The Hardest Thing for Marketing Leaders to Market is Themselves, Just Ask a Brain Surgeon

Imagine a situation where there is an engineer named Craig, sitting in a hospital room in a gown that doesn’t flatter anyone. The room is cold and sterile, and he can hardly wait to get off the butcher paper he has been uncomfortably sitting on. Craig is waiting to meet a surgeon for a brain condition, that is not terminal but still nerve wracking. Finally, Dr. Samuel comes into the room to introduce himself as the person who intends to perform his surgery and asks Craig if he has any questions. Craig replies, “Well I see you have been a practicing brain surgeon for over a decade and have worked around the world. However, I am really wanting a surgeon who has operated on an engineer’s brain before. Do you have that experience?” Record scratch!

Ok, seriously we all must be wondering- what was Craig thinking? Being a brain surgeon is a serious profession requiring intelligence, skill and core competencies learned through formal education and practice. Although not as serious as this situation, it’s the same plight many marketing leaders face when marketing themselves for career growth. Marketing, as a profession, has foundational core competencies (our general practitioner medicine) and specialty fields of study. You can find some specialty degreed fields of study like Sports Marketing but most marketer’s education is agnostic of the industry they serve.

So, one of the big challenges for marketing leaders is to give the hiring manager/recruiter the confidence that your foundational marketing capabilities can transcend industries. One could say, “but wouldn’t it be easier just to find a candidate that has already worked in the industry?”. The answer- sure it’s probably easier. However, what is “easier” isn’t always the best choice. Here’s a real example of a company job description for a marketing candidate and likely cheated themselves from meeting some excellent marketers. Recently, someone I know in B2B marketing saw an interesting job post. She had all the qualifications to do the job, except one. The marketer was required to have a degree in…drum roll, Chemistry! That requirement will definitely limit the field of applicants. Will they fill they job? Probably. Will that company choose from the best “marketing” candidates available to them? I’d be hesitant to say yes- they’ll pick from the best marketing people that have a chemistry degree. And that pool will be small - not that the Chemistry-degreed marketers aren’t awesome!

IT'S FEELS LOGICAL TO ASK FOR MORE THAN A MARKETER

Marketers are often being asked, in addition to being great at their craft, to also be proven in a similar industry because it feels logical to ask for or have experience marketing to a specific consumer target (affluent, underbanked, moms, teens, etc.). It’s a safe, risk averse want from employers but also less progressive (lowers the chance to snag the best marketer for the job). Which is ironic, as so many employers want their company, products, and services to be more progressive! As someone once said, “We would never make any progress as a society if people only attempted to do things they have already done.” This isn’t saying the requirement for similar past industry experience is wrong in a myriad of roles, especially for specific hard or unique skills. As a marketer, when you approach conversations about cross-industry opportunities, you may need to proactively guide the narrative of your capabilities in a way that showcases how your experience matches the needs of the role. Or you must have an interviewer willing to focus on evaluating your competence for the actual work you will be asked to do- which you may not always have. Below outlines a scenario I faced with an applicant trying to move to a new industry and how I approached it. 

I WAS HIRING FOR A CRITICAL ROLE WHEN THIS HAPPENED 

I was the Head of Marketing for a Fortune 100 company and a had an open role in my department. Our product line was big ticket durable/tech. A person applied for the job with CPG/feminine skin care experience. So obviously, this is where I was supposed to tell her she wasn’t qualified because women’s skin care has nothing to do with affluent male target, big ticket tech products. Right? However, my approach has always been to look for the specific ‘skills’ needed to do the job and look for demonstrated success with using those skills. I ranked this candidate against a simple set of questions evaluating the skills needed to do the job. This is a guide I created that has broad applicability in most marketing roles but that can be tweaked as needed.   

MARKETING-4-COMPETENCIES

1)     INSIGHTS Can commission and gather insights. Consumer, industry, shopper, and category. YES

2)     CONTENT Can translate these insights into target segment and segmented storytelling, meaningful content, extract points of differentiation that shows off our unique selling proposition to drive interest and consideration? YES

3)     MEDIA Can build out a 360 go-to-market media plan PUSH & PULL while identifying the most desirable consumer segments? Big media, digital media, influencers, partnerships to drive reach and awareness, interest, consideration. YES

4)     ANALYTICS Can extract the analytics to understand marketing performance of campaigns, impact on brand metrics, adjust and optimize? YES

The candidate met the above criteria even though she did not have any experience in the tech industry. She demonstrated the marketing capability (as a marketing surgeon) for years that was required to do this job. Sure, she had to learn about the product line, our affluent male target, and the industry- but that’s what marketers do. After 90 days she was dangerous (in a good way) in this new industry and was making an impact within 6 months. Yes, her having industry experience would have been a great benefit for the first 90 days. But I was hiring her to excel for years, not for 3 months. Well, years later it turned out to be the right call.

MY ADVICE TO EMPLOYERS: Diversity is good for organizations. Studies have shown different backgrounds and experiences can contribute meaningfully to a company’s growth. That diversity can come in many forms, from ethnicity to gender but also different geographies, cultures, and yes, even industries.

MY ADVICE TO MARKETERS: Your job as a marketer ‘marketing’ yourself is a tough one in this scenario. Ladder up your story and skills in a talk track asking your desired employer/recruiter what they “really need” from the position. Employers face to face likely won’t mention “industry” because they already have that. They will likely focus on needs like; “we want to grow brand awareness, expand digital capabilities, successfully launch new products or expand into new markets”. There is where you keep the conversation focused as it's your chance to explain how you have demonstrated those skills and are excited about the contribution you can make with your unique experience. The diversity you bring is not a negative (lack of X industry), it is a positive (addition of Y industry) for your new potential employer.

When experiences from an array of backgrounds and industries come together it can create new growth opportunities for both employers and employees while safeguarding against the habitual “the way we always have done it” culture that can seep into a company, making it complacent and stagnant of innovation. Now go market the best product you know- yourself!

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Article inspired by my lack of chemistry degreed lifelong friend & partner. ??

Eddie Combs

March 1st, 2021

BIO: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/eddiecombs/