I’ve always felt odd calling myself a marketer. My degree is in journalism, and I gave that a go for a few years early in my career — interning at the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Newsweek magazine in 2008, and then briefly working as a reporter for the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin in 2010. It was there I realized that was not the vocation for me.
Maybe I was a pretty good writer, but I clearly wasn’t a very good journalist.
Shortly thereafter, I made what would be a permanent transition into marketing roles; but I still saw myself as a writer — not a marketer.
As my career transitioned into management and leadership roles where I was doing less of the day-to-day writing, it was harder for me to not consider myself a marketer; but there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t maintain those same foundational, journalistic tenets toward the work. I could still take a fact-based, customer-first, meat-and-potatoes approach to marketing. So whether because of ignorance or stubbornness or something else altogether, I never really shifted my mindset to what might be considered a more typical, creativity-driven marketing approach.
This has led to my butting heads with those more, let’s say, ambitious marketers who saw every brief as an opportunity for greatness while I saw every brief as an opportunity for not rocking the boat.
Those, and other, experiences have helped me ultimately come to realize that marketing isn’t special.
Marketing as a discipline has become this romanticized, mythologized thing, overly focused on inspiration, disruption, and the zeitgeist. And because marketers are off daydreaming about adulation and awards, other corporate disciplines get to be the ones in charge. Marketing can’t prioritize vanity and vibes, and then expect to get a seat at the adult table.
It’s time for marketers and executives alike to embrace a new mindset around marketing.
If you’re just starting out in marketing, you might feel pressure to reinvent the wheel at every turn. I’ve been there, and you don’t have to.
If you’re a marketing leader frustrated to always be chasing that next creative high, there are other options out there.
If you’re an executive with preconceived notions about what marketing has to be, or maybe even questioning its value, you’re not wrong to be asking the hard questions.
Ultimately, I hope we can all see value in marketing efforts that aren’t scrambling for the flashiest idea, but confidently engaging in a way that connects with current and potential customers.
If this speaks to you, you can subscribe to the Marketing Isn’t Special newsletter or come find me on LinkedIn.
I’m looking forward to connecting.