One of my first jobs was as a sales associate for Kirkland’s (Briar Patch, back then) back in high school. Tart burners were a new trend in home decor, and I became personally obsessed with them.
Our store sold very basic, get-along-with-nearly-any-decor tart burners for $3.99 each. Yankee Candle tarts, which are the only ones I believe are worth buying, were $1 each.
After three weeks of working, my manager exclaimed that I was the Tart Burner Queen, as I convinced nearly every single shopper to spend the few dollars to invest in these magical tarts and burners, which would burn for 6 hours per tart and make your house smell amazing for a full 10 hours.
Really, a $5 add-on to every purchase is a good job for 16-year-old me.
Customers loved me because they knew I was being honest (I would tell them to buy the necessary tealight candles at Dollar Tree down the mall, instead of paying $3.99 for a pack of 10 from us). My manager was happy to get the boost in add-on sales. Not to mention, most of these customers started buying tarts in bulk from us, as gifts for their friends and to stock up on the season’s scents!
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Several years ago, during an internship for the marketing department of a local news station, my managers began talks with me about turning my internship into a job after graduation. In conversation, I explained that I refused to work for the sales department. “I am not a sales person,” I confidently declared.
“You are always selling something, Ashley. Always,” my soon-to-be boss told me.
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If you are a marketer, it is in your bones. It is in your blood. You are the first to yap to your friends when you love something, and largely because you cannot help but share this great find. When you find an amazing purse on clearance for $8, you are never afraid to rave about that during all the compliments you get. No shame – marketing is who you are, period.
1. Do not confuse marketing with selling.
Being a marketer for the sake of marketing is no marketing at all. You lack heart. That is straight, pure salesmanship. Be honest with yourself, and call yourself a salesman if that is what you are doing. Trust me, you will make more money in the sales department anyhow. On the downside, you may have a lot less creative freedom in how to reach people, also.
Remember my story about the tart burners. I was the Tart Burner Queen (pride-worthy, right?) because I believed in the product. I bought two for my mom, and several more for friends’ moms. I stocked up on Macintosh Apple tarts because my mom and I could not get enough of the scent in our hot, un-air-conditioned home. Heck, 15 years later, I have two of them in my house right now!
Believing in what you are pushing is marketing. Believing you need to make that quota and you’ll sell ice to an Inuit is sales.
2. Remember, what my amazing mentor of a boss said is true: You are always selling something.
What? Did I not just tell you not to draw a sharp line between marketing and sales?
Yes. Yes, I did. You must remember, however, that marketing and sales are important to each other and intrinsically meshed. While you, as a marketer, may deal less with the money figures, your job is to get those numbers up. To raise awareness, to raise volunteerism, to raise participation, to raise public opinion. Your job is to raise your company/ your values/ your ideals above the competition.
This goes for the news producers down at the news station, too, or the receptionist at your dentist, or the pastor at your church. Every single person in an organization is selling the integrity and quality of their organization through their representation.
3. Just because you are a marketer does not mean you are, nor should be, the face of the organization.
YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Twitter, and reality TV have given rise to an entire “generation” of self-professed super stars, ninjas, experts, gurus, mavens, rock stars, managers, etc.
As if the natural narcissistic desire to get all the credit, fame, and glory were not enough, many of these “experts” babble endlessly about your need to establish your personal brand.
Remember, however, if you work with a client or ask to be employed by a company or organization, they may not see your pants-dropping charisma as the asset you do. With some corporate structures, nationally-heralded institutions, or non-profits, they may want a marketer who is comfortable working behind the curtain, nearly invisible to the outside.
Clients and companies hire you to make them look good. Unless your name is J-Lo or Ann Curry, chances are they have no interest in videos starting with you introducing yourself. They want your work to show them shine, and nothing else.
Also, as my brilliant friend Christina (@skimtheocean or her personal website) said,
Big marketing peeve! Especially on websites. They paid you to BUILD it, not tattoo it w/ your name. You don’t pay rent on their home page.
Amen, Sister. What silliness. If you are trying to shine, publicly, on your organization’s/ client’s time, you are not marketing. You are self-promoting.
4. Do not become a social media slut.
Only other social media sluts enjoy the company and antics of … well, you get me.
I cannot take credit for that word choice (nor am I sure I want to), but I can thank Grow for their article from yesterday.
The story touches on the fact that just because you “know” social media does not mean you know marketing.
Also, assuming that you want to make your life’s work “social media”, then you need to have a career at Facebook, Twitter, or even Plurk, but not as a marketer trying to do justice by marketing another individual/ company/ or institution.
Your client or employer deserves more than a short-sighted, half-conceived attempt at marketing.
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No doubt, a hundred “rules” or reminders can help you be better at what you do. Just look at Jeffrey Gitomer books for examples.
I beg of you, however, please… please embrace my four reminders.
Do what you love, and be true to who you are. As a marketer, can you mesh those two well? Or are you a sell-out?
~ Ashley Sue
Very interesting thoughts here and I agree with many of them. However, I’d like to paint a different picture regarding your Rule #3, if I may.
As the Digital Media Marketing Director for a…well…the leading real estate company in the Triangle, I often introduce myself on the videos I produce on behalf of the company, but for me, it’s not for MY recognition. Rather, it’s that I am just one “face” of our company. I actually spend quite a bit of time finding and highlighting the other “faces”. Whether they appear as merely a quote for a particular blog post, are interviewed on camera individually (or together with me), or I reprint an article from one of their blogs, the focus is actually centered around the many “faces of our company” because each “face” has its own story to tell, me included.
What I’m trying to touch upon is that while there are some marketers who clearly strive to self-promote (and some that do but perhaps don’t really realize it; I believe that’s the case too. Call it inexperience or what have you.), I don’t agree with you that ALL those who appear on video for their company are doing so for self-motivation. I fully believe it depends on the overall marketing plan for the company as a whole.
One of my favorite examples is Timberland. I love their social media community building techniques. I love that they have their people (usually one person in particular) on camera talking to their audience. They are doing it effectively. I strive for that with the company I work for as well…and it’s so much fun getting there!
To wrap this up, I hope you don’t take offense to my explanation but have rather embraced a different perspective of your listed Rule. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with me either; just that you’ve given it consideration.
Overall, you have listed some really fantastic reminders here and I love your story about the candles. And at 16! That’s something.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for stopping by and reading, and certainly for sharing, too.
I completely agree, a time and place and purpose exists for some companies or marketers to utilize a consistent face for introducing videos and such. Not everyone who starts their videos with such techniques is self-serving, and I certainly do not think you do that with your company (I would mention them, but seeing as that you didn’t, I don’t want to assume you are OK with me doing so).
At the TV station, we had this debate constantly with our managers, as well. I felt very strongly that the publics we served actually wanted us to be in a lot of the videos as the consistent face of their community. It made them feel that, even if it were for web content on the online source, they had yet another representative and reporter there for them. Some of our managers, however, never wanted to see our faces in the clips. They wanted only the community members to be the stars of the clips, with us simply being the directors, always behind the camera.
Some organizations really do not want or need the spokesperson approach.
When the organization is truly large-scale, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers or another NFL team, all the players and their talents should shine. The coaches and their leadership should shine. If you end up with a guy like T.O., however, who suddenly seems to be the guy who speaks at every opportunity, the team suddenly takes a backseat to the superstar-hunger of one player. It does not show well upon the team, nor does the organization want to maintain that one player as the guy always leading the press.
The North Carolina Museum of Art is another great example. The art is brilliant. Their growth is mind-bending. Their boldness is what speaks. They have a strong media presence, they do North Carolina-specific contests to engage the public, and they let those efforts shine as opposed to having some sort of “Media Guru” who runs the show and talks up every video and effort, as if he were the face of the NCMA.
If anyone should be the out-in-every-video-”face” of the North Carolina Museum of Art, it would have to be Larry Wheeler, the Curators, and the Artists. Yet, the organization has enough class to know that the massive national recognition they receive is also due to the Boards, docents, volunteers, patrons, donors, and community members at large. So, while making a freelance video starring as the narrator can be novel, it should probably be rare.
They could, for instance, make a myriad of videos, like you mention, each highlighting the different “faces” of the NCMA. All the while, these videos do not need one consistent person or face introducing the video. The artists, curators, and directors could be, and possibly should be, the only “Star” highlighted per video.
I know I would love a video where only Larry Wheeler shares his enthusiasm and favorite moments from NCMA history, or Linda Johnson Dougherty shares tidbits about a few of her favorite pieces from the collection, and perhaps a video highlighting a few docents talking about the best parts of being a docent and some unexpected moments they experienced over the years!
Like you pointed out, each organization has to decide what feel they are going for. That includes deciding if they want to help create a presence for one certain person to act as the face of their organization, or if they want a more large-scale approach to their online presence.
Plus, as I wrote in a post (coming tomorrow!), every organization and every marketer has to stay flexible amidst constantly changing needs on behalf of both the organization and the public.
Also, never offense. I mean, if you call me a dog, I might take it offensively. Sharing opinions and best practices from the field, however? Nah. We can only serve to strengthen each other from different perspectives!
Thank you again! And cheers to the growth and future of your organization and its presence here in the Triangle!
… Perhaps I should start doing in comments what I do with emails:
Respect other people’s time and limit my responses to five sentences or less, always.
Ha!
I like your response and I don’t care if it’s a novel either, dadgummit!
The T.O. reference just cracked me up. Literally.
But, seriously, thank you for putting into words exactly what I was trying to get across myself. It really does depend on the marketing plan set forth by the company/organization as to whom (or the “whos”) shall be the “face” of that entity.
I love the way you speak! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on marketing. Good stuff!
[...] explaining a few major reminders of what not to do when you are a marketer by trade, I would love to share a few reminders of what to [...]