The Multiple Personalities of Marketing

Hey, 

Most working adults think they have an idea about marketing. Most people think it is making commercials. If you took a business course or two you might think there is a bit more, like sales. Maybe you decided to major in marketing and you’re working in marketing in some capacity, so you think marketing is whatever you are doing. The truth is, marketing is all of those things and much, much more. And the reality is, in order to work in marketing you must have multiple personalities. 

There was a show on Showtime called United States of Tara staring Toni Collette. Why did they cancel this show?! In it, the poor woman suffers from a multiple personality disorder and it ruins her life. But in order to handle the pressures of life, motherhood and being a wife, she changes personalities. Hopefully, marketing people don’t actually suffer from this awful sickness, but sometimes we have to change to answer the pressures of business. For every facet of marketing there is an equal and opposite facet. And the expectation is that you know or are aware of every one. 

Read this then send a thank you e-mail to your marketing team!

Personality #1: Marketing Researcher

This person spends the day researching your competition, industry and/or target consumer. They develop surveys, focus groups and 1,000 page reports (that no one reads, but you should!). They find information on new products, new markets and new lines of business. Their research is quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (not numbers). And probably the most important information that the marketing researcher has is they know your customer REALLY well. I mean inside and out, backwards and forwards, in fact they probably know how your customer is going to act before they even act. Crazy, right? 

Personality #2: Marketing Strategist

This is the person that reads the above mentioned report. In fact, the researcher is their best friend, and sometimes they are the same person. They eat, sleep and breathe data. And then, get this, they use that data to develop a strategy (direction) for your company. They set your competitive advantage; they help your company find market dominance and they have a great deal of common sense (sometimes!). The truth is strategists hold a lot of power. Because they set the course of your marketing plan, they can make or break your company’s success in the market. Qwikster, came from a strategist but so did Weight Watchers’ use of Jennifer Hudson. Crazy, huh?

Personality #3: Client Manager

Marketers are always managing a client. Whether it is an actual client or the CEO, there is someone to please. It is a well known fact that marketers are in the business of uncovering and then meeting customer needs. But they are also in the business of uncovering and meeting client needs. The client manager explains the strategy to the client, they present the creative direction and they field all the complaints and dissatisfaction from the client. They push the creative department to perform and they listen to their complaints too. The client manager is the person that keeps the business as amicable as possible by hearing everyone’s complaints and then turning them into a positive. Totally nuts. 

Personality #4: Sales Person

I’m sure you have heard this before: “Marketing is the essence of sales”. There is a reason people say that – it is true! In most companies, the marketing team provides all the materials, wording and tools sales people use to close deals. If sales people are the face of the company, marketing people are the makeup artists. Most people think a sales person makes you want a product or service. Those people are wrong. A sales person shows you why you need a product or service.  They know the product or service inside and out and (thanks to the researchers and strategists) can identify any customer and speak to their pain points. In reality they are manipulators, but good sales people don’t make you feel manipulated. They make you feel smart/pretty/strong/manly/rich/fat/ugly/unprotected/safe or whatever it is that a strategist determined would get you to buy. Insane. 

Personality #5: Social Media/SEO/SEM/Digital Marketer

I believe most people in this space have seen this infographic. I graduated from my undergraduate program in 2008. Through four years of business and marketing courses there was not one course on social media, SEO or digital – at all. When I went back for my MBA there were at least 10. In four years from now, who knows? This element of marketing is more than sitting on a computer tweeting. There is a strategy, a purpose and a goal. Whether it is market research, awareness building, branding or lead generation this space is helping companies, and companies are paying A LOT of money for it. These people spend their day learning because (this is not an exaggeration) everyday something new comes out or some existing platform makes a change. These people not only learn about these new tools, but they use them effectively within hours of their change or release. So just so we are clear, these people find, learn and effectively use new tools within hours. Madness.

Personality #6: Brand Manager

Branding is the overall marketing. They are not in the business of proving your company’s competitive advantage, they are in the business of proving your company is the only supplier. Brand managers use the research, strategy, client requests, sales projections and social platforms to create a personality for brands. You know how you can get an idea of a company by just looking at their logo? That is branding. Branding includes, naming, logo generation, creating an emotional connection and generating consumer loyalty. Brand managers want your heart, not your head. They try to tap into that unspoken emotional need, the one that you can’t talk about outside of a therapy session. They create memories and make you think you created them yourself. Think about the last party you went to, what brand did you have to have to make it a party? For me, it was my Xbox, in order to have a good time, I had to have it. But did I really need it? Probably not, but I definitely did. Maybe brand managers aren’t crazy, maybe they make you crazy!

Who did I miss? What did I get wrong? What did I get right? Do you agree? Comment below!