25 May, 2010

Lunchentach

This, comes the first in our series of Lunchentach. An opportunity for members of the lunch network to "officially" provide commentary on anything they'd like pertaining to the world of integrated production. First up, as usual it's me, because everyone else is too busy making stuff.

Talking about digital is our favorite thing next to making stuff. Training and educating people on best practices is something the entire lunch network takes very seriously. We're a network of close to 100 developers, and I can assure you that harnessing that brainpower can be a challenge, mostly because there's so much to know, and because they've been in the game for decades, it's important to share, because not one person can know everything there is to know.

At the end of the day we're in the business of production, and having been in that business specifically for the past 12 years - there's something I get asked - a lot.

What does it take to get up to speed? How does one make the transition? Recently I was asked that very same question by Promax|BDA. The article will be appearing soon, but in the interim here's the unedited response I provided to that question.

The transition to digital, or any new skill set is daunting. I think with digital it seems more daunting because of the role of technology. There’s been a lot of negative connotations to the digital space and the medium in general has unfortunately been oversaturated with people communicating that the transition is difficult, that people will be “left behind” or there’s an implication that if you don’t have experience in one area you can’t possibly transition to another. To me, that’s not a reality. Making the transition to anything new requires one thing: Passion. A real interest in learning. I can say that because although I’ve been in this business since it became a business, I learned as I went. I didn’t wake up and have the skills, I wasn’t taught them in school, in fact, I wasn’t mentored by any one person. Ever. I think that’s why I’ve concentrated so much on training, sharing the things I’ve learned so that other people can hone it, and make it better, and not have to go through the same challenges I did. My entire career has been a transition. I began thinking I wanted to do one thing, and specializing, to exploring different roles and learning about what I liked and what I didn’t. I asked a lot of questions, and I always encourage people to do the same. If you can’t find resources or people who are willing to help, it just means you should keep looking. People who approach the digital shift or next generation with a closed fist will be left behind, the future of the next generation of marketers is in transparency. I’ve seen too many good ideas, suffer, and in effect suffocate because people held on too tight. It’s really a balance, and whether we always are cognoscente of it or not, marketing is an art, and it’s about that balance between art and commerce. It’s about thinking differently, and taking risks – conversations. In terms of skills it’s about agility, and again a keen interest. Being adaptable and wearing different hats is critical, because everything is really becoming more efficient. So it’s about finding those efficiencies and developing solutions based on that. That’s a skill set that a lot of people have, when I do training and consulting with my clients about making the shift, whether it’s shifting the operational structure, or themselves it’s about knowing what you’re interested in doing and identifying what parts you don’t know. It becomes simpler to backfill. It’s about demystifying all of the unknowns. Most people, figure out quite quickly that they’re not missing the kind of skills they thought they were. You can’t teach people that, people are either interested or they aren’t. The next generation marketer is required to think about everything holistically, not elements individually, So when making the transition I think it’s important to be able to identify people who are thinking that way in what they do currently, and if you’re looking to learn attaching yourself to those people or companies is a great way to learn. You may not necessarily end up working directly with those people, but you can spend time with them. That happens a lot in my business, where people will ask to spend time with me, shadowing, taking part in industry functions or just talking. To me, that’s the best thing to do, is create a network where there’s a trade of knowledge happening, it’s been critical to what I do, and it’s where great ideas and new thinking is born. It’s like a nebula of ideas when you get enough smart people together and share knowledge. You can be a “traditional” marketer, or a “digital” marketer, or a designer, or a broadcaster but the soft skills are the same. It’s the application of those skills that’s different. I think people become daunted by the transition, to me it’s about being excited about it, if you’re not learning or engaged in what might be coming next, I can’t imagine still wanting to be in this business. Our currency is ideas, you can’t be left behind when that’s your focus.

- Amy Miranda