Surprisingly, a decent portion of this site\u2019s community is made up of those new to the marketing and PR industry. I say surprisingly, as we tend to cover subjects from an insider perspective and with a lot of opinion.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not like HubSpot or Social Media Examiner who cater to marketing\u00a0newbies\u00a0with lots of 101-type content.<\/p>\n
With that said, we get a lot of pings from students and those just starting in the marketing industry seeking advice. I\u2019ve\u00a0done so\u00a0in\u00a0the past, but as the question is recurring I wanted to add some fresh perspective from others to help all our readers.<\/p>\n
After all, it has never been a more exciting time to be a communications professional but at the same time increasingly competitive.<\/p>\n
So I asked some friends to answer the question:\u00a0if you could offer 1 piece of advice for new marketing professionals entering the industry in 2012, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n Their responses follow:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Enter the world of digital marketing with an entrepreneurial focus. Marketers in the web world need to\u00a0be CEOs of their job, creative in their pursuits and their execution and charismatic in their abilities to persuade others in their organization (or their clients\u2019 orgs) to enable success. Barriers of ignorance, resistance to change and constant shifts in the landscape and best practices will throw up daunting walls. An entrepreneurial focus is your only hope to defeat these challenges.<\/p>\n Stay hungry. Remember that \u201cno\u201d simply means \u201cfind another way.\u201d And maintain a passion for progress.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Be prolific in participation. More people are creating more content in more channels that change more rapidly than ever before, so it takes a lot of writing, responding, and engaging to succeed in today\u2019s environment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Prove to me you have sound judgement. Anyone can learn tools and processes, but judgement can\u2019t be taught. As blogs and social networks turn every employee into a company spokesperson, official or otherwise, I want to know that you are in control not only of the medium, but the message as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Box in your weight class \u2013 understand both your limitations and your capabilities. It\u2019s easy to present compelling content and add values without chest beating. Take the time to learn and grow but always remember that experience comes not from ideas and creativity but from the years of hard work putting programs into market that gain traction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Always create win-win-win situations. Suppose you were hired to promote the latest model of an auto maker. The traditional PR approach would be to create a press release and to email it to all the owners of sites and blogs related to cars. However, the buzz such a campaign would generate was likely to be small, because only two parts would have something to win out of it: you and your client. The site and blog owners were left out of the equation. What if instead your launched an online contest where the 10 most creative reviews about the car would get featured on the website of the auto maker? This would create a win-win-win situation, and the result would be a much more effective and broad marketing campaign.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n OK so here\u2019s what might happen to you in 2012 (It might have happened to you already).<\/p>\n You see a news post telling you that \u201c\u2018Fill in the blank\u2019 social network is now among the Top 10 drivers of referral traffic.\u201d Then you realize you haven\u2019t heard of the network in question.<\/p>\n Advice: Don\u2019t be hard on yourself when this happens. Check out the site, learn what it\u2019s about, and think about how to increase your presence there or even use it to drive traffic to your site. Pinterest and Tumblr, among many others, come to mind here. [The online landscape is moving so fast now that it\u2019s a full-time job just keeping up with what\u2019s happening each day.]<\/p>\n TL:DR \u2013 Don\u2019t be afraid or ashamed to pivot, pivot and pivot again. Stick to your guns as much as possible but be ready to move on or add new platforms to your marketing efforts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n If the companies you want to work for are on social media, connect with them there and get to know them. Because we\u2019re in the communication business, we won\u2019t even entertain your resume if you haven\u2019t first networked with us online.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Learn to manage your time! You\u2019re going to be deluged with requests, ideas, tools, demos and who-knows-what-else. You need to be able to stay focused. If you can\u2019t you\u2019re going to spend a lot of time doing very little. That\u2019s the single biggest cause of burnout in our industry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n 1. Focus on writing copy that is specific, fresh, and uses clear language to convey messages in many kinds of media and is appropriate to the audience and circumstance it addresses. <\/p>\n \u201cMarketing automation is the way of the future, and it\u2019s here now. It will have a deep and lasting impact on all marketing professionals over the next five years. Understanding what it is, and how the metrics of what you do affect the marketing and sales alignment is imperative to finding and keeping a growth job in this new reality. \u201c<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Consider your ultimate goals and make decisions that support your long-term strategy. Are you trying to drive clicks and make more sales, or are you trying to connect with humans, impact lives and create a better world? Pursuing one of these sets of goals will make the other easier to accomplish, but the reverse isn\u2019t necessarily true. Choose wisely.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Dedicate someone to your marketing\u00a0initiatives, especially if you are just joining and want to put a lot of emphasis on social media. In 2007, when social media was in its infancy, it was easy to get enmeshed in the culture and become well-respected. In 2012, you\u2019re competing with millions of others who saw gold and came chasing after it. You need to be truly dedicated to online marketing in order to see success, and you need to give of yourself\u00a0because\u00a0trust is just so hard to achieve if you don\u2019t truly invest yourself and give it your all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Surprisingly, a decent portion of this site\u2019s community is made up of those new to the marketing and PR industry. … <\/p>\nRand Fishkin,\u00a0CEO & co-founder of SEOmoz<\/h2>\n
Peter Kim,\u00a0Chief Strategy Officer at Dachis Group<\/h2>\n
Joe Chernov,\u00a0VP of Content Marketing for Eloqua<\/h2>\n
Mitch Joel,\u00a0President of Twist Image<\/h2>\n
Daniel Scocco, web entrepreneur and blogger<\/h2>\n
John Boitnott,\u00a0VP of Business Development at Hasai<\/h2>\n
Gini Dietrich, CEO at\u00a0Arment Dietrich<\/h2>\n
Ian Lurie,\u00a0CEO at Portent Interactive<\/h2>\n
Valeria Maltoni,\u00a0Principal, Conversation Agent LLC<\/h2>\n
\n2. Learn to listen actively and aggressively and from the point of view of the many (more) audiences you need to serve.
\n3. Understand how to analyze data to spot trends, find opportunities for your clients, and ask better questions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSteve Farnsworth,\u00a0Chief Digital Marketing Officer at Jolt Social Media<\/h2>\n
Corbet Barr, blogger and web\u00a0entrepreneur<\/h2>\n