Digital Marketers: 3 Tips on How to Maximize Your Full-Stack Marketing Potential

As CMOs are increasingly expected to prove the ROI of marketing spend, the need for full-stack or hybrid marketers who can fill the gaps in marketing technology to deliver results to the bottom line is immense. As a digital marketer and a graduate student in the Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, I have found two articles that will help you maximize your potential as a full-stack marketer and navigate the rough seas of today's dynamic media environment.

Article 1 - “Why ‘Full Stack’ Marketers are the Future of Digital Branding” by Rishon Roberts

Roberts writes about how “full-stack” marketers are becoming an essential part of start-up culture, just as full-stack developers are writing code in multiple languages. She attributes the rise of the full-stack marketer to the need to measure marketing programs and quantify success. She also makes a good point that younger generations, such as Gen Y and Millennials, enter the workforce with the “start-up” mentality and expect the work environment to satisfy their desire to influence and learn. Therefore, larger companies will need to adapt to accommodate the younger workforce.

Read the article on Fast Company.

Article 2 - “Full Stack Marketing is a Waste of Time” by Cody Boyte

In this article, Boyte tells his personal story of how his goal, when he started marketing, was to be a full-stack marketer. Boyte examines the definitions of being a “full-stack” marketer and why it’s better to find your “circle of competence,” what you do best and find out how to use your skills to your advantage. He also cautions against trying to be the Jack-of-all-trades and the master of none, which he equates with the self-proclaimed “full-stack” marketer.

Read the article on Medium.

Next Steps: 3 Tips

1. Keep Learning

2. Find Your Circle of Competence

3. Delegate

As a digital storyteller and technology marketer, I am very passionate about learning and constantly try to add to my digital toolbox. My advice? Determine your circle of competence, areas of interests and the projects that will give you the greatest upward mobility on your career path. That's how you'll succeed at full-stack marketing.

About the Author
Trish Chan leads the Digital team at Vendavo, an enterprise price optimization software firm in Silicon Valley. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s in English and Communications Studies from the University of Maryland.


Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Marketing Metrics that Will Help You Keep Your Job

As a senior marketing manager, the metrics that you choose to measure, analyze and report to your CEO and CFO will have a big impact the size of your marketing budget, the stability of your job and the influence your team will have on the strategy of your organization. As a graduate marketing student in the Northwestern University Medill Integrated Marketing Communications program, I have sought to identify some of the key metrics that you should be tracking and utilizing to improve the performance of your marketing organization.
 

http://techkik.com/

In his article “The Most Important Marketing Metrics” on B2B Marketing Insider, Michael Brenner outlines several key marketing metrics that every senior marketing manager should be using to run their business. He argues that if you get just one metric to present to your CEO and CFO, it should be Return on Marketing Investment, also known as ROMI. This metric calculates your company’s financial return on marketing investments, and it’s often helpful to break down your marketing by activities or channels and identify what brings the most return for your investment. In a future post we’ll delve into a few more key metrics to consider for your organization.

If you want to understand the math behind the metrics, or need to educate members of your staff who will be responsible for collecting and analyzing these metrics for you, then I recommend you check out “A Simple Explanation of the Math Behind 7 Common Marketing Metrics”, written by Ryan Ghods and published on the Hubspot website. He argues that whatever role you play in the marketing world, it’s becoming increasingly important that you have an understanding of—and level of comfort with—the math behind the metrics you cite every month.

Based on my experience and research, there are three actions that I recommend you take as you incorporate marketing metrics into your organization:

1.     Identify metrics for survival—Identify the key marketing metrics to track and report to the C-suite so that you can improve your marketing results and keep your job.

2.     Understand the numbers behind the numbers—Understand the math behind the metrics so that you can calculate them with confidence and ease.

3.     Make the numbers count—Confidently interpret the meaning and relevance of the metrics and be able to discuss the strategic implications with C-suite executives.

Today more than ever, it’s critical that you understand the impact of each marketing investment on your organization. If you can’t confidently identify and measure which aspects of your marketing deliver financial returns for your company, then your credibility and influence will suffer. Not to mention your career. 

What metrics do you track to improve the performance of your marketing efforts? Which metrics have been the most helpful in improving your business?

 

About Scott Knudsen 

Scott Knudsen is Director of Brand Strategy & Project Management for Murray Brand Communications, a San Francisco-based marketing services firm. He is also a graduate student in the Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School. He focuses on a customer-centric, data-driven integrated approach to marketing communications that combines marketing analytics with strategy. You can reach him with questions or comments on Twitter @ScottKnudsen