Last week’s marketing blogosphere-wide hullabaloo highlighted once again how tough this business can be. You need a thick skin to survive as a marketer, and even more so as a PR practitioner. A sense of humor doesn’t hurt either.
Consider the following:
- The average CMO only keeps her/his job for 23 months
- Within the larger marketing discipline PR types tend to be the most criticized group of practitioners.
- PR practitioners are excessively nihilistic and self-loathing. The Andersen fall out and enduring PR pros stink meme proved it.
- Though they should work together seamlessly, sales and marketing departments often end up in adversarial relationships. Guess who usually wins? That’s right, the guys with the dollar$!
- The agency environment can oft be grueling with tough hours and harsh politics
- Marketing is always the first department cut in a down economy
Fear and Loathing
Yes, many folks hate marketing, and marketers hate their profession, too. Marketers are regarded as the Rodney Dangerfields of the business world.
But that’s because so many marketers don’t understand their business — communicating with people and fostering relationships. Nor do many take the initiative to grow.
The nine to fivers probably don’t even want to be in marketing; they’ve been put there, or accepted a lesser position than their dream (mine was to be a novelist) so they could support their families. And they are thrust into a volatile world of fear where incompetence is rewarded with much criticism, lay-offs and politics. So they care even less.
This lackadaisical attitude really drives the good marketers nuts. Why? We care enough to do the best we can everyday. But because we’re in the same barrel, we’re considered rotten, too. And thus, our need to have more than just savvy marketing skills and a desire to continue learning and innovating. We need thick skins to deflect the litany of never-ending grief that marketers suffer.
Rewards Counter the Pain
Consider the prestige of these various roles, all of which I’ve held (sometimes simultaneously) in the communications field over the past 15 years. I’ve included pay scale (one to ten) to provide a rewards perspective.
Author: Most prestigious, provides a surprising amount of respect. Pay grade: 2 (a vast majority of authors don’t make money selling books).
Journalist: Prestigious, the old fourth estate, still gets a ton of respect. Pay grade: 3-4 (Great for a second income, not good for a primary income unless you are at the top).
Marketing or Agency Executive: Sometimes true executives, sometimes glorified sales execs. Get prestige because of the title, but they are the ones who must produce results – thus the short life span of the average CMO. Respect is mediocre. Pay grade: 8-9.
- Blogger: Not prestigious as most business types disregard, but now respected. Respect is very high due to inherent freedom and unwillingness to conform. Authors and journalists are jealous. Pay grade: 1 (Most receive no money for writing whatever they want).
- Creative Director, Marketing Director, or Account Supervisor: Does the work of the marketing executive, has to handhold internal or external clients, and oft has to massage worker bees into doing works. Garners little to some respect. Pay grade: 6-7.
Flack, AE, Creative or Writer: Worker bees doing the day-to-day tasks in the department or agency. Very little respect and no prestige. Still they get paid more than the average journalist. Pay grade: 5.
Let’s not get into the prestige of various marketing positions. We all know PR is near the bottom, just above telemarketers.
P.S. I reserved the 10 pay grade for masters of any field. For example, Michael Arrington supposedly makes some healthy cash from TechCrunch.
Good post Geoff. I actually love what I do and our career paths or much alike. I also have very good self-esteem and love the pressure of surprising my clients by exceeding their goals. Not everyone has the mental or physical makeup for any of the jobs you describe. They neither pay well nor do they offer job security. However, I don’t thirst after money and am bored by security, so keep those challenges coming and I’ll be happy.
Hi Geoff,
The culture at my software company has the marketing dept leading the way in terms of new features and getting the word out. Maybe I’m naive (I’ll let you know in a year or so :) ), but I feel like my Community Mgr position is expected to bring growth externally & internally. It’s an exciting thing!
But I already have the thick skin in regard to public criticism about product issues & corporate decisions. I get to explain them after their made.
Okay, here’s where I differ, or where I think I differ. I’ve learned that in MY experience, my thin skin is what keeps me better connected to the pulse. I find that I’m no good by trying not to care what other people think. Instead, I’ve had to work harder at categorizing it. I’ve had to learn when people are being argumentative, or when their biography is crowding out their vision, and other such things, but what I’ve learned isn’t necessary the method to follow. But is there something to learn?
Marketing and advertising and PR aren’t the same any longer, or the impact of such isn’t the same any longer. So, is the skillset from the old days the same as the new days? I don’t think so.
Where this gets interesting is when one has to retrain, or rethink, or reconsider. That’s when things like Now is Gone and other works will prove themselves.
(If this came off scattered, I picked and chewed at my answer in between other bites).
–Chris…
Lewis: Yes. Though for me there are parts I like and parts I don’t.
Connie and Chris: You are the new breed of marketer, the socially awre. You get community, you relate. Thuis is te great hope for social media, and the impact it can make on marketing
I believe the marketing profession is in for a big shake-up. Most pros are adopting social meda with old rules. The results are mediocre at best, and disastrous at worst. There will be more Andersen incidents and memes before it gets better.