My Humble Marketing Beginnings
When I attended university for Business
Administration, I was vehemently against marketing courses. The only marketing
content I experienced was in the MANDATORY first-year introductory business
courses. And where do I work now? Ironic, I know.
Like many people, I did not consider (i.e.
understand) the dynamic nature of marketing. I am a fairly “black and white”
person, I do not like to deal in shades of grey and forget about colours! I
like structure, I am procedure-oriented obsessed and prefer concrete
answers rather than “choose the best answer.” (By whose standards?! Gah!!)
In my mind, marketing was too chaotic, too uncertain
and, well, too creative. I was afraid of the unknown.
So, how could a once Science turned
Business major ever like “artsy fartsy” Marketing? Insert Sherpa Marketing.
Why I Like Marketing…Now
I work with a wide-range of people; we are
about as diverse a working group as I’ve experienced in my career. But there’s
a common thread woven throughout: they like marketing and their enthusiasm for
it is contagious.
Little by little, I began to learn their
acronyms: AR is Augmented Reality (not Accounts Receivable), PPC is
Pay-per-Click (not a typing error for PPV or Pay-per-View) and the list goes
on.
As my enthusiasm and understanding of the “language”
grew, I finally started to piece together everything that was going on around
me. It may seem chaotic, and believe me it is at times, but it is a controlled,
methodical chaos. There is research, plans, processes, drafts, quality
assurance (round after round after round), reports, deadlines, ongoing
communication, teamwork. Well, you get the idea.
My assumptions (and you know what they say
about those) caused me to misjudge marketing. With that came the startling
realization that, not only had I misjudged marketing, but I had actually come
to - dare I say - love it.
Marketing is more than creativity and
artistry. It is a well-rounded representation of business and operates much
like a machine; all parts need to be in working order or the system falls
apart.
Accounting plays an integral part of
marketing, it is more than invoices and bills. It is timely, accurate financial
reporting so that Account Managers and the leadership team can make informed
decisions and stay ahead of marketing trends. It is budgeting so that we ensure
the BEST delivery of products and services our clients wanted while staying within
their financial means and the agreed upon price. It is also managing cash flow
so that we can continue to employ the right people and create a strong network
of vendors to facilitate all our purchasing, shipping and media needs.
My “official” role at Sherpa may be
Accounting Clerk but I also dabble in marketing - like outreach (i.e. SEO or
Search Engine Optimization), content marketing (i.e. this blog post or my guest
spot on our HGTV video) or editing internal and external work. I have found that
my accounting background is rather helpful in these projects that I participate
in.
Bottom line: marketing isn’t such a scary
place for us logical, black-and-white thinkers. In fact, it offers the best of
both worlds, and nothing could make me happier.
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