According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the coming years and as a result of Boomers retiring, we will experience shortages in analysts, industrial engineers, financial managers, labor relations, postal clerks, police detectives, registered nurses, social workers, and lawyers. But what about marketing professionals?
Smart companies today are focused on developing mentorship programs and facilitating knowledge transfer from senior team members to more junior team members. In fact, if this topic is of interest, my colleagues at BMG Shelly Kramer and Eric Vidal covered this very topic on a recent episode of their videocast/podcast Future of Work Talk: How Knowledge Transfer Positions Businesses for Success, so check it out.
However, when I presented a workshop on B2B Lead Generation at the Growth Marketing Conference held in NYC a few weeks ago, I quickly realized that marketing is going to be just fine.
Standing in my dress slacks and buttondown shirt with my reading glasses on a chain around my neck (and yes, my business partner teases me about this) in front of a room filled with Millennials, sometimes dressed in clothes that looked like they might have slept in them the night before, I quickly realized I was the token old guy at the event. And let me be perfectly clear on that front—that is a realization that NO ONE wants to come to. I have spoken at many, many, events but for the first time, the age difference that I experienced at this particular conference was profound. But once I got over the shock of being the old guy, I quickly realized that while I’m confident that I have much knowledge and expertise to bring to the fore for our clients, and I’m darn sure not ready to retire any time soon, it was clear to me the new generation is absolutely, positively present, engaged, and capable.
I learned some interesting things from the young marketing minds that I had the pleasure of learning from at the Growth Marketing Conference, and I hope you’ll consider joining us for the next event, which is being held in San Francisco on June 28th and 29th.
One presenter I particularly enjoyed was Ryan Kulp of FOMO. Ryan blew me away with some smart marketing tactics and shared case studies that demonstrated how he and his team had achieved some outstanding results for their clients. Kulp and team describe FOMO as code that you can add to your website that “turns customer interactions into instant marketing materials.” His presentation was very tactical in nature, and the seasoned marketer in me knows that tactics without strategy is the slowest route to victory, but according to Kulp, FOMO’s campaigns are driving results quickly. Since delivering results (and revenue) rapidly is something all marketers are tasked with doing, I can see what they offer might be attractive. I’d like to hear more about strategy from Ryan next time, but if you have the chance to check out FOMO and what they’re doing, I would definitely encourage that. Here’s a short video snippet that provides an overview of what FOMO does:
Fomo – “Fear of Missing Out” from Fomo on Vimeo.
Millennials and ROI and Why the Change
One thing that was very clear as I spent a couple of days getting to know both the presenters at the Growth Hacking Conference and the attendees: Today’s Millennial marketers are exponentially more focused on ROI than I was at their age. That’s also largely due to the role that technology plays in marketing today, and how data and analysis change everything about how we operate. We no longer develop marketing campaigns and toss them out there and hope that they work. Today, data quickly shows us what’s working, what’s not, and as a result, we can be agile and adaptable in our marketing strategies and tactics in a way that wasn’t really possible a decade ago. That means everything about marketing has changed,which is a good thing for us all.
Today’s new generation of marketers understand technology, and they also inherently understand that technology is never static—it’s always changing and offering up different possibilities, different ways of looking at things, and different ways of developing and executing on marketing strategies.
And as an aside, there are many incredibly smart, incredibly successful marketers today who are not Millennials, and the secret to their success is largely attributable to the fact that they, too, understand the role technology plays in marketing success today. I wouldn’t be being fair to my own generation of savvy marketers if I didn’t make it clear that this is not a skill set that’s exclusive to Millennials. In fact, I think there’s much we can all learn from one another, which is always the best part of any conference or in person event. They facilitate interaction, knowledge sharing, connection, and learning, which benefits us all—and the clients we collectively serve.
But the Personal Branding?
As I mentioned when I made fun of myself earlier, it was a rude awakening at first to realize that I was the old guy in the room. But I’m good with that. When I was in my 20s or 30s, I thought anyone over the age of 40 was so ancient they were practically close to being dead.
But I did learn a bunch at the Growth Marketing Conference about personal branding and how some young pros feel about that. Some presenters dressed up and went the classic route. Many presenters wore logo’d tee shirts and ill-fitting suit jackets. Not my style, but totally fine. And some presenters, like Vin Clancy who I’ve showcased in the image above, went all out. Vin did his presentation in a tiger-striped jumpsuit and sunglasses wearing sneakers that were sporting either feathers or fins (I honestly couldn’t tell which). And one thing’s for sure. No one who saw Vin in that outfit would forget him. So I suppose while his personal branding tactics are extreme, they might well work. As for me, I’m going to stay away from jumpsuits and tiger stripes. The abuse I’d get from my co-workers would be too extreme.
Bottom line, when it comes to the future of marketing, I think we’re all good. I don’t think companies or an older generation of marketers have anything to worry about. These young marketers are sharp, focused, eager to learn, embrace technology, and want to make things happen. And to that? Well, I don’t think you can ask for anything more.
I hope you’ll come join us in June for the Bay Area’s Growth Marketing Conference. Workshops will be on June 28th and the day-long event will be on June 29th. Look forward to seeing you there!
This article was first published on The Marketing Scope.