School is never out

I just had morning coffee with the VP of the last group I worked in before leaving eBay. As a marketing professional myself, I greatly appreciate this VP's mentoring and marketing insights for he lead organizations at Proctor and Gamble, Taco Bell and eBay. He knows his stuff and is a Marketer's marketer.

We spent the first 10 minutes updating each other on our personal lives and then we got down to "business." I provided my standard 2 minute "elevator" pitch that begins with "when I made the decision to leave eBay" and ends with "and then the revenue dried up and now I'm on the hunt." I also brought optimism to the conversation by sharing that I had interviews at PlayPhone, Shutterfly and Chegg. Vice Presidents are sharing a different elevator pitch.

"I think the days of having a big budget, a staff and a corner office are gone," he began. "Any company that has a budget...is holding it tight. I think more companies are looking are marketing on more of a project basis...they want to accomplish a finite task...and then move on. There simply is not enough company revenue out there to do BIG stuff."

I took a sip of my cooling latte.

"I'm starting my own consulting company...which is strange for me. I want to provide a service that helps a company evaluate their products, or evaluate their current marketing tactics...to then develope a plan to lead and execute for them. So I'm pulling together a lot of the programs and thinking that we did at eBay and providing that bundle as a service. Having to pound the pavement for new business is tough."

The next several minutes were spent talking about the realization that in downtimes marketing teams need to really demonstrate their value...and adapt to the changing environment. We also discussed the fact that school is never out for a marketer...or for any business professional for that matter. The strategies and tactics marketers applied 5 years ago are very different than those of today. The social web, for example, has brough the concept of "direct marketing" or "1:1 marketing" to an entirely different level where brands talk to and interact with consumers directly.

"Always keep up on what's going on in the marketing world...understand the new ways to approach marketing...have a point of view...and be able to articulate what to do with it," he added.

"Yes, I agree," I replied. "But I really think that it's those of us with deeper experience who know how to integrate the new thinking (tactic) into the overall marketing strategy so that it's effective. The more experienced marketer continues to add a lot of value provided we keep current."

I hope I'm right...or experienced marketers like the VP and I will be out of a job!

The lesson learned this morning is to always keep refining and building the "tool box" for whatever profession you are in. These new tools will help all of us adjust to any industry changes that ARE happening now.

Well, I'm off to half.com to buy the latest marketing books to learn about the latest trends. I think my first stop will be "Marketing to the Social Web," by Larry Webber.