If you’re stuck in the office the day before Thanksgiving, you may find yourself wondering (in a moment of fleeting resentment) what the big deal is about being a marketer. In a constantly evolving landscape of new technologies and pivoting businesses, being in the marketing industry can be downright exhausting.
That’s why we’re here to remind you about all of the things that marketers have to be thankful for this holiday season. Whenever you find yourself scrambling at the last minute to achieve the results you wanted for your Q4 marketing campaigns, or sitting in on another meeting about how you’ll need to adapt to some newfangled technology, just try to remember: there’s a reason you chose the dedication and grind of a marketing career, and that reason is probably somewhere on the list below:
1. Marketers get to have actual conversations with customers, clients, and prospects. The batch-and-blast marketing techniques of the past made it difficult for marketers to move beyond mass audiences, but today’s marketers can have meaningful, impactful conversations at the individual level using targeted emails and social media. This means that marketers can have more of an impact than ever!
2. You can actually measure your efforts. Imagine how frustrating it used to be to not know the exact return on investment of your marketing campaigns. Today, marketers can judge campaign influence, map marketing spend back to campaigns, and use closed-loop reporting to forecast and prioritize marketing budget. Anyone who’s ever looked at a campaign report understands how addicting it can be to see a numerical value associated with every little action you take. The granularity with which we can measure our successes (and failures) in today’s marketing world is really quite astounding.
3. Marketers can be relevant! In the past, marketers didn’t have the data to send targeted, relevant communications to their prospects and customers. With new marketing technologies like marketing automation, we know what our prospects are interested in, which content they’ll find most relevant, and even when to send it. Using this information, we can remain as relevant as possible, increasing engagement levels and decreasing our chances of rejection.
4. We can create experiences. You’ve probably heard that the goal of marketing is to “surprise” and “delight” your customers, and this is only getting easier now that we have the tools to create immersive experiences. Today’s marketers are experimenting with microsites, videos, and visuals that go beyond selling by personalizing an entire experience for their customers.
5. There’s always something new. Sure, it can be stressful to have an RSS feed that’s constantly filled with alerts about new technologies. But imagine being in an industry that never moved forward, never introduced anything new, and never innovated. Sounds pretty boring, right? The marketing industry may be a whirlwind, but it’s one that constantly keeps us challenged and entertained.
What other things should marketers be thankful for this holiday season? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Thanksgiving from Pardot!