My 6 Biggest Marketing Learnings

After six years in marketing, I’m reflecting on my biggest learnings. Some are human - about your mindset and trusting yourself and others are tactical or strategic ways to approach marketing. All have been important lessons and shape the marketing work I do.

1. Go with your gut, then find data to back it up

When you start to understand marketing more deeply, there is a magical sweet spot that cannot be quantified, let alone taught. It’s a gut feeling that something will work. You can’t fully explain it, but you just KNOW.

However, that won’t move things across the line. Your manager won’t sign off your new campaign idea based on an instinct.

Go with your gut, and then go find the data that will back it up. Because if you’re right, that data will be there.

2. Outsource where you’re not an expert

Being on a small team, there is a tendency to try and do everything yourself. However you can easily fall into the ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ hamster wheel. There is benefit to trying to do things in-house in terms of money saving and up-skilling, but you need to know where the line is.

I’m glad I’ve been able to explore different areas of marketing, gaining a strong base understanding, and then decide if I want to take it any further. I want to focus on strategy & implementing marketing that will achieve business goals. I want to see the big picture and bring it all together, which is exactly where outsourcing comes in.

Even if you have a decent sized marketing team, outsourcing can be great when your company needs to be flexible. If you have to steer the ship in different directions quickly, a solid group of outsourced specialists around you will allow you do adapt quickly.

3. Slow and steady wins the organic SEO race

There are no magic bullets with SEO. Stick with it. If you’re creating good content that provides a good user experience, and you follow best practices, you’ll get there.

I didn’t expect to be ranking #1 and being highlighted as Google’s featured snippet for multiple posts - but I was! It was down to evergreen content, solid SEO work, regular post updates and continual sharing. You have to put in the work.

4. Show don’t tell

My previous boss always used this analogy:

Don’t tell me you’re funny. Tell me a joke.

Show, demonstrate, testimonials. Don’t tell me you’re the best sustainable t-shirt company, show me how you are. And often, others’ opinions are more convincing (clients, partners, and press).

5. Build your marketing network

Working on small teams has taught me how important it is to build a network of other marketing professionals. Be it people in similar roles that you can bounce ideas off, or people who have a much different skill set than you to help weigh in on things. My ever-growing marketing network has helped me massively along my career journey.

6. Don’t doubt yourself

Everyone has an opinion about marketing. Especially non-marketers. It can be exhausting to be questioned or have ideas and suggestions thrown at you from people who aren’t experts. Don’t let it get to you.

Marketing is outward facing and therefore just susceptible to more opinions.

You are good at what you do. You are the expert. Don’t let them get to you. You got this. 👊