Just under a year ago, I joined a new organization with a role in brand marketing. Before taking this leap of faith, I worked for two years as a Digital Strategist and Strategic Planner -- helping brands discover opportunities to best communicate their value prop by leveraging digital channels and tools.
When I interviewed for the Assistant Brand Manager position, I was asked "Why brand?" That's what I'm here to answer for myself with greater clarity for where I am in my career today.
Never Stop Asking Why
When I worked at my agency I was responsible for identifying consumer values, macro and micro trends, and developing meaningful insights that would help my team create amazing creative and digital strategies. My teammates and supervisor would challenge me to dig deep and understand "Why?" Why was this an important opportunity for my client? Why was this their objective? Why were customers acting the way they were? Why... it was basically the inception of Why.
And many times, despite many practical tools, I was unsatisfied with the answers I received. While I loved bringing digital experiences to life, there was a golden strategic nugget I desired to unearth. I wanted to understand the ins and outs of mining and building brand strategy from the ground up -- making me a better marketer and digital strategist.
Make Big Bets, Convergence and the Customer Experience
During my time at the agency, I also did my fair share of pitching to current and prospective clients about the future of marketing and how our services (of course) would help them meander and conquer the ever-changing marketing landscape. I would speak on the convergence of screens, consumption patterns of new and traditional media, and customer journeys.
It became clear to me that customers don't break up their experiences the way organizations departmentalize and silo their marketing functions or the way a majority of marketing professionals observed the customers' experiences with their brands.
In years to come, there won't be a digital. This is not the death of digital. It will be the expectation that marketing professionals of all types are competent in first and foremost marketing fundamentals and the various channels (including digital tools) they ought to utilize to create exchanges with their customers.
In the same vein, with my heavy digital background, I felt a heavy natural bias towards digital mediums to solve my clients challenges. While experimenting with these channels is applauded, it may not be the lever to always pull -- what is deemed traditional media (TV broadcast, radio, even print) still remain effective tools with the right audience and depending on the marketing goal.
I desired a role that would challenge my thinking, break down silos, and help me better understand all the levers I could pull to activate upon a marketing objective and strategy. And you better believe I will not leave my digital expertise at the door.
Are You Blue? Where Logic and Creative Meet
I love design. I love creative. I love color. I love visual layouts and storytelling. If you subscribe to the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory, I would sit heavily in the left-brain camp. However, I also subscribe to the "pretotype" manifesto that data beats opinion, and believe great design utilizes insights from data. Data mining, number crunching, and blue/analytical thinking is not my preferred state of being. I knew a leap into the brand management world would challenge and develop this area. And oh has it rocked my world! Just like lifting weights or learning a new move, the more reps you do, the better and more confident you become. Watch out friends, this woman did get an A in Calc 1 and 2.
Develop an Innovators Skill Set
I am fascinated with innovation, what makes companies standout for innovation and how innovative leaders think and act differently from other leaders. While many of my new tasks challenge my abilities of execution, I am able to ask more questions about all different parts of the business and our consumers. I'm able to look at legacy processes and identify both 10% and profound 10X improvements. I'm able to test of my hypotheses in real-world settings and then adapt and scale them. How cool is that? There is a beautiful balance of managing today with tomorrow, and getting to be a part of both stories. I'm able to see the direct impact of my decisions and actions on the business while also considering what the future looks like. As I ease into year two of my adventure, I'm excited to develop new innovator-based skills and put them into practice.
By the end of this, it's a toss up whether my roll as a digital strategist taught me more about brand marketing or vice versa. No matter the case, it's important to build upon and learn from every experience we are blessed to have -- both at work and in our personal lives.
Thanks for reflecting with me, folks!
