{"id":701,"date":"2010-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/why-am-i-in-marketing\/"},"modified":"2022-06-15T08:29:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T12:29:37","slug":"why-am-i-in-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/strategy\/why-am-i-in-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Am I In Marketing?"},"content":{"rendered":"
As I traveled the course of my career, often times in unexpected directions, I have found myself asking the question of why I do what I do. Since most of us have found ourselves in a position or a company that is not exactly on the path we imagined when we were younger, it makes sense to ponder what exactly has delivered us to the place we stand.<\/p>\n
So here I will describe why I am in Marketing. To introduce myself. And also explain my view on the role of the B2B Marketer.For me I have always known a few things with great confidence:<\/span><\/p>\n
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I have a very curious mind<\/li>\n
I feel the basic need to contribute as much as I can to a common goal<\/li>\n
I believe that meeting a customer need is the only true founding principle of an enterprise<\/li>\n
There is a strong amount of effort and some basic levels of intelligence required to follow the evolution of customer needs and thus stay relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And so the answer to the question of why I am doing what I am doing is likely that I have followed opportunities to best exploit the above personality traits, skills and needs.<\/p>\n
Having started my career and spent 9 years in a B2B company serving some of the world\u2019s top brands in the consumer space, I have often rejected the B2B label because too often, B2B marketers forget to focus on consumers. We think our product is way too cool, our sales force is way too sharp, or our brochures so compelling that what prospect wouldn\u2019t just lay down for us. And the truth is far from it.<\/p>\n
Yes, in B2B, the decision process is far longer, the decision-maker is typically more than one person and all of them feel much greater risk (jobs, reputation, etc) than when buying a pack of gum. But these are still people. I am not suggesting it is harder: trying to appeal to the emotions of a teenager to buy the latest line of fashions is hard. But B2B Marketing is complex with a need to appeal to both emotion and intellect.<\/p>\n
I am a B2B marketer because I think our job can be made simpler if we simply focus on the customer. As a B2B Marketer, I feel strongly that we (simply) help companies do 2 things:<\/p>\n
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Get Customers<\/li>\n
Keep Customers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Sometimes we do this in a more creative way and sometimes we do this in a very scientific way. But that is all we do! And the only way to do it is through listening first.<\/p>\n