| How I Got Here: I imagine my path has been something other than traditional...although these days, I'm not sure there is a typical path. I've enjoyed work in the industrial, medical and financial industries. As for marketing, I've completed assignments in field sales, direct/channel marketing, eBusiness, and business development. Common themes of my career have been generating demand via promotion, lead management, and working with channel partners. To round this out, I've had the great opportunity to work in other areas such as business planning, supply chain, program management, and customer communications. A great experience was also serving as a Managing Director for a consulting business.These roles have not only allowed me to advance over time, but have given me the chance to build skills across many disciplines. This has been of invaluable help to be effective in problem solving, networking...and to be able to market successfully. |
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Skills Needed: I often see job descriptions looking for "self-starters." While I think that's a good start, the most valuable skill I look for is the ability to close. And while this phrase does apply to sales, it also means the willingness and desire to finish strong. It's pretty easy to get people excited at the start of a project; but people who excel when the hour is late often allows us to differentiate ourselves. After all, isn't differentiation one of the objectives of investing in marketing in the first place? While being curious is a great trait to have for a marketer, learning to frame a problem, gathering key data, interpreting the data and recommending actions based on all of the above are skills well worth some sweat equity. |
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| Where do I go from here? I've never laid out narrow career plans for myself...variety is too exciting and life too unpredictable. I really do enjoy brand/marketing management. Even with taking on other challenges in the future, I don't see myself leaving these disciplines behind. I picture the next several years being full of opportunities...evaluating new areas for growth, partnerships and new markets. |
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| Advice: I sincerely believe that if you want to be an effective marketing leader, you should augment your marketing skills with a deep understanding of your business and industry. Marketing skills alone are not enough to analyze and solve complex issues at a rapid pace. Today I don't know of an industry or company that does not face stiff competition. This landscape requires a couple of approaches: First, marketing's goal is not just to drive revenues, it's to drive profit: so for every dollar spent on marketing, the yield needs to be greater than a dollar net. Second, to do this consistently, you need to be able to differentiate your company, brands, products/services at many levels. All these require understanding how business functions, what drives it, how it adapts to change, and how score is kept. |
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Biggest Misconception: That brand management equals advertising: branding is one of many ways to engage your customers and drive business results. |
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| To enjoy and to succeed in this position you need to: Believe in your business an your team. Pick great people; give them the goals, tools and support they need. Listen more and speak less. Embrace change or you'll miss out on some great opportunities |