Who’s your marketer

 Some may instantly think an of "Don Draper" type who is smooth and enjoys a cocktail after their morning meeting when they think of an ideal marketer, and while it would be flattering to be compared to any John Hamm character, that is not what marketers are like at all. 

Thinking back to one of my marketing classes in college, I had a professor who would preach about how a marketer should be. He would say that to work in this field; you need to be a generalist. To know a little bit about everything will help you make a name for yourself and your career. Now, this idea can be differed by some with good reason. How can you consider someone a marketing expert if they also think of themselves to be a generalist, that would be like becoming an oxymoron. Whether a marketer is in-house or they work in an agency environment, having insight into the different groups that make up your client's target market is

The thing that I find beautiful about marketing and what drove me to the career is that your hands are in a lot of pots at times, especially if you are working in an agency environment. When you are working in an agency, you have to manage accounts for clients in a lot of different fields and industries. You are having to become a student of that industry and learn as much as you can so that can provide a suitable plan of action for your client. 

When you are making decisions that involve the image and branding of your company, there is no room to cut corners. There is a need for someone who does not acknowledge complacency. In other roles of business, merely meeting expectations is good enough, and you can make a stable career out of doing that. As a marketer, there is a never-ending search to become better and to do more. Since it is a field in large part driven by technological advances, there is seldom a time where competitors are not trying to outmaneuver you with new marketing tactics. There are always going to be aspects of your marketing plan that can be made better. These things and more make up the composition of a top tier marketer.