The 3 Signs of a Great Marketer

What does it take to be a successful, passionate marketer?

A loud voice?

An extravagant character?

An immense passion for jumping on every stage and shining?

Not really.

When I applied to my first brand manager role for Coke in Belgium, this was mostly the core of the recruiter's feedback. I was on the wrong side of all these personality traits, so my career with the Coca-Cola company ended before it started. Thank you for that!

I believed then and still do now that a successful, passionate marketer is enthusiastic about 3 things: design, consumers, and change.

Design, consumers, and change

Ordinary people don’t want ads; they ignore them, block them, and pay as little attention as possible to them. We know that. But we also know they use our products. Maybe it's because of ...

Beautiful design can grab attention, artistic design can unlock emotions, and functional design can solve problems you didn't even think you had. Design is vital for passionate marketers. It concerns all areas of marketing, from packaging to product, experience to advertising, to what you wear on stage for your conference. Trust design, and make beautiful things!

Customers are people (in most categories); do you get them well? Do you know their behaviors beyond the attitudes they show? Do you oversimplify their natural complexities to segment them for your easy thinking process? The consumer is your wife, distant cousin, billionaire friend, or the person who irons your shirts. Get to know them better to better answer their needs. That's your job.

Change is inevitable in the world. It always was. Get ready to make plans and change plans every single day. Your target market is shifting, your stakeholders are changing their minds, your consumers are evolving, and you must know how to pivot. Elegantly adapting your execution to better deliver on the strategy is a requirement for successful marketers.

The rest will be easy-peasy if you are focused on design, consumers, and change.

You will shine on stage because your messages will be crisp, consumer-centric, and relevant to our times.

You will start talking about what you do with passion and expose your fascinating character.

You need to find that voice to accompany all that.

Good luck, introverted marketer; be passionate.