A couple months ago I wrote an article for “Associations Now” about how marketing requires different skills than it once did. As more potential tactics and options for marketing have emerged, more is expected of a marketer.
You can read the full “Associations Now” article here, but following is a quick summary of just some of the roles marketers are now expected to play:
- Channel expert. It’s the marketer’s job to be informed about all the traditional and new marketing techniques.
- Implementer. Marketers must have strong implementation and project management skills.
- Data analyst. Association marketing professionals must understand how to read and interpret the numbers.
- Brand champion. In most associations it’s the job of the head marketing professional to make sure the essence of the brand is reflected in everything the association does.
- Community creator. The stronger your community and member engagement, the more effective your marketing will be. So it’s up to the marketing professional to help create that engagement.
- Cheerleader and politician. Marketing requires trying new things and some staff members are more resistant to change than others. Therefore, it’s necessary for a marketer to get people on board even when they’re skeptical.
While I was at the beach a couple weeks ago on a brief vacation I re-read the article I wrote. I thought about how even though the role of a marketer has changed and the number of ways in which we market has grown, the goal of our marketing has remained the same.
Regardless of which of the roles above we play and regardless of which medium (direct mail, email, telemarketing, word of mouth, social media, etc.) we use, our main goal is to show recipients the value of what we’re asking them to do so they’ll act. With all the competing products, services and marketing messages, this has become increasingly difficult – but increasingly important – to do. Unfortunately, many marketers focus on the role they play and the tactics they use but don’t always do a great job of knowing their target market, the different needs of the segments within their target market and the messaging they need to use.
You can be the best marketer in the world but the bottom line is that value drives response. Do you understand your value proposition and are you communicating it well? If not, I recommend you take a step back and start working on that as soon as you finish reading this sentence.
**This article was originally posted on The Event Garde blog. Please visit Aaron Wolowiec’s blog to join the conversation.