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Rising above the noise as a marketer

A couple of months ago I was asked to give a virtual lecture at Edith Cowan University Perth, Australia. The virtual option was a blessing due to the fact that I was at that point in Helsinki, Finland. I was asked to speak to the students about my experiences as to how a marketer can rise above the noise.

At this point, it’s been 8 years but I can still remember what it was like to start my first marketing job. I was working as a content creator, service experience developer, and basically coordinating the marketing efforts of a startup in the marine industry.

It was an extremely good job considering my experience. I was punching up. I’ve had a chance to work in fascinating roles ever since. It’s not only luck but using tested and true principles for standing out from the crowd.

Most likely there will be tens or even hundreds of candidates applying for the same marketing position. Not to mention the positions that never go to public search but have the positions filled by headhunters or simply by finding a person fit for the job — so-called hidden positions.

I realized this when I was studying and understood that the same year that I graduate, from the same school will also graduate 200 marketers with the same degree. That’s one school, think about the whole country. I knew that simply a degree is useless when everyone else has one too. I had to separate myself from others.

Here’s how I did it. Feel free to steal.

1. Bring the tribe together

Marketers, the people in the profession, form a tribe even if we’re in different companies or do different things. You should aim to be the connector. Bring the tribe together, so they can network, discuss, and blow off some steam.

For me, this meant organizing marketing meetups and growing the community from 0 to 700 before retiring the concept (didn’t have a spark to do it anymore). You can do this. Simply find some speakers, find a place to hear them speak (probably online at the moment), and invite marketers to join.

Also, you can set up a sparring group or have local marketing lunches. Simply, aim to be the one that people rely on to know the right people and bring marketers together. It’s actually quite effortless once you get the ball rolling.

But why would you want to be with marketers to help your career? Well, one of them may be your future boss or someone who influences a hiring decision. These are your potential colleagues.

2. Have a help-first-attitude

Forget about the money and scalability for a moment. Aim to help one person. This applies whether you’re an in-house marketer, or in an agency, helping colleagues or customers.

Still, the first thing to think about is how you can help a person.

As I have an agency these days. I’ll give you some examples of that.

When working with a potential client, I try to solve their problem quickly, for free. If I’m able to help in an hour or less, no charge, no problem. I want money from solving real challenges. That’s helping.

The help first attitude can go and has gone to such lengths that we’ve gone on trade shows, declined to sell anyone anything, and simply offered to help and advise people. And guess what happens? People see that you have a genuine will to actually be of service and not just rip money from them.

Help first. The prize will multiply later. Always.

3. Start testing aloud, scale what works, and kill what doesn’t

Testing and learning is a big part of modern marketing. There’s no way around it. Always ask questions and test to find the answers. Scale what works and kill those that don’t.

But don’t just test. Test aloud. Tell publicly about the tests that you’re doing and the results if you can. This way you’re bringing forth that you fit the role of a modern marketer.

Things that you test might not be a Facebook campaign or such. I, for example, have tested making a YouTube series, a podcast, and other things. When I do them I inform people that it’s a test and when it succeeds or fails, I tell about that as well. A failed test result doesn’t make a failed marketer. It makes a good one.

4. Become and help build t-shaped marketers

The need to move out from having specialist roles and to create teams with t-shaped marketers is growing. As a t-shaped marketer, you have your basic knowledge on which your marketing knowledge and individual skills are built on.

This enables you to communicate effectively with coworkers in different fields as you understand their lingo and what they’re doing as well, as their understanding and skills overlap with yours.

The T-shaped marketer isn’t just a type of person, heck even if you just say someone has two skills that she is very good at, she does have others as well. Being t-shaped is about recognizing and building these skills to make your team and the people in it work well.

5. Become a source of information on your own and others’ medias

This overlaps with having the help-first-attitude but it’s worth mentioning especially in these times when “being a media” seems to be a goal for many. It’s a good idea. In marketing, for your tribe, you can be a source of information and help. Whether it’s in your own LinkedIn feed analyzing news and trends or speaking in the associations’ events. At first, you take what you get and then you get more chances.

For me, this has meant creating a weekly rundown of the top digital marketing news. Curating thousands of articles in a week to find the most important five and giving analysis on them. Also, speaking engagements or helping those on the journey after me. This will assist you to get found by publications that will want to get your take on matters and interview you as an expert.

Consistency is the key here. Results won’t happen fast but they will happen.

6. Short circuit your career path by saying yes to challenges and doing things others don’t

Let’s have a look at the career path of previous generations: you start as a junior-level marketer in an SMB or enterprise in your 20’s. You retire somewhere between director, CMO, or vice president of marketing, if you’re lucky.

Nowadays you can be the CMO in 3 years if you’re willing to take a risk. Get your foot in the door by saying yes to a low paying marketing job in a growth company that lets you really do things. Learn, grow, and keep your superiors informed that you’re aiming for the bigger prize and title. Then get it. Companies grow fast and you can move fast inside them.

This is how I got to work as a marketing manager in a global growth company just as I graduated (I was working there while studying) and have worked with Fortune 500 in my previous jobs before becoming an entrepreneur.

As it is with investing, it is with your career: take long shots and risky opportunities that might not pan out when you’re young. Keep to the sure things when you’re older.

7. Learn and develop agile marketing methods

Learning marketing is fine. Learning lean marketing, growth hacking, and different agile marketing methodologies is what makes top tier. This is not the only thing that will get you above the noise but you won’t get there without this.

Now, when you want to rise above the noise, don’t just use these techniques but also develop them yourself and teach them forward. This is what I’ve been doing with my team, developing lean marketing tools and techniques. We saw that the global marketplace was missing the sort of lean marketing strategies that are not just for the Lean Startup crowd but for all companies. So, we did it ourselves.

You know, the future is made by people just like you. So is the future of marketing.

What a cliche but let’s roll with it.

You’ll be able to find out what works, what doesn’t, and what you enjoy doing within each of these categories in weeks or months. The real results will often take longer. Just so you know. Test different things and be consistent once you start something.

It will take time but most people don’t have the grit to do it, so the road is free for you.

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