Marketers Need to Keep Learning

I could really stop there and my message would be clear but that would be a dull and lazy blog so I’ll work a little harder and see if I can persuade you.

In general, we marketers have interesting jobs.  It may not seem like it when we’re explaining the difference between a slogan and a tagline for the 700-th time or why “everyone” doesn’t count as a target audience – but when we’re working with creative teams or watching focus groups from behind the glass, it really is a fun and interesting profession.  But even fun and interesting can turn dull and routine if we forget (or get too busy) to get out, see the world and remind ourselves that there’s a weird and wacky world out there.

 

In March, I took the leap and signed up for a class at UCLA called Social Media Marketing.  I took the class to test myself and my social acumen (I’m pleased to say I wasn’t as out of date as I feared); to nudge me to get more active with social again and to just get out of the office at least one night a week.  What I’m getting out of it is so much more. 

Going back into the classroom is rejuvenating.  What I took for granted at 18 I am relishing at XX and I’m invigorated not just by the class content but my fellow students and the environment.  Walking through the Student Union to get to class, I’m seeing the fashions and technologies, the food and the games.  In class I’m hearing questions from different points of view and with different expectations of how to apply the information.  I even love looking at the message board outside our classroom advertising everything from study groups and term paper writing to cable service and health care.  My brain feels switched on again and while it’s not new information, I’m suddenly making connections and looking for opportunities I might have missed just a couple of months ago.

The fundamentals of marketing didn’t change when people moved from radio to television and they won’t change as we move from TV to portable screens in our pockets and whatever comes after that. But the world is changing and if we want to create compelling messages for our audiences, we must not just know about the technologies, we must use them.  We must get out and look around, participate and learn.  It doesn’t have to be a class at a college, it can be volunteering in a kindergarten classroom or picking up trash as part of Earth Day – so long as you’re opening your mind and taking in not just the task but experience. 

As I said at the start, marketers have interesting jobs.  We get to learn and test human attitudes and behavior and create products and messaging to move them.  Learning is really fundamental to our jobs and it’s one of the perks we can take for granted.  So today, I challenge us all to get out and learn something.  Not only will it make us better marketers, it just might make us better people.