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Top reasons why I love marketing: I get to be a writer, producer, and storyteller~ It’s never dull ~ I meet interesting people ~ I learn something new daily ~ It stretches my intellect and creativity ~ Cheater’s don’t win here. Some reasons why you should love marketing too: Marketing, if done right, can grow your business ~ There is no better way to have a dialogue with potential customers ~ Social media can keep you connected to current customers ~ Your website is now your store/office on the Internet ~ You can drive traffic to your website and create more leads ~ You can position yourself as a leader in your field. How I got into the field: It was during my senior year in college that I came to the realization that an undergraduate degree in psychology would not open a financially fruitful career path without at least a master’s degree as a minimum. Being young and full of the “watch out world here I come” mentality, I wanted to work, not extend my schooling. Through a referral from a friend I landed my first job, in one of the largest advertising agencies in Northern New Jersey. Working as an account coordinator for the account executive who handled several Chevrolet dealership group accounts, this was by far the largest and perhaps most exciting account within the agency. We produced newspaper and magazine ads plus TV and radio commercials for this account. I quickly learned a lot and became for lack of a better term “addicted” to the adrenaline high that came from daily tight deadlines, impossible clients, quirky creative staff members, and late nights at the office. We enjoyed all the advertising field had to offer in the way of perks, from outrageously lavish parties to 5-star 3-hour lunches as the norm. Getting married, moving overseas , relocating to Florida, and 2 children later, my thoughts had left the field of marketing. I was now raising a family and working occasionally as a substitute teacher or other positions within my children’s school. How I got back into the field: Through a series of events, and quite by accident I might add, I began slowly delving into the digital marketing arena in an effort to help someone with their business. As I began delving into more and more aspects of marketing to give this person a larger Internet presence, and some much-needed business at the time, I was in fact regaining my experience in the industry which had changed quite a bit since my working days. My passion for marketing was being fueled by the abundance of digital opportunities and a growing interest in learning. I would spend hours daily reading and then trying out what I had learned. I was placing considerable effort in this person’s company, growing their Internet presence. It was exciting to see this person’s business name rising to the top of the search engines over local competitors and knowing that it was my skills that did it. It was even more exciting, in the beginning, when I would get an excited phone call from this person as potential customers were calling from finding the company’s business listings and later website on the Internet. his blog was originally a contribution post on the Blogging Painters website, April 2012. By: Tim Grubbs, Owner, Pro Source Services, Inc. and Barbara Walsh, Marketing Consultant, Walsh One Marketing, How does a busy, driven, type A painting contractor and an equally driven, type A marketing consultant work together to develop and implement a marketing plan that works? It takes patience, perseverance, and a mutual passion for growing a business. Like any relationship, including business, it can take time to successfully blend different personalities and work styles together. It’s not always easy, but we did it, and you can too! Let us explain, from our points of view, the pros and cons of the client/consultant business relationship and how we make it work. Barbara says, Cons: Let’s start here and move toward the positive! From working in advertising and marketing most of my career, I can tell you that working with a contractor has been a different experience for me. Marketing and advertising can be somewhat exciting and glamorous fields filled with many client business meetings taking place at high end restaurants, over drinks, or at the very least over a Starbucks! Discussions with my painting contractor are generally infrequent, rushed, and discussed over static-filled cell phone calls. My lengthy reports via email are answered in few words. The painting contractor I work with is completely comfortable discussing business over the static-filled cell phone calls, this is where I have needed to learn to adapt. Over the past year, I have learned patience and perseverance with my fellow colleague. I communicate now in shorter emails or text messages and ask him to contact me when available. I try to keep a list of items I need to discuss by the phone so when I get a phone call I can quickly address my list. Sometimes I have many items from my list pending for several weeks, but I keep at it (perseverance). In the end, the projects get worked on and completed. After all, that’s the goal. Pros: I implement this company’s social media strategies, create and maintain their website, and advise on traditional marketing avenues. It has been exciting for me to take a young company with virtually no online presence to the place it is now, showing up high (Page 1) in Google searches under various key words. Additionally, each month we add components to our strategy to reach potential and existing customers and grow the company’s presence within the industry, on the Internet, and within the community. That’s where the passion to help someone grow their business lies. The most rewarding aspect for me as a marketing consultant is that my busy painting contractor allows me the freedom to create and take control of the marketing projects. Yes, he wants to be informed and consulted, but he’s not interested in micro-managing — he’s too busy doing the daily work of his business. He just wants to know someone is doing the work we initially outlined. I have come to realize that my skills and expertise can be most useful to this company by taking the initiative with their marketing plan and finding ways to save them time. Blog originally posted on 7/28/2014 Two weeks from today I will begin a new career path at this later stage of my life. Some are questioning my decision, and some questioning my sanity, I can say my decision was made after careful consideration of my options and future goals. Having recently (over the past 2 years) reentered the marketing arena, a career I loved in my 20's and was fortunate enough to get back into in my late forties, I have decided to change course. I had an incredible drive for marketing and working with businesses and people who were equally interested in watching their business grow using today's social media, blogging, website, and SEO strategies. I would spend hours reading and trying out new things and to my surprise my efforts were rewarded. This only continued to push me harder to learn more and see continued positive results. I had several clients I enjoyed working with in my at home part-time business. I later began working full-time at a company I admired and enjoyed the position I had in their marketing department. One day I was asked if I would consider teaching at my daughters school, computers to grades K-12. My initial reaction was no, why would I leave something I enjoyed to pursue an unknown, and work with kids instead of executives. After some serious thought and prayer, it became evident to me, that on some level my marketing efforts were meaningless. Investing many hours of hard work and emotion in someone else's business was not going to be recognized, or even valued by some, rendering my efforts a waste of time. My full time position was considered important and worth the cost to the upper level executives, but on a day-to-day basis I was having difficulty seeing the importance of some of the tasks. My part-time business was slowing down, I did not have the time to invest in finding new clients, and I was losing old ones. And there it was, like I was smacked in the face with meaninglessness and wasted time. My time, my efforts, my passions were squashed. |
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