Back in 2014 I worked at HubSpot. My job was to launch (and run) their very first podcast called The Growth Show. I was the producer, Mike Volpe the CMO was the host, and my boss was Joe Chernov (now CMO at Pendo). Working at HubSpot was a career changing opportunity for me because I got directly exposed to two seasoned marketing execs. At HubSpot the marketing team was great at setting measurable goals and systems to get there. Prior to that point in my 27 years on planet earth, I had no idea how to really do marketing and set goals. I had just been kind of sputtering along in my previous jobs. In my second week at work, Joe asked me “so what goal should we set for the podcast this year?” Young and inexperienced me said … “Uhh… well … we should put out a good episode every week.” Joe said that’s not a goal. We need to set a real goal. Something that is measurable. Something that ties back to the business. He eventually walked me through what a good goal looks like, and we landed on something big and ambitious, but also measurable: create a top 10 business podcast on iTunes in our first year. And guess what: we did it. Because that goal acted like a magnet. It pulled me in the right direction. It set the right guardrails for what we needed to do with the podcast vs. “record one episode a week this year.” From Joe I learned how to set goals and - most importantly - manage up. Each week I would show up to our 1:1 and he’s said “so what do you want to talk about this week?” At first I had nothing. And then I realized what he was doing … this was not his meeting to run. This was MY meeting. I needed to be more prepared. I needed to have notes. Have an agenda. At first I thought Joe was very hands off … but then I realized exactly why he was like that: he threw me into the deep end to see if I could swim. You have to learn this. Once you do it makes everything easier. If you’re going to hire smart and hungry people you need actually let them go do their thing. Joe did exactly that. As a manager I still have micro-manager tendencies that I have to constantly beat down. But I often try to remember that experience with Joe. By giving me freedom he taught me how to work. And I hope this story leaves you with something to think about this week. I thought I’d pair this little rant with my list of 10 things that will help you grow in your career in marketing faster.
- Own a number that ties directly back to revenue. Don’t hide from this. Go signup for it.
- Solve problems - even if you didn’t start them. People want to work with the problem solver.
- Manage up. The more of your boss’s job you can do the better. Set the agenda. You drive. She helps.
- Get good at internal marketing. If you can’t get the attention and respect of the people inside your company, you won’t be able to get it from customers. See last week’s email for more on this.
- Figure out how to get things done. Doesn’t matter if it’s not your team, not your job, or there’s no budget.
- See problems before they are problems and present a plan for how the team can get ahead of it.
- Don’t complain or gossip down and around. Need to vent? Have something to get off your chest? Do it privately with your boss and come up with a plan to share broadly if needed.
- Become a magnet. For people that want to come work with you (external) and for people internally. Be the person every team wants to work with when stuff gets challenging.
- Find peers. Don’t live in your company bubble. Find peers and seek benchmarks from others that can help give an outside perspective to your work.
- Join Exit Fiveif you haven’t already. This is exactly why we’re building this business. To help you be successful in B2B marketing, even if you don’t have a guide inside of your company.
Hope you are having a productive week at work. - Dave P.S. Reply back and let me know what your #1 tip has been for growing in your career. What’s been the biggest unlock? We all read the replies here so send us a note back. What’s something you wish you knew then?? |
