Marketing seems like a really attractive profession to get into these days.  My observations have shown me that some people see Marketing as a way out, an escape.  Marketing lures many aspiring professionals by its low entry requirements (in the case of diplomas) and the numerous institutions that are offering various Marketing oriented programs.  I view Marketing as an art and as a science.  A science can be learnt as it is technical, but can we say the same about art.  Leonardo Da Vinci, Picasso,  Michael Jackson etc are artistes in their own respect. The question that comes up then is can you learn talent? I do not know about you but I think that Marketing, as a profession, is a trap!

I will start by listing and explaining in brief what I think makes a good Marketer.  I will just list a few key attributes, you can comment with your own views:

1) Flair: Marketing is all about being creative enough to think outside the box and then going back into the box to marry one’s ideas with the fundamentals.  Anyone can learn the fundamentals but can you learn flair?
2) Business Acumen: One can be creative but you need to have the business acumen to enable you to bring your ideas to life in a sensible and profitable way.  You need to be able to create a business case and have others buying in to it for you to have a chance.
3) Tenacious: Marketing is not a career that is straightforward.  In medicine the Government will be waiting to send you to some remote rural area as soon as you finish school.  Dull as that might sound you will have job security and a clear career path.  In Marketing however, life is what you make it.  In a country like Zimbabwe where it is not seen as an essential discipline you will have to be tenacious to get by.
4) Very intelligent: This is where it gets tricky with Marketing.  It is relatively easy to learn, but to apply it is something else.  In Engineering you have standards that you follow, you can open a book and there is the answer.  It is like being a train on a railway you will definitely know where you are going in life.  In Marketing, however, you define the limits, and the norms.  If you do not know what you are doing you will end up in a jungle in a country called Confusion.

So, how many of the attributes that are listed above do you possess?  Be careful to ensure that you do not fall into what I call the ‘Marketing Trap’.  Watch out for the signs and symptoms below:

1) Stumbled: on the profession. You had no choice but you ended up in Marketing because of reasons best known to you.  I know that at the university I attended those who were ‘cast’ into the Marketing class had failed to make it into Finance or Accounts.  Well if you did not want to be there then that might be an issue.
2) Creative blocks: are the norm for you.  Yes, artistes run out of ideas from time to time but if you are always out of ideas then that could be a problem.  If you find yourself going onto the internet, copying someone else’s ideas and then forgetting to marry the stolen idea to your firm’s strategy, goals and vision among other fundamentals then you might have an issue.
3) Haphazard: approach to your work.  Marketing is an art but the art part of it should be in the background, piecing the scientific parts of Marketing together.  For example, you are given a task to introduce a new product in an area, how would you go about it?  If you get confused then that may be your answer.
4) Working Model: If you are not synchronising a complex set of activities then you might have an issue.  There is more to Marketing than taking a trip to the advertising agent.

This is just a glimpse of what could happen if you choose Marketing but it is not your calling.  Can Marketing really be learnt, let’s discuss.

 

Until next time

Ruvimbo