Career management for marketers

Illuminate advancement opportunities to retain top marketing talent [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( WEEKLY NEWS 8.18.23 WEEKLY NEWS 8.25.23  FEATURED [How To Optimize Your Content for Google's Search Generative Experience]( By Jim Yu Google plans to deliver a seamless, multifaceted search results page experience that further diminishes the need to click. Follow these tips to help your content be part of those results.  MORE OF THE WEEK'S BEST STORIES [Do You Know the Real Value of Generative AI in Content?]( by Content Marketing Institute Team Big brands have used generative AI in highly successful ad programs. But is it all just a gimmick? Or, to paraphrase a recent headline, is it from “Mad Men and Women to Machines?” [5 Content Marketing Measurement Don’ts (and What To Do Instead)]( by Kim Moutsos Imagine you could prove content marketing’s long-term value in a way the CFO would understand. Avinash Kaushik, formerly of Google, is working to make it possible. For now, he shares five tips to make your metrics more relevant today. [How To Create a Content Marketing Career Path (So You Don't Lose Your Star Talent)]( by Robert Rose Too many organizations lose employees because they fail to create a content career ladder. Consider this framework the starting point to becoming a differentiator in attracting and retaining content team members. [ICYMI: Revamp the Marketing Funnel? It’s Past Time To Add Empathy]( [by Carmen Collins]( The days of the basic marketing funnel are over. Adding an overlay of empathy lets you walk with your prospects on their never-quite-linear journey. And that’s when you’ll start seeing real, long-term relationships.  A NOTE FROM ROBERT ROSE Career management for marketers Many mistakenly believe people today manage their careers, especially in marketing, by staying in their jobs for much shorter durations. In fact, since the early 1980s, the average job tenure has [remained about five years](. While more [subtle tenure differences]( exist with age and gender, don’t believe the myth that young people have become less loyal to working for the same company. How can young people be called the [“job-hopping” generation]( if their average tenure is the same? What causes this misperception? It would be easy to chalk it up to young people’s impatience. In the Gallup research, only half of workers ages 25 to 40 strongly agreed they would be working at their company in a year. Sixty percent of older workers said the same. However, those numbers are too similar to be distinctive. After all, if 40% of one part of your workforce and 50% of another aren’t confident they will be there in a year, something else is at work. The real answer, especially in content and marketing, stems from the redefinition of “career management” and many businesses’ corresponding lack of response. In the 1990s and into the 2000s, a business would hire bright young people fresh out of university and plug them into an entry-level marketing position. They laid out a path – a ladder – to climb. That person would advance from coordinator to manager to senior manager to director, vice president, senior vice president, and even the C-suite. The employee’s marketing specialty dictated how they might move across different ladders. Product marketing, brand, sales, and communications had distinct, functional career paths. Then digital entered the picture. Companies started distinguishing between “digital marketing” and “other marketing.” (Some companies still do that today. Yes, it’s weird.) But worse, companies chopped digital marketing into channel-based silos like web, email, and social. It created confused and siloed versions of career management. Is it any wonder content marketing grew in the late 2000s and early 2010s to be yet another digital marketing silo without a clear career path? This chaotic organization obfuscates what it means to manage your marketing career in one organization. It fundamentally changes the nature of what managing your career even means. In almost every business I’ve consulted with in recent years, most content marketers and strategists have three choices after they reach the manager level. They can: - Move into a more traditional siloed marketing role, leaving content marketing and content strategy behind. Senior director of social media, anybody? - Depart for a lateral position at another company. - Leave to build a solo practice. Our newly released [Content Marketing Career & Salary 2024 Outlook]( validates that experience. Though 54% of content marketers say they feel engaged at work, nearly one-third (31%) are actively or highly interested in looking for a new role. Why? In [Rose-Colored Glasses]( this week, I discuss one likely cause: the lack of a clear content marketing career ladder. I also share a framework that can help you build that ladder in your organization. I’d love to hear how a clearly defined career path might impact your job satisfaction. Send me [an email](mailto:Robert@contentadvisory.net?subject=Career%20clarity) to share your thoughts. Until then, remember: It's your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Would any of your colleagues or friends benefit from Robert's weekly updates? Please invite them to [subscribe]( here.  SPONSORED CONTENT Discover cutting-edge skills and best practices in measuring campaign effectiveness This virtual masterclass will teach you effective methods for measuring the impact of thought leadership content, with practical advice on moving beyond vanity metrics to focus on long-term impact. [Register now »](  MORE FROM CMI Send off summer by saving on Content Marketing World As the sun sets on another summer, the heat for Content Marketing World is building! The final countdown for 2023’s event is on. Celebrate the end of the season with us by taking $200 off your in-person conference pass with code SUMMER200. This offer is melting fast – you only have until August 31 to save! Join us next month in Washington, D.C., and jumpstart your autumn with fresh inspiration and connections. [Register now and save]( [»](  Free webinar next week: Analytics & Data Science Are you ready to walk the walk of a truly data-driven marketer? Join us on Wednesday, August 30, for a special webinar event focused on marketing analytics and data science. We'll cover topics that include creating marketing efficiencies and measuring them, building a data-driven tech stack, and the importance of data in storytelling. 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