Breaking down the adaptable skills barrier

Have you ever experienced bias towards industry background as the most important aspect of being able to achieve success?

It’s the idea that one is only capable of marketing a brand player within a given industry vertical, if one has knowledge in that industry.

There are points within organisational systems where this concept holds.  For example sales, right at the spout end of the funnel, via account management and representation, and especially in a B2B context at least, is one that stands out.

For most others however and especially marketing, it’s a flawed notion and it beggars belief that it even exists at all.

Let me try to illustrate why.

I recently built a deck.  It was a pretty big project and if traded out would’ve been a five-figure job.

Time wasn’t a factor so I decided to tackle the job myself.  It’s only the second time that I’ve done anything significant in home renovation or improvement (other than painting), which says something about my experience.

Proof positive of the successful finished result were comments from tradie friends that if they didn’t already know, they’d have said it was a pro job. 

That’s as far as I’ll go bragging because the point is that I have no formal training or any length of experience in building and construction, though I was able to build a very nice deck. 

What I do have is a set of base skills and because of far more experience in applying those on another vertical, I was able to adapt them to the job at hand and succeed.

Where did I learn these skills and what are they?

Before I entered an age with two digits, I’d fallen in love with cars and before long I knew I wanted to be a participant, working on them, rather than just a spectator or enthusiast.

I’d spend school holidays at my dad’s garage, filling cars, checking oil and tyres, learning the mechanics, how to use the tools and even doing the odd lube, coached and counselled (if that’s what you’d call it) by the full-time mechanics. At home, I read car books and magazines. Manuals on rebuilding engines, gearboxes, doing bodywork, paint and the like are where I gathered information and knowledge.

I bought my first project car as soon as I had enough money saved up, well before an age I could actually drive, started buying tools, parts and materials, applied what I was learning and restored it.  

It was an OK first effort.  I sold it, then bought another and have repeated that cycle over and over to this day, improving with each and every one.  I had a keen interest in making cars go faster and look better than stock, so on top of rejuvenation, modifying is where most attention went, which was another layer of more advanced learning again. 

Eventually, I started an apprenticeship as a mechanic, trained formally and worked at that for two years.  However it was the artistry, creative expression and beauty of the bodywork and paint department where I really wanted to be, inspired by the greats of the American 50s and 60s hot rod and custom scene. 

Without going into a lengthier, potentially boring and definitely off-topic story, that hasn’t happened.  Yet, but I digress.

The point of detailing this is to illustrate how I learned, applied, failed, fine-tuned and improved at the base skills of car craft.

The simplest way to define them is:

A)  Knowing what the components, tools and resources are, and how to use them,

B)  Knowing what the techniques are,

C)  Knowing which tool, resource and technique is needed when.

Returning to the deck I just finished and again despite having no experience, I had the base concepts, skills of using tools, citing lines, measuring, knowing how to shape, cut and form components and to fix one to another to make a whole. 

Those skills came from my love of cars, wanting to lubricate this with my own blood, sweat and tears, as well as a life taught to value manual skills, if not to make a living at the very least to be able to make, fix and maintain things.

So, whether reviving and restoring a car or building a deck, which on face value are very different kinds of things, the core concepts, frameworks, tools and techniques are the same.

They’re what you’ve heard referred to as transferable skills.  Personally, I prefer the term adaptable skills.  For me at least, it’s more illuminating and creative than the purely transactional notion of “transferable”.

What does this have to do with business and especially marketing?

I am passionate about big ‘M’ Marketing, which is marketing led by Marketers who are qualified, skilled and experienced.

In simple terms a market is defined as somewhere parties engage in an exchange. That established, it follows that marketing is literally all activities involved to win in a market and spelled with a big ‘M’, are the deliberate actions of qualified, skilled and experienced Marketers.

I also believe (unsurprisingly) that Marketing is the one function of organisational economic achievement that supports, flows through and binds every other one in the system, whether it’s enterprise for or not for profit, government or personal business.

That’s not intended to diminish any other function.  An organisation requires many functions to accept, count and distribute the chips to achieve sustainable economic success.  Absent Marketing however and what it’s responsible for in the system (the 4Ps), would there be chips to count?

When I embarked on my Marketing career, I sought to learn as much as I could and read voraciously on the subject.  I worked at it, earning skills and experience along the way.  Early on though, as I had when pursuing a career rejuvenating cars, I believed it was important to expand my knowledge and earn qualification. 

I studied for and received a MBA in Marketing.  During those years, I read many a case study across a broad range of topics, industries and situations, the purpose of which each are to inform, apply, agitate thought and educate about the theory and tools of the course topic.

The situations, environments and timelines highlighted were secondary.  Surrogate experiences, if you like, because the primary purpose was to demonstrate the application of skills and knowledge being taught.

Since then I’m proud to have executed my craft and led many successful Marketing strategies and campaigns, and I believe that I’ve qualified to say I’m a big ‘M’ Marketer.

Which brings me to the whole point of this and that is Marketing skills, with all of the tools, techniques and experiences involved in its functional role are also adaptable skills.

There is no conceptual difference between the skills I learnt on cars and those applied to building a deck, and it follows, marketing.

Put another way, no matter what the widget, where or how it’s traded (product or service, business or consumer market, profit or not for profit, and so on), skills learned and earned, tools and techniques applied, and experiences gained in one can be applied to another.

They're adaptable and always present.

When it comes to marketing, base skills and functions that are universally applicable include segmenting, targeting and positioning (the STP school of Marketing) to devise a strategy, assess tactics, channels, methods of communication, monitoring and measuring, to name a few.

Referring back to the beginning of this article these are, amongst others, the A, B and C list of knowledge, tools, techniques, how and when to apply them.

When it all boils down, in my opinion Marketing is an art form, which at its core attempts to influence behaviour and attract the invited (customer) to the inviter (brand) in a given market.

And that’s why I believe that a big ‘M’ Marketer, with skills, qualification and experience will always deliver more strategic value and better outcomes, because of these adaptable skills, irrespective of the vertical in which they might’ve gained them.  

It’s even arguable that outside of the vertical experience, unbridled by bias that may already exist within the cohort, is even more valuable, especially where a brand is seeking courageous, authentic, transformational change.

* David is an accomplished senior marketing leader with over 15 years experience leading the creation, design and management of integrated marketing and communications strategy. 

With experience in verticals and brands that include consumer products and services (retail and trade), automotive, motorsport, transportation and entertainment, David lays claim to a strong record of achievement as a strategy-focused marketing and communications team leader and mentor. 

Invite, Entertain, Interact, Experience, Engage, Motivate is David's mark and the ties that bind his MO for delivering his marketing craft.