Why hire a journalist in marketing: When I, Lauren, first joined AmbitionABM last year, I had next to no experience in marketing, let alone ABM!
No experience in running a small business, dealing with enterprise clients or anything related to the corporate world. I was a first-class Journalism graduate with a 6-month magazine internship and several years of retail experience to my resume.
On paper, it shouldn’t have worked. Why should I have been selected to work as an ABM marketing executive?
However, after over a year of working here at Ambition ABM, I have realised that I had more marketing potential than I thought. I had certain journalistic qualities that were actually rather valuable to a marketing role. Whilst my previous experience didn’t exactly scream ‘marketing prodigy’, it’s actually made me think more about the journalism skills I have found transferrable to marketing.
- Attention to detail: As a journalist, we are told to be thorough and ensure that we capture as much detail as possible, even the smallest and most difficult to find. This attention to detail is critical for marketing as well and has transferred over into many of my daily tasks, whether I’m proofreading an eBook or writing a campaign brief for one of our creatives- or even writing a blog!
- Timeliness: In ABM, we may be working with an RFP on the table, or we may have a client with a quick turnaround project. Deadlines at times can be stringent but having learned to turn news articles or videos around within a matter of hours, I have adapted to working to stricter deadlines and managing my time effectively to ensure all deliverables are completed on time for our clients.
- Organisation: As well as time management, working effectively with a team is key. Whilst I may not be with a team of news editors and reporters, I am collaborating with a plethora of ABM strategists, copywriters, and graphic designers.Project plans have become second nature for me, as I produce and monitor them regularly to guarantee that key milestones and tasks are being met at every stage of the programme.
- Impartiality: As journalists, it’s important to not stay biased to one side of a story. In fact, it’s often encouraged to practice looking at both sides and perhaps seeing things from a different angle.With ABM, whether researching on an account for a workshop, or hosting a discovery call, it has been insightful to look at an account from a completely new perspective. If anything, this has helped to deliver more unique, memorable, and relevant messaging for our clients.
- Good communication skills: Whether hosting a workshop, catching up on a regular cadence meeting or simply communicating over email, strong interpersonal skills are vital for an effective marketer.I understand how to communicate appropriately and professionally to clients, and I can adapt my tone of voice to who I am speaking to, jumping from creative resources to account managers.
Yet, whilst I did have all of these skills, it was clear that as someone new to ABM, I wasn’t going to pick everything up immediately.
Over the last year, I have made my fair share of mistakes and mishaps, however I have taken each one as a learning curve and used them to better my performance as a marketer. Whether that’s developing my skills to build out more robust campaign briefs or to learn more about the finances within an agency, so I can quote better and more confidently.
Even now, I’m still learning- and I’m still likely to make a few more mistakes along the way!
In many ways, one thing that has kept me thinking over the last year, is that I have this journalism qualification: but why have I stuck to marketing? What is it about ABM and marketing in general that has left me pursuing a different career path to the one I originally envisioned for myself?
It’s a number of different reasons.
Not only have I found myself amongst a brilliant team of marketing and ABM experts who have taught me (and continued to teach and support me) so many invaluable marketing and versatile skills.
But no two days in marketing are the same. As are the accounts and clients we work with. It’s been exciting to get stuck into video production and graphic design, as well as copywriting and social media for a plethora of technology accounts that span across all industries.
I enjoy a job with an everchanging nature and working as a marketing executive here at AmbitionABM, has done exactly that. I know this experience has opened up more doors and opportunity for me and has enabled me to think more about the career I want to take: a marketing one!
So, perhaps the next time you are opening up a new position in a junior marketing role, perhaps consider someone outside of the typical ‘marketing’ graduate persona and look for someone with some more transferrable qualities- you may just surprise yourself!
