I’ve worked with some great Marketing Directors in my day. I have also worn many hats. I’ve been asked to see the brand objectives, the campaign goals or the design systems within many context and to extrapolate many scenarios. I know I am working with a great Marketing Director when all the moving parts have been put together. These are the qualities that are the hallmark of a great Marketing Director.
1. A Great Marketing Director Knows Their Audiences.
They know the differences between the audiences — their makeup, the things that drive them, the tone that inspires them and the behaviors that channel them. They know what the audience wants and they know that failure to give the audience what they want is not an option. They know that failure to inspire an audience ruins any chance for retention.
2. A Great Marketing Director Knows Their Brand.
And ideally, the brand is very well formed into a system of visuals and voice that bring something that is as lithe and adaptable as it is consistent and directional. They know that the brand is what inspires confidence and loyalty. They know that if the brand is not authentic, the audiences’ interest is not genuine either.
3.A Great Marketing Directory Knows The Audience Demand For, And The ROI Of, All The Channels.
Their mantra is ‘give them what they want, where and when they want it’. They know that the channels have different cultures, expectations and technical challenges and need to be treated accordingly. They know that segmentation is only as good as the information that drives it.
4. A Great Marketing Director Knows The Power Of An Image.
They know that the brand gets added dimension if a powerful image can describe something over words. They are info graphic geeks. They are photo connoisseurs. They don’t grab at stock photos and slap together tired metaphors, but rather, they are poet / philosopher and craft images that are imbued and painted with brand qualities – images that are crafted to be brand-owned.
5. A Great Marketing Director Is A Wordsmith Who Speaks Inside And Out.
They seek the parlance that the audience is using and they describe what they offer in those terms. However, they are not the hob-goblin of blind Search Engine dogma, but instead they find insight in keyword trends that have human meaning. Then they elevate the audience’s expectations by revealing something genuine from within the brand, something from the inside that was first given context from the outside – never the other way around. They can ask without asking, position without miss-stepping and promote without bragging.
6. A Great Marketing Director Is Driven By Data First, Instinct Second.
They are rational and drive their decisions from data, data and more data. Then they use their instincts to listen, to read between the lines and to find the brand heart in the facts, the opportunity in the most devilish of details — thus inspiring their team to act with confidence.
7. A Great Marketing Director Analyzes Performance, Tweaks And Repeats.
They track absolutely everything absolutely all of the time. They have crafted campaigns that have specific objectives that are therefore easy to qualify. They know that sometimes you have to throw something fresh at the wall and see what sticks. They are honest with themselves about the results and tweak accordingly. They follow this process and never stop.