The Agency Marketer's Guide To Career Development

The Agency Marketer’s
- Guide to -
Career Development

Most of the marketers I have met over the years have been hugely passionate about what
they do. And having been one myself for 15 years, I am the same. I will always think like a
marketer. I will always make sure I take the time to understand my audience. I will always
look for new ways to reach out and talk to them. I will always make sure that I get a
return on my marketing investments, and most of all. I will always get a kick out of seeing
how impactful good marketing is. It just always is.
Whether you’re a young agency marketer just starting out in the world, or more senior
but feeling unsettled, I hope that this guide will be of use. It’s a summary of all the great
things I learned through the years.
If you’re an in-house marketer, I hope there’s still a lot you can learn from this guide. I am
currently working on an in-house marketer’s guide to career development, so watch this
space (or give me a call if you’d like to collaborate on it).
Best wishes,
Jo Wassell
+44(0)1525290870
jo.wassell@invokerecruitment.com

Table of Content
1
AGENCY
VS. in-house (p.1)
The in-house marketer
The agency-side marketer
2
A few different things
Should you make a move?
4
Being a marketing generalist
Being a marketing specialist
6
HOW
8
Interview
B2b or b2c marketing? (p.4)
Which is better, business marketing
or consumer marketing?
A lot in common
Are you a marketing
generalisT or specialist? (p.12)
It’s time to
market yourself (p.17)
How to make an introduction
re:charge (p.24)
Seven surefire steps to take to
ensure you’re as best prepared as
can be for that big moment…
9
Advice
for settling into your
new agency marketing role (p.27)
3
which agency role
suits you best? (p.7)
Account management
Art direction and design
Planning and content
Web development
Video and animation
Business development
5 Should you stay at your current
agency for the long haul?
7
to work with
your recruitment
consultant (p.21)
A guide to building the
two-way relationship
- Grow your network in an instant
- Invest your time – it’ll be worth it
- Valuable advice
- Keep front of mind
SHOULD I STAY OR
SHOULD I LEAVE? (p.14)
Should you move to upskill?

Chapter 1
agency VS in-house
1

Whether you’re part of an in-house marketing team, or work for a marketing agency,
great marketing is great marketing.
Both sides are working toward the same goal. Both understand the power of a great
campaign. And both are passionate about marketing and lead generation.
But all marketing environments are not equal. The team, environment and
performance metrics differ depending which side of the fence you’re on. Of course,
working on both sides is very valuable and adds real depth to your experience, but
the roles vary quite dramatically, and so do the people who inhabit them…
the in-house marketer
This job requires in-depth knowledge and understanding of your business and
its products and services. In particular, you need to be strong enough to get the
information you need out of people who often don’t understand or care about
marketing.
It helps that in-house marketers have direct contact with senior internal stakeholders
and decision makers, and the sales and product teams are only ever a few steps away.
But it’s maintaining strong relationships with these (sometimes prickly) stakeholders
that’s the real challenge. You certainly need to be able to win friends and influence
people if you are to succeed in-house.
The in-house marketing team is responsible for working out which markets to go after
and how best to position the business and its offerings within those markets. You
are the gatekeepers of the brand. You’ll need to work closely with the sales team all
the time, to ensure that what you produce is what they need – and then you need to
make sure that they use it properly.
It’s your job to translate technical features into hard business benefits – an important
job if your role is in a technology company. The ability to demystify the “tech speak”
and look at everything from the point of view of your customer and how your
solutions will help grow their business, is paramount.
On top of all that, you need to prove your worth. Have you delivered on your
commitments? Are your campaigns generating sufficient leads and return on
investment? Can the sales team feel the impact of your work? Are they seeing the
value that marketing brings?
The sad truth is that marketing is often an overlooked and undervalued part of the
business. Do you have the strength and strategic capabilities to turn it around?
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the agency-side marketer
The marketing agency is often seen as the fresh, creative, fast-paced alternative for
people who are passionate about pure marketing. You can learn a lot quickly, meet
lots of people and win awards. To be effective, you need to function as an outsourced
marketing team for your client. You need to understand their proposition just as well,
if not better, than they do.
Sticking to tight budgets and getting the rest of the team to deliver high-quality work
to a tight deadline is what agency work is all about. And when it goes wrong (which
it will every now and then), it’s your job to explain overruns and missed deadlines to
the client – which makes relationship-building key. You need to be able to have honest
conversations with your clients around budgets, timeframes and what’s doable and
what’s not.
And if you think everyone works in harmony within an agency, think again! Things can
get sticky very quickly when managing copywriters, designers, web developers and
junior account managers, especially when they disagree with each other or the client.
Getting the client to create a clear, well-thought-out brief for these teams to work to
is vital if you want to avoid pain further down the line.
It’s also worth remembering that agencies charge by the hour, so if a particular job
has five hours allocated to it, you need to get it done in five hours. This can be a
challenge if you consider yourself a perfectionist or if you prefer to work slowly or
discuss things in great detail before starting the work. You need to be able to make
decisions quickly, using the information you have, and then execute flawlessly.
Agency-side marketers are measured on client satisfaction scores, campaign quality,
team leadership ability and campaign success.
It’s a tricky role that requires a strong backbone and good plate-juggling skills. Are you
a curious multitasker with a knack for teamwork and tight deadlines?
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Chapter 2
B2B or B2C
Marketing?
4

Which is better, business marketing or consumer marketing?
The age-old debate of consumer marketing vs. business marketing continues. But
is one really better suited to certain personality types or is it simply a case of the
grass always looking greener on the other side? We often get asked these types
of questions, so we decided to interview some senior creative and marketing
professionals who have worked on both sides of the marketing fence. Here’s what
they told us.
a lot in common
Everyone we interviewed felt that the foundations of the job are the same, no matter
where you work as a marketer. You need to know your target audience inside-out and
be able to empathise with them. You need to be able to work with all sorts of people.
You need to be creative enough to develop a campaign idea, and you need to be
practical enough to bring it to life and deliver it seamlessly.
If you are a ‘creative’ (i.e. a writer or designer) you need to be a great storyteller
(verbally or visually). If you are a marketer, planner or strategist, you need to be able
to uncover customer pain points, needs and desires.
In all cases you need to be able to talk to your customers in a way that resonates
with them. And in all cases, you need to be able to prove that what you are doing is
working.
a few different things
You might not think that B2B marketing is as creative as B2C marketing, and in some
ways this is true. B2C marketing allows you to have a bit more fun and jump on
current trends. You can be be light-hearted and silly. But B2B can be all of these things
too – in fact, some of the best B2B marketing is.
Most of the people we interviewed believed that B2B marketing requires just as
much creativity as B2C does, because you’re working within tighter boundaries.
Unfortunately though, B2B companies are often too risk-averse to give wildly creative
ideas the go-ahead. It’s up to the leaders of the team or agency to decide how much
they want to push things.
B2B marketing is much more content driven, as you have to convince a number of
decision makers, budget holders, influencers and end users who are often all involved
in a single purchasing decision.
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should you make a move?
If you’re considering moving from B2B to B2C marketing or vice versa, our advice
would be to find out as much about the new role as possible and talk to someone
who has worked on both sides (we can put you in touch with people who have), and
then, if you’re still keen, jump in and go for it!
If you are good at what you do and passionate about marketing, you should be
fine anywhere. That said, moving from B2C to B2B often requires an aptitude for
understanding and ‘translating’ technical product information. It’s up to you find the
right company and then to connect and interact with your new team.
You might find that the chasm isn’t as wide or as deep as it’s made out to be.
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Chapter 3
Which agency role
suits you best?
7

Whether you’re new to agency life, or have worked in agencies for years, you may
well have moments where you wonder if you’re in the best role for you.
Perhaps life as a planner seems more up your street, or you’re secretly jealous of the
web developers. Maybe you’re a copywriter who would be much better suited to
project planning and account management. You can never be sure until you’ve walked
in the shoes of someone in that role.
So, here we’ve done the next best thing and pulled together the typical tasks required
in the most common marketing roles, and the skills that are vital to succeeding in
each one
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
This role involves a lot of plate spinning,
so you must be organised, detail-oriented,
cope well under pressure and work well
in a team. You’re the bridge between your
creative team and the client, so must be able
to clearly translate what the client wants.
You’re also responsible for bringing projects
in on time, on budget and to a high quality.
Bravery is required! You must be able to tell
people who aren’t performing and be honest
with clients when things aren’t going well.
And you must be prepared to work late and
motivate the team during tough projects.
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ART DIRECTION + DESIGN
This role is about more than just good drawing!
You need to be well versed in Photoshop and
InDesign. As an art director you need the ability
to think laterally, multi-task and you need a good
understanding of the role of copy. You need a strong
grasp of marketing strategy and how a concept can
become an actionable campaign. But it’s not always
a glamourous role! For designers in particular, your
role can span from designing banner ads and emails,
right through to a hefty 50-page PDF…
PLANNING + CONTENT
Planning and content
is critical – often
these departments
know more about
the product,
audience and market
than the client!
Good planners need to be prepared to do
a lot of research – from the competition to
the audience. this research which will shape
the entire campaign and the messaging.
The output of all this research is what then
feeds into the content, which is where good
copywriters come in… and being a good
copywriter takes more than a good grasp of
grammar! You must be able to write well,
and wrote to sell.
As a copywriter you
must have a strong
understanding of tone
of voice for each client.
Be able to write to
reflect the brand. And
be able to simplify
complex messages in an
engaging way.
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WEB DEVELOPMENT
Are you interested in what it takes to build websites,
microsites, and even mobile apps? Then this might
be a route for you. But it goes beyond the ability
to code. You need to have a good grasp of user
journeys and what makes a good online or mobile
app experience. You need to understand mobile
optimisation, cross-platform functionality and how
to make a website or app responsive. It’s no walk
in the park, but once you have built up the skills,
you have a world of opportunity at your feet. You’ll
need a lot of patience and the ability to work to
tight deadlines – but it’s worth it.
VIDEO + ANIMATION
The rise in digital and content
marketing is seeing a huge
increase in video. A range of
skills are needed here, from
camera operating, to postproduction
and animation or
computer graphics.
It’s a time-intensive role – be
ready for early starts, lots of
traveling to on-location shoots
and working late to render
footage. But it’s a creative and
rewarding role, and with a
wealth of opportunity unlikely
to run dry.
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usiness development
A great role for the talkers!
If you’re already a senior account director
and looking for the next role, this could
be one for you. You must know your
business inside out, as ultimately this is a
sales role for your agency – often leading
new business pitch campaigns and RFPs.
Be prepared to work late and keep a lot
of plates spinning! And you’ll need to be
confident in fostering strong relationships
and hitting ever increasing targets.
Stressful, exciting, but hugely
rewarding when you see your
business revenue starts to rise…
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Chapter 4
Are you a marketing
generalist or specialist?
12

You may have noticed the increase in marketing roles looking for specialist digital,
social media or programmatic skills. This is a great opportunity, but day to day I
meet people – both new and old to the industry – who are worried about what this
shift means for them. So, I wanted to set out just how you can take advantage of
this evolution in marketing, and help you understand how you can take hold of this
opportunity to grow your career – not just vertically, but horizontally too.
being a marketing specialist
A specialist marketer goes beyond simply knowing the trade inside and out.
A specialist marketer is one who has a strong understanding of, and can be deemed
an expert, in areas such as:
· Marketing automation
· Programmatic advertising
· Digital project management
· Digital user experience
· Social media
· Experiential
You will be the go-to person in this field, having built a strong portfolio for a segment
that is a vital component in modern marketing campaigns. If you have a particular
passion for any one of these areas, it is easy to carve out a niche for yourself.
Firstly, you need to read. Follow blogs, industry news sites, social media and read
books in your spare time. Attend events and conferences. Regularly share useful
information on the subject to relevant people in your agency, or on your own LinkedIn
and social media sites, so people organically start to see you as an expert in that area.
You may worry that being a marketing specialist will limit your career growth to a
degree – i.e. to be an Associate Director or a partner in an agency you need to have
a high level of expertise across the board. But this is not the case, as more often
than not when I’m asked to recruit for even ‘generalist’ marketing roles, I’m asked to
source someone who has good digital know-how, or other similar modern skillsets.
You can carry on your marketing career progression, with your specialism as an offshoot.
If you become really successful in your specialism, you could pitch to create
your own sub-department within your agency if it is proving profitable, or even start
up on your own. To talk through your particular skillsets or development areas, and
discuss how you can shape your career and make yourself even more valuable to the
modern agency, just ping me an email.
We can talk through your goals and inspirations, and scope out a development plan
to get you there.
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Chapter 5
should you stay
or should you leave?
14

The recent CIM Marketing Salary Survey has caused a bit of a stir in the industry
(this article provides a great summary of the findings).
Aside from the worrying gender gap in terms of pay, what I found interesting is how
often people are moving around. Nearly half of the survey’s respondents said that
they had been in their current job for less than two years, a fifth changed jobs in the
last year, and 44% said they were actively looking to change jobs in the next year.
While I haven’t seen such a widespread desire to change roles so often, I can attest
to the fact that employees are no longer at the beck and call of their employer. They
understand their worth and want to be recognised and compensated accordingly.
They also understand that the industry is evolving quickly, and that they need to
constantly be learning new digital skills if they’re to increase their value.
It’s a great sign of a healthy job market – employees are able to take control of their
careers, and employers benefit from passionate, engaged employees, even if only for
a couple of years.
Are you a mover?
If you’re planning on moving around until you find the perfect role, then you need to
be prepared to explain your lack of commitment to potential employers. Being able to
measure your impact, even over a short space of time, will be crucial, as will showing
how your diverse experience has taught you some valuable skills that you would not
otherwise have picked up.
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Or should you stay?
It isn’t always necessary to leave your current job to get a pay rise or to learn new
skills. You might be surprised at how willing your manager is to help you reach your
goals.
Let your manager know how you feel about things, and where you’d like to be –
even if that’s in a role that doesn’t currently exist at your company, or in another
department.
You might be tempted to threaten your boss with a job offer you’ve received from
somewhere else. This really isn’t a good idea – not only because it can ruin good
working relationships, but because it can backfire further down the line when the
things that frustrate you now raise their heads again and your employer feels over a
barrel to keep you.
Rather set a time to discuss your role and performance. Come armed with a list of
your accomplishments and how you have impacted the business in your current role.
Then be calm and level-headed about stating your case.
It’s also a good idea to help your manager prepare for the meeting by sending some
highlights through before the meeting.
Either way, never stop learning.
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Chapter 6
1000 000
CV
+
1.
$ $ $
it’s time to
market yourself
17

You’ve built up a great range of marketing skills, so where best to use them when
you’re trying to land your dream job than on yourself?
You need to deliver a seamless experience to potential employers who want to get to
know more about you, just as you would for your client or business product/service.
This spans from your first point of contact – the cover email – right through to the
finer details about yourself – your portfolio and LinkedIn presence.
Here are four steps to increase your chances of making it into the shortlist of your
dream role.
your cv
It’s easy to simply update your CV with your latest role and leave it at that, but it’s a
good idea to go back and review your CV every once in a while to make sure it’s still at
it’s best. A few tips include:
LENGTH - no more than two pages. Specific qualifications, experience and accolades
should be summarised but the finer details left for further discussion in the
interview... give the recruiter a reason to want to meet you to find out more! They
see lots of CVs every week, so think about how you can get their attention and make
yours stand out.
your profile - start your CV with a short summary (elevator pitch) about yourself.
Keep this to one paragraph and it should cover your skills (be sure to highlight your
technical skills as well), your character, and what you’re looking for in your next role.
Recruiters will initially scan a CV, looking for relevant brands that you have worked
on, sector specific experience as well as technical skills. They will also be looking for
candidates who have shown a good length of service at a company. Employers are
nervous of people who regularly move role, as they will be investing a large amount of
time and money in training and molding you into the right employee for them.
More information – include links to your online portfolio, relevant social media handles
and LinkedIn page if you have them, so recruiters can find out more about you
organically.
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your portfolio
While these are most often used by writers, designers and web and app developers,
there’s no reason that even account managers and project managers can’t create a
portfolio to showcase the type of campaigns and projects they have seen through.
Online portfolios work best – there are a number of free sites designed for creating
portfolios or even platforms like WordPress make it easy to showcase your work in a
professional way.
getting social
This is primarily about getting your LinkedIn profile in order. Firstly, make sure you
have one. Update it with a professional profile picture (that means no shots of you
from a drunken night out!) and make sure your relevant job and qualification history
is on there, with the correct dates and a short summary under each role to describe
what your responsibilities were in each post to demonstrate your development. Make
sure to spend time building up your connections by inviting people you have worked
with to connect. It’s also worth endorsing people’s skills because they’ll tend to
endorse you back. Post and share interesting blogs, articles and newsbites relevant to
your industry – show that you are actively engaging in your field to demonstrate your
dedication and expertise to potential recruiters.
Unfortunately, we’re in an era where social media makes it easy to find out a lot
about people without ever needing to meet them. It’s likely potential recruiters will
have a scout around on social media to find out what you’re really like outside of
the professional world... so, when it comes to Twitter and Facebook, use your best
judgment. To start, either make your personal social media accounts completely
private (making sure you have a respectable profile picture) or delete anything
that might put a potential recruiter off employing you, such as derogatory posts or
inappropriate photos.
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cover letter email
No one writes a cover letter anymore – this has evolved to be a short summary email
to which you attach your CV. As with everything above, keep it short and concise.
People are busy, and online and social media means we are used to consuming bitesized
pieces of information. So write a to-the-point paragraph detailing why you are
applying for the role, why you think you are the right person and the skills you could
bring to the post. Remember, they can find out more in your CV and on your LinkedIn
profile and / or portfolio, so don’t feel you have to write everything here.
Above all else, make sure each of these areas is consistent and ties together. If you’re
looking to move into a more digital-focused role, for example, make sure your CV,
portfolio, LinkedIn profile and the posts you make online are angled toward the
digital arena.
By painting a consistent, relevant and up-to-date picture of yourself you give potential
recruiters the confidence that you are worth investing their time in. Once you secure
that all-important interview it’s down to you and you alone to win them over... don’t
let these crucial steps before that point let you down.
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Chapter 7
How to work with your
recruitment consultant
21

a guide to buiding the
two-way relationship
When you think of recruitment firms, what’s the first thing that springs to mind?
I’m putting myself at risk of being offended here – I know. Because, unfortunately,
we’re often tarred with the same brush.
Years of badly managed recruitment firms trying to stuff round pegs into square holes
has seen to that.
It’s due to experiencing this myself during my time as a marketer that I decided to set
up my own recruitment firm. In doing so I’ve built a business based on the values that
I believe make a strong and fruitful partnership.
But finding the right recruitment consultant – and then building a relationship with
them – is very much a two-way task. Below I’ve listed the values you should look for
when choosing a headhunter to work with, how to best work with them, and some of
the benefits you can expect to see in return.
1. Grow your network in an instant
A good headhunter should be well connected in their industry niche. So, if you find
someone you like but they don’t currently have a job online that matches your search,
still speak to them. Once you’re on their radar you’ll be one of the first people they
call when a job that matches your search and profile comes up. Often recruiters
won’t even advertise a role because they know they can fill it from within their
waiting network of candidates.
2. Invest your time – it’ll be worth it
Spend the time to have a frank and informed discussions with your consultant. A good
consultant will be someone who really asks questions that uncover much more about
you as a person. They will look beyond your qualifications to understand what really
makes you tick in the workplace, what culture you thrive best in, and what type of
team and leader you respond well to. They should be looking at your long-term goals
and give you advice on how this next stage of your journey will help get you there. It’s
a worthwhile investment of your time, because it means the jobs they match you to
will be right first time.
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3. Valuable advice
Your consultant will be able to advise you on improving your CV, portfolio,
interview and presentation skills, and even how to go about gaining any necessary
qualifications. They should help you prepare for your interviews too. I work with a
lot of senior candidates who might not have been in an interview situation for some
time, and they are often the first to admit they that need support around how to build
their CV, sell themselves and present themselves in an interview situation. And this
advice is all for free, so make the most of it!
4. An open relationship
It’s important to be completely honest with your recruitment consultant. About the
good and the bad. They can’t place you in the right role if you aren’t honest about
your skills, and if you’re open about any weak areas from the start then they can work
with you to help you strengthen them. Be honest about what else you are looking
at and where you are in the process too. You don’t need to tell them the names of
agencies or other recruitment firms – even though they may try to find out!
There is nothing worse than accepting an offer and then turning it down because
you are hedging your bets… Believe me, it’s a small world and you never know when
you’ll cross paths with that prospective employer again…and they may not give you a
second chance.
5. Stay in touch
Even if you’re happy in your job, or you’ve recently been placed in your ideal role by
your consultant, still take the time to keep in touch with them. Who knows when that
next step up the ladder might become available, and your headhunter might observe
that you’re ready to take that step even before you do…
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Chapter 8
interview
re:charge
24

(hint – you’re never too old or experienced to brush up on these…)
No matter how experienced you are, and no matter how many interviews you have
been to, they pretty much always guarantee sweaty palms and a dry mouth. And they
change too. The types of questions asked. Recruiter expectations. Social media means
they know more about you before you even arrive than ever before.
While you can never be 100% prepared for every interview, because you never know
what curveball they’re going to throw at you, you can follow some general guidelines
to make sure you deliver the best impression you can each and every time.
With information so accessible today, it means potential employers expect a lot more
from you. There is no excuse not to have done your research – into the company
you’re going to see, the interviewer, and into the competition and the industry. And
they’ll likely have done their research too, and had a good nosey at your LinkedIn and
Twitter profiles… and maybe even found you on Facebook (so make sure your public
pictures and posts are decent!).
7 sureseteps to take to make
sure you’re prepared for the big moment
1. Do your research.
Visit the company website and learn how they talk about
themselves and their positioning. Read their recent news,
and make sure to check out the competition and brush up on
what’s happening in their industry.
2. Make sure you know who is interviewing you!
Memorize their names, and take a look at their LinkedIn
profiles and Twitter feeds if they have them. If you want to go
the extra mile, take a look at their personality profile on Crystal.
They’ll likely have dug around about you too so be prepared to
talk about recent posts, common connections and opinions you
may have aired.
3. Don’t assume the interviewer will have a copy of your CV
Always take one with you, along with your portfolio. If your
portfolio is online, take a laptop or tablet so you can present it
to them.
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4. Body language 101
You may know a lot of this but we’re creatures of habit so
reminders always help. That first impression – it’s true that
you form an opinion about someone in the first couple of
seconds of meeting them! So a warm smile, eye contact and
a firm handshake are vital. When they ask you how your
journey or morning went, ask them a question back. It’s a
good ice breaker and will help ease your nerves to get them
talking about themselves. Once you’re in the interview room,
remember to sit up straight and keep good eye contact. Try not
to fidget or play with your hair, necklace, tie etc. And maintain
a relaxed, open posture, so avoid crossing your arms and legs;
keep your hands on the table or have a notebook out and a pen
in hand if it helps you to relax.
5. Don’t over talk!
Just answer the question and then stop for the interviewer to
respond. It’s too easy to chatter away to fill any awkward void,
but you risk ruining a good answer or repeating yourself, which
can make the interviewer feel you lack confidence.
6. Make sure you can back up any big claims you make
If you’re worried about your mind going blank during the
interview then make a list of your best achievements in the
back of your notebook so you can refer to then if you need to.
7. “Do you have any questions…?”
The signal that the interview is coming to an end, and where
we all naturally breathe a sigh of relief… but this is in fact one
of the most crucial parts of the interview! Don’t make the
mistake of asking about the holiday package, pension scheme
or the salary. Ask intelligent questions, like how the company is
approaching certain changes in the market / industry, or how
they think your skillset could help add value to the company.
Make sure you prepare some questions before you go into the
interview.
With this preparation, all you can do now is be yourself. Be honest, don’t be afraid to
let a little nervousness show through, and don’t try and be someone you’re not. You’ll
be working with these people every day should you be successful, so they need to
know the real you from the start.
Good luck!
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26

Chapter 9
Advice for settling into your
new agency marketing role
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Whether you’ve just been promoted or have moved to a new agency, you’ll want to
get off to a good start and set the tone for this new stage in your career.
Here’s what we recommend:
Meet all of your client contacts face to face within six weeks
Your role is all about relationships, so meeting clients as soon as possible should
be non-negotiable. Not only will this help you to understand them and ask them
important questions, but it will help alleviate any fears they might have over someone
new taking on their account.
Know your client’s proposition inside-out
This should go without saying, but in reality it’s easy to get swept away in endless
meetings and to-dos and miss the big picture. But without it how can you steer your
team and guide the client in the right direction? Find out who your key contacts
are, what their priorities are and how you can help them deliver what they need to.
Check them out on social media and take the time to ask team member about their
experiences with each contact – all of this will add context to your conversations and
help you understand what makes them tick.
Find out what a win looks like
Spend time with your line manager to find out what success looks like to them and
the agency in general. For example, there might be a particular company that CEO
wants to have on their books, is there anything you can do to help?
Get up to speed on previous agency projects
What are the most common projects the agency works on? Which ones were
particularly successful and unsuccessful? What are the agency’s aspirations with your
new client?
Find out what your client’s aspirations are
What project have they always dreamed of running but never been able to get off the
ground. What awards would they want to win…how can you help them to achieve
their professional aspirations?
Be willing to adapt your style
Rather than taking the reins and expecting the team to change the way they work
in order to suit your style, a good leader is confident enough to allow the team to
work the way they work best, and to adapt to that style themselves when required.
Getting your team (including creative, data and sales as well as client services) to
trust and want to work with you is critical if you want to avoid dramatic scenes and
misunderstandings. Your attitude will determine how well you can do this. Are you
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The Agency Marketer’s Guide to Career Development
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willing to work with and nurture people who you may not get on well with? Do you
understand what each person is trying to achieve? Can you foster collaboration and
team spirit, even when deadlines are looming or budgets are shrinking?
Fill the gaps
Do an audit of your team to determine whether there are any skills gaps. Discuss
these with your manager and with your team. Often, a team member is willing to
upskill to plug the gap, or perhaps a member from another team can moonlight on
yours when required.
Get stuck in and add value
Just because the agency does things in a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the best
way. Your experience could be very useful to them. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes is
valuable enough when it comes to processes, sales and campaign planning.
I hope you found the content of this ebook of value. If you would like to sign up to more
of our blogs and advice in the future, you can do so here and check out our blog here .
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