What it’s like working in marketing

Meet Shaherezad!

Thinking about making a move in to marketing?  Then this post is for you. I’m an experienced marketeer and I’d love to help you consider whether making marketing magic is for you. I love marketing so much that I do it for three organisations. The first, is as Head of Customer & Marketing for The Co-operative (Central England Co-operative); this is a billion pound turnover company based in Lichfield with stores across the country. The second is as the founder of Shoes by Shaherazad; this is my own footwear brand which marketed and sold in over 21 countries around the world. The third is a Brand Ambassador and Patron for Vision Africa, a charity based in Kenya which helps underprivileged children to gain an education. The key thing to remember is that marketing is about storytelling – either telling stories about your brand yourself or enabling customers and third parties to do this for you……because they want to not because they feel they have to.

Did you always want to work in marketing?

I’ve always been a natural marketer even when I didn’t work in the function.  Good marketeers love to tell stories. Great marketeers love to tell stories using a strong imagination. I had worked in operations for about 15 years and then moved in to the relatively new function of “Customer Experience”. Naturally, this involved a lot of marketing and storytelling and so after that role I became a full time marketeer as Head of Customer & Marketing for a major UK brand.

What is marketing all about?

A role in marketing covers an array of storytelling areas.  Here’s a flavour:

• Social Media and Web – digital conversations and storytelling directly with customers
• Loyalty – finding ways to acquire and retain customers
• Public Relations – marketing our stories to the press and third party media partners
• Print Media – traditional point of sale and hard media
• Community – doing good deeds resulting in word of mouth storytelling
• Membership – ensuring that shoppers feel like they belong
• Insight – what customers are saying and when and how they are responding to marketing

Content & Creative – designing magical brand collateral

In marketing, you could be talking to a customer in one moment and then publishing a website the moment after. It’s fast paced, exciting and imaginative. A lot of people mistakenly think that marketing is all about making things looks visually appealing but it’s so much more than that. Good marketing has a strong return on investment – this can be a social return or a commercial return depending on the objectives of the business.

How do I know if marketing is for me?

Marketing could well be for you if:

• You love thinking of new ways to tell traditional stories
• You are able to create the element of surprise
• You can work across channels (such as print and digital)
• You are good at listening to people to understand what is working
• You are naturally creative
• You have the gumption to take risks
• You are not daunted by numbers

Any more advice?

Good marketing requires a strong engagement with your product or service. If you decide to go in to marketing make sure it’s for a product or service that you believe in. It’s no good trying to market to pet food if you’re allergic to animals or trying to market meat if you’re a vegetarian. I love my marketing roles because I get to tell stories about food, shoes and philanthropy – three things very close to my heart. Find your sector and go create!