The field of marketing is a broad one, encapsulating nearly every aspect of promoting a product or service. It's also an industry that continues to evolve rapidly, particularly in the era of digital and content marketing.
As new professionals enter this world, they may have an incomplete understanding of what it takes to be successful. Here, the members of YEC share nine common misconceptions new professionals have about what it takes to be a good marketer and what they should be doing instead.
What's one common misconception new professionals have about what it takes to be a good marketer?
1. You Can Rely on Your Education Alone
A common misconception is a marketer relying on what they have learned in the classroom only, in a bachelor's or master's course. While a marketing MBA can help build your skill set, and schools provide access to resources that a student may not otherwise reach, the demand is for skilled labor. A marketer needs to prepare for constant learning and adapting to new workplace requirements. —Duran Inci, Optimum7
2. You Have to Be Aggressive
People mistake good marketing for bold, aggressive promotions. Some of the most effective marketing beautifully illustrates the need for what you do while hardly making a sales pitch. Look to content marketing and email marketing for examples of this. Being a good marketer means being informed, informational, and genuinely helpful. Sales flow from marketing materials that have those qualities. —Tyler Bray, TK Trailer Parts
3. The Human Side Doesn't Matter
One common misconception is that it’s all about the numbers. While metrics are important, good marketing is also about understanding people and their needs, communicating effectively, and building relationships. Metrics can measure success, but they don’t paint the whole picture. Good marketing requires creative thinking and a holistic approach to understanding customers. —Sujay Pawar, CartFlows
4. Good Writing Makes You a Good Marketer
One common misconception new professionals have about what it takes to be a good marketer is that it only requires the ability to write. This is not the case. Marketing requires a variety of skills—including quantitative , communication, social media, and organizational skills, to name a few. —Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
5. You Have to Be Highly Knowledgeable
You don't have to feel insecure because you don't know something. Marketing is not math or physics. It changes all the time. When we hire a new marketer for our team, of course we expect them to have some knowledge, but it's not the only criterion. We appreciate creativity, flexibility and the ability to learn more from an experience because we know things won't be the same the next year. —Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS
6. You Have to Use Every Tool
One common misconception new professionals have is to be a good marketer requires knowledge of every platform and tool. In fact, the best marketers have a skill set that is highly honed to their specific industry, and thus understand the best tools and software for that industry. —Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.
7. You Have to Wear Every Hat
I'm not a marketing guru and so I hire people who are talented at creating content, strategizing the execution, and handling matters that are not in my zone of genius. Years of being in business have taught me to put the right people in the right seats. That means hiring experts who are good at what they do so I can focus on what I'm good at. —Givelle Lamano, Oakland DUI Attorneys
8. Success Hinges on Following Trends
New professionals wrongly think that marketing is all about the latest trends and flashy tactics. Staying up to date on the latest marketing trends and strategies is important, but you can't develop effective marketing strategies without knowing the fundamentals of marketing—like understanding the basics of customer segmentation, research, analytics, budgeting and more. —Andrew Munro, AffiliateWP
9. It's All About Creativity
One common misconception new professionals have about good marketers is that it is all about creativity. While creativity is important in marketing, it is not the only factor you need. For a good marketer to be effective in meeting organizational goals, they must also be knowledgeable of the industry, be able to analyze data and trends, think strategically, and understand the customer. —Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
