“What’s your job, daddy?” When asked that
question, do you have an answer? Essentially, what’s the elevator pitch for
your job? And, as Denzel Washington says in “Philadelphia,” “Explain this to me
like I’m a six-year-old.”
A
laser-like, compelling answer to the essential question of “What do you do?”
has never been more important. I’m not going to quote grim statistics about the
current economic situation, but I think we can all see the value in being able
to clearly articulate why you should stay on (or be added to) the payroll.
The
testing-optimization cycle offers strong, numerical proof of your value to an
organization. After all, you’re essentially gaining metrics showing how you’ve
improved your company. But sometimes numbers aren’t enough.
And in
marketing, it can be difficult to clearly articulate what we do. This was
brought into stark contrast for me when I spoke at my daughter’s kindergarten
class on career day (the very definition of a tough crowd). It didn’t bother me
when the kids were clearly more impressed with the Navy aviator (as “Danger
Zone” played through my head), but when they were more impressed with (or at
least better understood) the podiatrist, well…that hurt worse than plantar
fasciitis.
Marketer,
sell thyself
One of
the most important products we will ever have to sell in our careers is
ourselves. Yet, it is also the most daunting. So here’s my idea for you
today…if you can sell a six-year-old, you can sell a CEO. To help prove your
value to your current or future company, I suggest you:
·
Determine how you help that organization
achieve its goals (your goals are meaningless) – for a
business, that’s probably a bottom-line number. For a nonprofit, making the
world a better place? The point is, goals you set for yourself (increase
word-of-mouth) are meaningless, you must show how they fit into goals that
really matter to the organization (increase word-of-mouth to drive an
incremental 10% growth in subscription revenue).
·
Back it up with hard evidence – That
hard evidence is likely a number. If you’re involved in the
testing-optimization cycle, this task will likely be easier. If not, hopefully
you’re measuring your performance in some other quantitative matter. Either
way, metrics matter. And presented correctly, they can be very compelling. And
now for that “and presented correctly” part…
·
Don’t waste their time –
Look, I’m a little sensitive to this last part because I’m currently hiring for
a few openings (if you know good people, point them to our careers page). If you’re trying to get a job
that involves marketing, show the hiring manager how well you market yourself.
If you have a job, you need to do a little internal selling. I know a manager
who would receive 30-page reports, and say, “I don’t need 30 pages. I don’t
have time for 30 pages. Give me one page that tells me everything I need to
know.”
To that
end, I present you this challenge – write a children’s book that describes your
job. Read it to a six-year-old you know. Gauge their reaction. Repeat. Refine.
It
seems like a crazy exercise, but children will freely share unfiltered
opinions, have zero patience, and you must grab their attention with something
shiny or you will lose them for good. Sound like any business leaders you know?
(hint, hint, shiny = profit)
In
addition, sharing the value of the career you’ve chosen to invest your life
energy in just flat out makes you a good dad/mom/uncle/aunt/etc. They’re young.
Give them those wide eyes. Show them that the future is bright. And illustrate
the value of hard work in an endeavor worth pursuing.
To help
you get started, I’ve tried this ridiculous exercise myself. I hope this helps
on your career journey. If not, at least you can print it out to your kids and
maybe they’ll finally understand exactly what it is you do, even if you’re not
a Navy pilot…or podiatrist.
THE BIG
TEST: LPO for little ones
Rebecca
and Liam work in Web marketing. While a carpenter has a hammer and a fireman
has a hose, their tool is called a website.
All
over the world, people can look at websites on computers. People in Miami and
Paris and Jerusalem and Tokyo can all look at the same website at the same
time.
But
people in Miami and Paris and Jerusalem and Tokyo might not all want the same
thing at the same time.
People
in Miami might want shorts.
While
people in Paris want big coats.
And
people in Jerusalem might want sunglasses.
While
people in Tokyo want umbrellas.
To help
discover what people in Miami and Paris and Jerusalem and Tokyo want on a
website, Rebecca and Liam give tests.
Like a
book, a website is made up of many pages. Tomorrow, Rebecca and Liam were going
to run a test for people in Miami and people in Jerusalem. They had two pages
to test… “A” and “B.”
“A” had
been on the website for a year. “A” was very proud. People all over the world
had read “A.”
“B” had
never been on the website before. “B” was very excited. This was the first
chance for “B.”
When
“A” and “B” heard about the test, they were very nervous. Neither one of them
had taken a test before.
So they
went to Old Man Homepage. Old Man Homepage was the oldest page on the website.
“What if we don’t know the answers?” “A” asked. “How can we study?” “B” wanted
to know.
Old Man
Homepage laughed when he heard the questions. “Oh, little pages, it’s not that
kind of test. They just want to know what different people like. Just be
yourself and you’ll do fine.”
“A” and
“B” couldn’t sleep all night. They were still worried. But Old Man Homepage
said he had been through many tests, and it only made him better and stronger.
When
the big test day arrived, nothing really seemed different. Or felt different.
“A” and “B” just went about their day as they usually did. And the next. And
the next.
At the
end of the week, they learned that they had finished the tests and the results
were ready. They were surprised. They hadn’t felt a thing.
You
see, they didn’t even know they were being tested. They had just gone through
their day, greeting people from all over the world. And telling them what they
had to tell the best they could. As Old Man Homepage had said, they were just
being themselves.
Rebecca
and Liam told “A” and “B” that they both did very well on the tests. So well,
in fact, that they both won. And they both could stay on the website.
“People
in Miami learn better from you, ‘B,’” Liam said. “But people in Jerusalem learn
better from you, ‘A,’” Rebecca said. “So you will both stay on the website. And
the people from Miami will read only ‘B,’ and the people in Jerusalem will read
only ‘A.’”
And so
it was. For many years, “A” happily served his fans in Jerusalem. And “B”
happily served his in Miami. And the people in Miami were happy and got to read
about their shorts. And the people in Jerusalem got to read about their
sunglasses.
Special
thanks to our very own Austin McCraw for help me write the above “children’s
book.” Hey, it’s not an easy exercise. Ask for help if you need it.
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