Strategists, and marketers in general, need to be like Swiss army knives.

Now before you jump in with the old “a jack of all trades is a master of none”, I would politely stop you and argue that the nature of business for the modern marketer is changing that, and I’m not alone in that view.

The Lighthouse Company’s recent New World Talent Report 2015 looked at what skills Marketing Industry leaders feel are required to succeed in the digital age. “Diversity” would appear to be the key word amongst the findings, with horizontal learning essential to getting ahead.

Last week I was talking to our latest batch of new grads, during which I recommended that when they are thinking about the path they want to follow in their career, my advice would be to try and be more Swiss army knife. Basically, becoming a more rounded planner (or any marketing discipline for that matter) with a variety of tools at their disposal for solving a multitude of problems.

Whilst there’s always that nagging feeling that you could know more about any given area, having a wealth of knowledge you can draw on across multiple disciplines can really help you feel more comfortable in your marketing role. If anything, embrace that nagging feeling around knowledge gaps, and use it positively, to inspire you to always be on the look out to fill them and advance your knowledge. Doing so will keep you engaged and relevant.

Below are some suggestions of useful skill sets to build out. Now I am by no means saying this list is exhaustive or the only path to follow - far from it - but all are useful to a marketer’s career progression.

  • Media Buying – Useful because it gives an appreciation of trading considerations and negotiation. Whilst the specifics vary by medium, and it’s well worth having a working knowledge of these, the fundamentals apply to a wide range of media. Spending even a few days shadowing a buying specialist can reap massive dividends.
     
  • Media Planning – Useful to get the pure craft skills of planning. Very early on in my career, my boss at the time gave me the tip to look at any piece of advertising, and think about the motivations of why it’s there. This is always worth keeping in mind. Stripped of all relevant context, you’re unlikely to get the real reason why that ad is there, but you can still hypothesise what was trying to be achieved, and good or bad, you can use that to shape your own thinking moving forward. If you need a grounding in the basics, all the media marketing bodies like the IAB, Thinkbox, Newsworks, RAB, Outdoor Media Centre cover their respective disciplines, whilst DCM and Pearl and Dean’s business site wave the flag for cinema.

  • Digital Planning – Now, you’re probably saying, surely that’s the same as the above. Yes it is, but with the caveat in today’s marketing world, understanding channels like Search, Social, Mobile and Video, and the different ways they are bought (such as Programmatic), are absolutely essential. 
     
  • Communications Strategy – Moves you closer to the client and gives a clearer view of wider business issues. This moves you further upstream than media planning, strategically aligning the channels and touchpoints you use closer to the creative strategy. If an account planner at a creative agency knows everything about a brand, it’s audience and what to say to them, it is the responsibility of the communications strategist to equally know the brand and consumer inside out, but also when, where and how to speak to them. Get this right and you have the perfect alignment of content and context.
     
  • Creative Strategy – Coming from a media background, this is invaluable as it helps you understand the creative agency perspective and the pressures they face, which helps you enable media and creative to work together in a much more collaborative way. Whilst spending time in a creative department is a great place to start, perusing award shortlists and winners is a great way of seeing the thinking behind campaigns. The Cannes Lions, as well as the IPA Effectiveness Awards are a great place to start, as is the APG.
     
  • Data Strategy - How clients collect, use, and/or source data is increasingly central to a strategist’s role, as it informs the A, the B, and the C that is essential to formulating strategy:

    Audience, Behaviour, Conversion: Essentially, understanding who your customers are, the nuances of how they interact with you digitally, and how that can identify levers to help maximise the efficiency of your sales. Now I’m lucky, as I work somewhere that has invested heavily in building up capabilities in this space, so I have the resources on my doorstep to learn. However, even if you don’t have that luxury, I highly recommend using sites such as this one and other digital learning resources to help understand analytics and tag management solutions so that you know your Tealiums from your Bluekais (other ad serving solutions available at all good high street stores). By knowing this, and understanding the data at your fingertips, we will see better and more innovative strategic solutions going forward.
     
  • Idea Generation – Honing creativity and a curiosity-led approach will bring fresh perspectives and better ideas for your clients. Generating creative ideas is like finding the end of a roll of sellotaped. Hard at first, but once you’re off and running, it’s great. Michael Michalko’s Thinkertoys is a good read, businesses like What If Innovation and Upping Your Elvis are wonderful, whilst, again, poring over the likes of the Cannes Lions or Contagious will really help fire the creative juices.

The key thing to remember is that no matter what stage or level you are at, you can always add something or learn something new. This willingness to learn is particularly important as technology forces our industry to evolve at exponential rates.

It is also important to remain undaunted. Don’t be afraid to roll your sleeves up and try and get to grips with something. Even if you only learn a little at first, it will still help you overall.

If you stay open to building your knowledge, and adding more metaphorical blades, your Swiss army knife will be ever more useful in today’s market.

 

By Rik Moore, Head Of Creative Strategy at Havas Media. 

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