What is the modern marketer? What does this mean?
- The Modern Marketer should be reading a lot.
The reason is the world around us is developing so fast right now. In order to keep up to speed and to remain competitive in your niche, you need to read books.
There are so many interesting books on marketing that get published every month. For example, the one I’ve been reading these days is Digital Relevance. Despite being written for B2B there are still many things in the book that can be applied to B2C segment.
The book was published first in 2015 but I just recently discovered this gem. If only I could get my hands on it in 2015! I can only imagine what competitive advantage it would give me back then…
A few other books on marketing and advertising I recommend when somebody asks me about the best ways to generate leads:
- Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth
- One Page Marketing Plan
- Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got
I’ve read these 3 books above. They are highly actionable. Read them.
2. The Modern Marketer should never stop learning.
In 2015 I learned about RankBrain algorithm that Google created to rank websites. Immediately I started thinking about what could I do to keep the competitive edge on SEO. That led me to this course on Machine Learning on Udacity. I took this course and learned how to build machine learning models. I applied the lessons learned to a dataset of Google search results (700 search results for the keyword “property management software”) to see if there are any ranking factors influencing the position of a web page.
You should also attend conferences. I try to go to at least one conference on marketing every year, no matter what. Here is a funny store: I attended my first conference on SEO, SMX West in San Jose, CA in 2012. There was Bruce Clay’s one-day SEO workshop that I took. After the workshop, I realized I hadn’t known SEO at all! (keep in mind, I had been doing SEO for a few years by that date). The conference that I like to attend on marketing is called Traffic and Conversion Summit, and it is organized in San Diego every year by Digital Marketer. Another conference I attended recently is 10X Growth Con in Miami. As you can see, this series of 30 posts is the result of the “Massive Action, 10X approach” I learned from Grant Cardone.
3. The Modern Marketer should be looking for opportunities everywhere around them and compare the things that are uncomparable.
Last year Gartner published their annual report on contemporary trends. Besides many other trends in it Digital Twin technology was something that captured my attention. The Digital Twin technology is about creating a virtual copy of a physical device by using sensors. This method allows you to track the physical device in real time by analyzing the virtual copy. You could also conduct the experiments on the virtual copy without touching the physical device. I asked myself: is it possible to apply this technology to SEO? For example, how about creating a digital twin of a web page? What are the benefits of such an approach?
As a marketer, should you be studying selling? I think it’s absolutely yes. I got myself a course on selling from Grant Cardone, that I listen 2-3 times per week. Will it make me a better marketer? Yes, because the sales team and the marketing team complement each other. In order to understand the sales processes, you need to understand the principles of selling.
What about studying other marketing channels? My answer is yes, but here is a catch: I suggest specializing in a particular marketing channel and learning a bit about other channels as well. For example, if you specialize in SEO it will never hurt to create your own email list and do email marketing using Mailchimp or Aweber, start a YouTube channel, or launch a podcast.
4. The Modern Marketer should always be constantly asking themselves “What’s next?”
I normally ask myself this question a few times per year. I think it’s a good habit to develop to think about what’s coming next in marketing. Will it be agumented reality used by everyone? How about voice search? You most likely have heard about Google Galss or Microsoft Hololens. These technologies are coming. If all goes well in a few years we should experience a significant leap in technologies. Self-driving cars with voice commands and smart homes with access to Internet and directly to Google. Robotic assistants using knowledge graphs. Many technologies that are being developed in separate silos will soon be converged into some helpful solutions that would be used by millions. When that happens, will you be ready? Do you have the plan for your organization in place to account for these changes?
5. The Modern Marketer should be actively networking.
The ability to make friends with people should become the second nature of any marketer who wants to become highly successful. Every marketer should understand NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and be able to recognize it and use it when needed. Be present on LinkedIn and on other social networks. Be helpful to people and provide value upfront. Be willing to share the knowledge that you’ve learned.
Good luck!
This blog post in #4 in the series of 30 blog posts called “30-Day Blog Post Challenge”. Check my first blog in the series here. In short: I encourage you to write and post one article on your website every day for 30 days straight on the subject that you like. There are multiple benefits to doing that. Read more about it in the original post. Additionally, amplify the content you create by sharing it on social networks with hashtag #30dayblogchallenge. If you support this idea feel free to get in touch with me on Instagram and on Twitter.
Also, let me know if you would like me to cover any particular topics related to business/marketing.
#30dayblogpostchallenge
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