The Journey and Success of a Marketer
In the field of marketing, many outstanding marketers have witnessed the journey of achieving remarkable results across various industries and projects. Each successful campaign and valuable experience provides a rare opportunity for growth. This growth often relies on the stage provided by the company, the trust of the boss, the support of the team, and the resources of the organization. Sometimes, it even benefits from the favorable external environment. In short, a successful project can bring confidence and validation to a growing marketer.
However, behind success lie some risks:
- One might start to completely replicate past experiences.
- One might begin to believe that their methods are always correct.
- One might assume that success is entirely controllable.
When stepping into the next phase and trying to fully replicate past project experiences, things might not go as expected. Why doesn’t the organization support it anymore? Why don’t the old methods work? When these questions arise one after another, failure might eventually be faced.
Such stories are common in the marketing world. Whether it’s a big brand or a small one, whether it’s on the client side or the agency side, whether it’s switching between industries, these situations happen frequently. Setting aside differences in corporate culture and workplace politics, each transition is a journey of growth for a marketer. No two companies are exactly the same, and every marketing problem is unique. Simply copying the successful model of a previous team will likely lead to pitfalls. Even within the same female-centric industry, selling women’s shoes and selling facial masks are different. The brand power and the disposable marketing resources of a company also differ significantly.
This is also evident in the workplace. Some target audiences for sports products and health supplements may indeed be similar. Initially, it might seem like there’s no problem—same audience, same approach! However, after delving into different industries, the unique issues of each industry become more apparent. Sports products have fewer competitors, and different product qualities can easily stand out. The challenge lies in persuading consumers to buy high-priced items. Conversely, health supplements are affordably priced but face fierce market competition due to low entry barriers. Furthermore, even for the same health benefits, there are countless raw materials available in the market. How should consumers choose? Although the target audience may be the same, their consumer psychology and behavior differ when facing different products.
Therefore, a marketer’s journey cannot rely solely on one-time successful operations or experiences. A marketer’s journey requires growth through the collision of different problems.
When thinking one can solve the issues of high-priced products, selling affordable goods might still be perplexing. When thinking one can address the needs of rational groups, the emotional customers might still be elusive. But after facing enough challenges, it becomes clear that previous success is not meant to be replicated for the next success. Instead, it is through the journey of different challenges that a systematic way of thinking in marketing is established. When able to take on different types of challenges time and again, instead of copying the last success, the first step should be to thoroughly understand the current problem and available resources.
Understand, define, inventory, analyze, and then start solving!
Einstein once said, “If I had an hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.”
On the marketing journey, think through the problems, learn to ask oneself questions, and validate them repeatedly. This will help develop a personal marketing systematic thinking. After all, marketing is not just a procedural task; it’s a blend of logic, insight, experience, data, strategy, and human nature.
The greatest sense of accomplishment comes from thinking and solving each marketing problem. Whether it’s achieving orders, sparking a buzz, or enhancing brand value, it’s all exhilarating!