Excelling as a Five Tool Marketer
| As a human being, I’m naturally driven to master the skills I practice on a daily basis. Whether it’s improving the effectiveness of my writing, developing my proficiency with Photoshop or running a bit faster during my workout, I strive to reach a level of expertise with everything I do. It’s a combination of my own curiosity and innate ambition to succeed. | + | As a marketer, I’m accustomed to wearing many hats. I frequently switch gears between creative and analytical thinking to solve business problems. I write blog posts and press releases, develop business plans, conduct SEO audits, communicate with clients, design landing pages, film video, code websites–the list goes on. | = | So as a marketer that’s human (the latter which sounds like a prerequisite but is an absolute necessity nowadays), I’m naturally driven to reach a level of expertise with a whole host of different skills. But, reaching that level takes time. If Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule (the amount of time it takes to succeed with a certain trade) is spot on (which I think it is), then it’s going to take quite a while to master all the skills I practice. |
Okay, let’s shift gears to baseball for a moment.
If you’re a fan of the pastime, you may have picked up on the subtle statistical reference in the title of this blog post. For those unaware of what I’m hinting at, a “Five Tool” baseball player is an athlete who excels at:
- Hitting for average (i.e. lots of hits)
- Hitting for power (i.e. home runs)
- Baserunning skills and speed (i.e. stolen bases)
- Throwing abilities (strong throwing arm)
- Fielding abilities (little to no fielding errors)
Five tool baseball players are highly sought after for their versatility and cumulative value. Willie Mays (left), Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols and (gasp) A. Rod are all considered five tool players. Notice that these players don’t need to be the best at their abilities–they just need to excel.
Now let’s shift back to marketing. As I mentioned before, marketers like myself struggle to fully master all the skills we practice because of (a) their variety/amount and (b) the large chunk of time required to reach a level of expertise for each. But instead of perceiving this as a downside, a marketer can be defined much like a five tool baseball player— and as a result, highly valued. Here’s how.
A five tool marketer is a human who excels at:
- Creating Content: Likes making things. Likes building things. Loves showing off said things.
- Why it’s valuable: Content is king in today’s marketplace. Knowing how to create valuable, effective content is a highly important skill for today’s marketer.
- Being Creative Minded: Lives for the light-bulb moment and gets excited when it illuminates.
- Why it’s valuable: Jumping on the bandwagon is easy. Driving it? Not so much. But those with a license to drive will take you far.
- Analytical Thinking: Can derive actionable insight from numbers and does so with gusto.
- Why it’s valuable: Discovering and understanding what the numbers are telling you creates a foundation for directed thinking. Valuable? Yes.
- Remaining Current: Likes being digital, is active on the channels and as a result, knows it inside out.
- Why it’s valuable: You can have the most creative cold-calling pitch ever, but it’s probably not going to work in today’s business environment. Digital is hot and it makes sense. Use it.
- Staying Hungry: Not in the literal sense. Has an appetite to learn about the latest developments and is motivated to be a part of it.
- Why it’s valuable: There’s always something to learn, whether from someone with experience or through your own efforts. Actively embracing this concept will give you alternative perspectives and more food for thought. No pun intended.
Mastering three or four of these skills would craft a pretty decent marketer– but what you really want is to be able to successfully demonstrate all of them. Much like the five-tool baseball player, a five-tool marketer can provide serious value by effectively excelling at a variety of skills. Now, only if we had similar salaries…
What other tools should a marketer focus on? Did I miss any?
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