Speaker Series
A series of conversations with Digital Media Marketers through GBC.
02/01/2021
In our first two speaker sessions we had the pleasure of speaking with Caroline Berryman, a digital marketer currently within lead strategic for the integrated marketing and communications for York Region working on the development, management and implementation processes and Cathy McKnight working out of TCA as VP of strategy and consulting. Both speakers have varying but extensive experience within the marketing field.
Caroline Berryman emphasized the importance of the agility of today’s marketer. Being able to adapt to changing marketing environments and strategies will allow today’s marketer to become successful in the field. Everything within this field is constantly changing whether it’s the actual platforms or the publics perceptions, we as marketers need to quickly adapt and pivot as needed. Caroline also highlighted the importance of partnerships when sharing brand messages, that allows for more potential brand awareness and shared ability to generate bigger ideas. We were able to take what Caroline said and put it into practice with a case study regarding road safety, following the planning process we were quickly able to see the social marketing thought process for this particular case. Every campaign and strategy is different and with this particular career path, Caroline is able to learn something new from each campaign as a marketer based on individual reactions and engagements to parts of the campaign/strategy. Throughout her career in this particular aspect of the field, she gets to learn a lot about customer behaviours and how they are constantly evolving based on reactions to messaging/campaigns.
As marketers we face resistance with changing behaviours because once individuals are set in their ways it’s difficult to break out of our conventional thinking. Marketers work to develop communications and campaigns but it is an always difficult task to trigger behaviours because it takes meticulous planning and consideration.
Caroline also brought to our attention the public vs private sector work. With private sector work it can be a bit more exhilarating considering its usually contract work and there’s uncertainty after the project. In this case it’ll keep the marketer on their toes to be looking for more work or securing a permanent position. Within a public sector there is more stability and consistency. As a marketer we can decide what fits our current career needs and work within which sector fits our skillset and needs. This is an important consideration when looking for a job because stability and consistency are sometimes major factors in our searches.
Cathy McKnight brought to our attention the scale of firms. While we all want to land a job within the marketing fields it’s important to note as Cathy mentioned, that size and culture of a company matter. With her vast experience in small and large scale firms she was able to give us an insight on the importance of truly enjoying who you’re working for. The size and scale of a company reflect their primary focuses and defining qualities and it’s important to join a team that you resonate with because it will ultimately help you grow as a marketer. Boutique agencies and large agencies place emphasis on different values. In a larger agency it may be more challenging to make your voice heard and jump on every project whereas in a boutique agency you may be able to oversee or join each project and learn about many different aspects of the job. In a larger agency you may be tasked with similar projects or jobs.
Though she mentions finding a team you are comfortable working with Cathy also mentioned her year of “yes” and that is, saying yes to doing things you are unfamiliar with or have never considered before. This will help us grow as marketers exposing us to different aspects of the field we may not otherwise encounter but it will ultimately help us grow as individuals, developing our own skill sets by challenging ourselves to say yes to things we normally wouldn’t say yes to, even finding jobs in our search that we previously wouldn’t consider. Cathy shared that she ideally likes to work for smaller companies and firms but has branched into the large scale firms as well. Sharing the possibilities for each scale we are able to see the contrast between them. Each situation with its own potential for growth.
Cathy also walked us through a case study providing us with a detailed description of outcomes based on the designated initiatives. This allowed us to understand how firms, brands and companies follow through a funnel creating strategies for their desired outcomes. Though she had the desire to work in a smaller firm she was led into larger firms throughout her career path and I believe that prepared her to work in any environment and with a variety of different people. She was able to understand the impact and values of the firms varying from small to large scale which helped her grow as a marketer. Having that year of “yes” or month or even day that Cathy mentioned, helped her grow as a person and marketer and ultimately allowed her to be able to expand her skillset within a variety of different situations and tasks.
Perhaps entering an unfamiliar field, we should all consider having a year of yes to get out of our comfort zones and see what we’re really capable of.
-G