Musings from a VP, Marketing ///
My job is to translate my client’s greatest benefits and attributes into engaging, behavior-affecting language their targets understand.
As a copywriter, it’s anonymous work: It’s not my name on the poster or banner or billboard. It’s my clients’. And I don’t have a problem with that. All that matters is that my clients’ targets glean exactly what we want them to glean: 30 seconds of applicable, actionable information, which I’ve culled down from 30 tons of background data.
And what about that 30 tons of background data? In order for marketers to do their jobs effectively, they must get into the hearts of their clients. The good. The bad. The success. The pain points. It’s not as necessary for us to understand how our clients do their jobs as it is to know why they do it. If we don’t, it’d be near impossible to effectively sell their services. So I ask: What fuels their decisions? What shapes their strategies? What drives their passions?
As luck would have it, I’ve spent almost as much time near the research field as I have in the advertising field. I’ve watched the industry grow and shift in right response to other industries, be it healthcare, technology, hospitality and more. This, obviously, gives me a unique advantage when it comes to concepting, creating and managing Full Circle’s marketing efforts.
But that doesn’t mean that your marketer can’t do the same. Take the plunge. Be vulnerable. Expose your greatest challenges. Leverage your greatest weaknesses. Target your greatest competition. It is only when we clarify the entire picture—not just the pretty one that gets printed in the latest industry pub, but the one deep inside that reveals your organization’s true nature—that you’ll find your greatest marketing success.
