trades”. The best marketing leaders are in-tune with every aspect of marketing – from social media to sponsorships to a radio ad proposal.
Great article!!!
@AlanWolk, I agree with what you are saying. Why is it that marketers, especially the good ones are so worried about self-promotion? Where did we learn that habit?
Best of luck with the MBA! I loved grad. school–a whole different level than undergrad. that’s for sure.
@MarilynKeyes, marketing plans do equate to accountability, something a lot of marketing professionals fear.
@DavidKinard, I suppose that devaluing another marketer publicly could be one way to show the value of oneself, but I don’t suggest it.
As for my list, as tactical and basic as it may seem, you might be surprised how many senior level marketers don’t do the things I suggested. Currently, many VPs of Marketing and CMOs are running away from social media (instead of strategically embracing customers). And many lack planning skills–or perhaps they just prefer not to be held accountable? One suggestion might be concentrating on getting the basics before moving onto the strategic.
Thanks for the suggestions and trying to add value to the conversation.
@StuartFoster, politics my friend, need I say more?
@MarkJuleen, thanks for sharing Eric’s post with us–I am a great fan of his!
@JarodHillerman, Indeed. And it would have been too much to cover all those areas in one blog post, that’s why I kept it basic.
Having done all types of marketing (what I meant by ‘Jack of all Trades’) has served me well. Experience with marketing research, product marketing, distribution, marketing communications etc. really gives marketers a well-rounded appreciation of all aspects of our trade. But the marketer needs to want to be involved in all aspects of marketing.
“Wal-Marketing.” Now that made me chuckle out loud– I think there’s a post there.
@ScottSchablow, do you think clients are asking consultants/agencies to outline the value, because they are not sure what the value of social media (strategic/tactical) should be? How would you suggest a marketer wrap 10-20 years (or whatever the amount) of experience into a nutshell comment?
@LewisGreen, as I said to David–you’d be surprised how many senior-level marketing managers don’t do the things I listed–as simple as they are. The ability to be tactical helps when it comes to promoting the strategic aspects that marketers bring to the table. Ironically, I just reviewed a lot of award submissions from marketers (corporate and agency) and what they try to pass off as “objectives” on plans are a joke. I often wonder why marketers (all levels) find plan writing so difficult.
As for Inbound Marketing (a term I believe HubSpot coined) being the future–that’s just another name for SEO, which has been around for 10 years or more– If marketing executives haven’t embraced SEO/SEM by now, they have a lot of catching up to do.
@TrevorLong, great point, marketers who are flexible and not afraid to gear up & keep a positive outlook during a crisis are very valuable.
When the times are tough, the tough get going.
The people that rise to the top are the the ones with best content.
I agree with David Kinard, this list (while most excellent) is just the start and it’s a time when marketers really need to show/prove their value with results. I often think, tough times like these separate the good from the not-so-good (as a natural course of things).
Thanks for yet, another timely and insightful post!
At times it can feel like all work and no pay.
@Beth – Great article.
As far as your comment about inbound marketing being just “SEO”, I’m not sure where that comes from, I (and I think lots of others) have a different view.
1) If you look at Wikipedia, it doesn’t really talk about SEO as a large part of inbound marketing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbound_marketing
2) If you look at the Inbound Marketing Summit organized by Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin (not an SEO person among them), only about 10% of the agenda covers SEO. The rest is about social media, blogging, creating content, conversion, landing pages and analytics.
http://www.InboundMarketingSummit.com
3) Maria writes the Inbound Marketer blog, and I think you’ll find the content there much broader than SEO, and includes topics like lead management.
http://blog.inboundmarketer.com/ there are lots of other small blogs talking about the topic too.
None of the people who created this content above work at HubSpot (we do sponsor the Inbound marketing Summit, but so do 15+ other companies).
In my opinion, inbound marketing represents the current and future trend to stop broadcasting your message through paid advertising and start attracting new customers to your company through content, blogging, social media, SEO and lanading pages and lead management.
You are right that this is not a new concept. In my opinion, it dates back to 1999/2000 and “Permission Marketing and “The Cluetrain Manifesto”, though I think it has taken us marketers a while to put the pieces together into a coherent strategy.
If you are in a job and in command and may lose your job
1. Cut back on the amount you have allocated for marketing
2. Deliver the same volume of sales.
3. Put in a couple of extra hours of work
4. Read up of examples of good marketing plans.
An example from many years ago. Two MBAs freshly appointed in a toothpaste manufacturing company were told to bring out a marketing plan to boost sales.
All their plans were shot down.
Finally they came up winners.
Their plan: Increase the diameter of the nozzle by a few millimeters.
Try and be creative. If in these times you come up with a creative plan which increases sales, you will be remembered for a long time.
Beth,
HubSpot did not coin Inbound Marketing. Its birth dates back to CRM and has little to do with SEO or the things HubSpot talks about. I find it more than a little annoying that HubSpot is limiting the conversation to what it offers. Inbound Marketing is about customers touching a business, usually in a store or a call center, not online, although in the future online tools can be useful for Inbound Marketing.
Great conversation here Beth, except for David’s ‘look at me!!!’ comment
@MikeVolpe, yep, I left out a bunch of goodies in a rush to fire off a response! Thanks for expanding the conversation. Also, I am so glad you mentioned The Cluetrain Manifesto! If a marketer wants to learn how to add value–I highly suggest they read that book ASAP! As well, tools, like the one Hubspot offers, have a way of freeing up time for more important, strategic tasks–just one more way to add value (and, as you know, I know this first hand having used your service).
@AtulChatterjee, indeed marketers (wherever they fall in the marketing spectrum) need to be innovative, creative, thrifty and always affect the bottom line in a positive manner.
@LewisGreen, sounds to me like Hubspot expanded on the idea of what inbound marketing originally was–good for them for the sense to run with it as part of their marketing. With SEO, integrated marketing and social media shifting the marketing landscape, I think there’s more than enough to keep marketers busy. But they won’t add value unless they *DO* understand it all and become more marketing agnostic (versus silos). As always, thanks for the insights Lewis!
@Thanks Mack!
@Everyone, I was trying to keep my list fairly simple to spark a conversation, but a few people asked for more strategic ways for marketers to provide value, here are some additional thoughts on how marketers can add value:
Break down the silos and remove politics from the marketing organization, neither do anything to benefit the customer or enhance their experience with your brand.
Senior marketers need to understand that the ‘anyone can be a marketer’ doesn’t work (or accidental marketer as Alan Wolk points out). Just because someone was in sales doesn’t mean they get marketing (the healthcare/pharma world is infamous for this), etc.
Recognize that by not deeply understanding marketing tactics and what goes into delivering those tactics makes for a weak strategic planner and manager. (Lots of ‘pie in the sky’ strategies fall flat because the strategist didn’t understand the tactical challenges, especially time and cost.) Tap into your tactical marketers and listen to their recommendations.
Understand that as marketers you no longer control brand value or equity, it’s in the hands of your customers. Have a plan for harnessing this (i.e. social media).
Have an overall marketing plan as well as plans for individual campaigns also and be sure to share them with the marketing team so that they are aware of what their purpose is and what goals/objectives they are expected to meet (rifle vs. shotgun marketing). [I will say it again, a lot of marketers (executives through specialist) don't have plans nor do they understand how to write proper, measureable objectives.]
Set aside budget to research and benchmark your efforts to date. Without having a benchmarked starting point, there is no way to know if a marketing plan/campaign was successful.
Any other recommendations?
Thanks for providing the very good and useful information.
If you are in a job and in command and may lose your job
1. Cut back on the amount you have allocated for marketing
2. Deliver the same volume of sales.
3. Put in a couple of extra hours of work
4. Read up of examples of good marketing plans.
An example from many years ago. Two MBAs freshly appointed in a toothpaste manufacturing company were told to bring out a marketing plan to boost sales.
All their plans were shot down.
Finally they came up winners.
Their plan: Increase the diameter of the nozzle by a few millimeters.
Try and be creative. If in these times you come up with a creative plan which increases sales, you will be remembered for a long time.