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Am I A Top Level Marketing Person, How To Know
Posted By: deveshkhanna on 3/4/2005 1:51 AM (CST) 250 Points
I have off & on done marketing with various companies, some have worked, some I am not so sure.

How can I know if I am a good level marketing person and will succeed in life

Posted by: K Sieczka Accepted Answer
3/4/2005 9:03 AM (CST)
Start the process by considering the following:

What type of marketing projects have you worked on? Were they considered successful? Did they achieve the results they were supposed to? Once you get some of these down on paper, start doing some internet research on similair projects. Compare outcomes. This will at least give you a starting point to gauge you work.

Cheers,

Karen
 
Posted by: W.M.M.A. Accepted Answer
3/4/2005 9:56 AM (CST)
I don't believe one can ever "know" if they will succeed in life. As one progresses in business, a few things become obvious:
You will get more clients
Your circle will expand
More people will call upon you for advice

These indicators clearly demonstrate that you are moving in the right direction.

We have all had on & off projects. And, we learn from each. Each step forward is an opportunity for educating yourself. The more you learn about your industry, the better-off you will be. Remember, success is not necessarily based upon money.


Randall
WMMA
 
Posted by: Peter (henna gaijin) Accepted Answer
3/4/2005 12:44 PM (CST)
Heck, no one ever really knows if they are good. Was what someone said the best route for the company? What you did worked - but was it the best way? Or it didn't work, but was that due to you or someone else? No way to know.

The one thing that most people who appear to be successful have in common is confidence. They are confident that they are doing good.
 
Posted by: ilovemydoggy Member Response
3/4/2005 4:40 PM (CST)
Humility is good too. No one "knows it all". But if we are open, we will attract knowledge.

Nancy M.
 
Posted by: stevea Accepted Answer
3/5/2005 4:55 AM (CST)
Could I offer a slightly different perspective on, “Being a success in marketing.” It comes down to measuring what you do and being prepared to be held accountable to it. It’s not always very pleasant in the short term, but like the stock market, if you are any good, your worth will grow over time and the value you contribute will be shown.

Take a look at your colleagues in sales, and in the following paragraphs, for sales person read marketing manager. For sales activities, read marketing activities. Can’t define measurable marketing activities? That might be the root of a problem which can be cured.

Sales people are accustomed to (or should be accustomed to!) measuring themselves and being measured in everything that they do. They set or have set for them goals. To achieve these goals, the goals need to be measurable and that involves breaking them down into smaller steps which will lead to the attainment of the overall target. If the fiscal target is $500,000 of sales, that is measurable as $2,000 a working day, usually averaged out (to be fair) to, say, $40,000 a month. Few sales people survive for long if they are consistently below target, though an enlightened management will take into account the time needed for the enquiry to order cycle if the person is new or someone is working on a new product.

Sales Management recognise that the achievement of a target is through actions, so the actions become measurable. How many telephone calls did they make to secure appointments? How many appointments turned into a full presentation or demonstration? How many quotations did they generate and what was the value? When do they predict to close the business and what is the probability of closing? What is the split of their demonstrations and forecasted business over the product range they are paid to sell?

Many very good creative marketing people forget that they also need to demonstrate their contribution in numbers which can be as much of a delight to the Finance Director as the new Logo or Brochure can be a delight to the Chairman. To be able to say “I created many new sets of product literature, won prizes for exhibition stand design, ran a lot of press releases and had a major input into the new product development” is typical of so many marketing managers. No numbers, no measurable results and not a $$ sign anywhere except perhaps the budget they were responsible for.

Of course, you can’t measure anything if you don't record it, so whilst putting figures into everything you do is a start, the real test is to follow those figures through the sales cycle to be able to link the order results to your initial marketing ctivity, whist giving due credit to the skills of the sales people who convert your marketing work into orders.

I’ll give one simplified example to end with. This was me the early 1990’s. In 12 months I generated 42 press releases (Up from 6 the year before) which produced 2100 leads at a cost of £25,000. I also produced 6 sets of new literature for products where I was directly responsible for the market acceptability of the specification and pricing. Including other activities, I was responsible for spending, on top of my salary, about £75,000 and generating over 4000 leads, which over 12 months, the company turned into about 800 demonstrations.

My ability to track to cost of each lead and each campaign was valuable, but my ability to track every lead to either the waste bin, the quote book or the order book was even more valuable, because after 12 months, my own system categorically proved that not a single lead, produced from any of my marketing activities had made it onto the order book!

My own sales activities only just covered my costs, so my job looked to be on the line. The CEO and I analysed all the figures in a day long meeting with the chairman (It was the first time they had ever been able to do anything other than guess at this kind of thing) and they concluded that as all the sales and marketing activities were in place then either my assumptions about the market were wrong or their assumptions about the length of the order cycle were wrong.

The quotes indicated that rather than the 6 month decision time we expected, we were running into a lack of customer’s budget, so our orders were being rolled over into their next financial year. The marketing figures and sales activity analysis helped the board to hold their nerve, I held onto my job and in the next 6 months, the last year’s activities contributed a 55% rise in turnover!

Steve
 
Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst* Accepted Answer
3/7/2005 9:46 AM (CST)
Hi:

Here are some benchmarks to consider:

Scope:

Have you personally managed all the traditional major marketing areas: pricing, product, advertising/promotion, distribution?

Have you done this with sizeable marketing budgets?

With the leading brands of the companies you have worked for?

Have you managed creative from strategy through finished advertising?

Have you done this across a number of industries and/or product areas?

Across a number of geographies?

Consumer or Customer targets?

Results:

What % of a company's sales/profits have you been responsible for? Was it bottom-line management?

What were your results?

Have you been consistent?

Experiences:

Have you personally led the launch of a successful new product or line extension?

Defended against a major competitive entry?

Successfully expanded distribution into major new areas?

Taken a major risk and been successful?

Management:

What is the largest staff you have managed?

Number of brands or brand groups?

Number of agencies or outside suppliers?


These are only idea generators - but if you can generate some solid answers to these questions - you can feel very good about your depth and breadth of experience.

I hope this helps.
 
Posted by: Shelley, MProfs Moderator Response
5/8/2005 2:14 AM (CST)
Please do NOT post questions here in the future unless you are willing to stay in the conversation AND close the question on a timely basis.

Everyone, thanks for participating. I am closing this question since it's gathered a considerable amount of dust.
 


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