Practically every day, people ask me for help and advice in creating the sorts of new rules marketing and PR that I speak about and write about.
This is always a difficult request that I never really know how to answer.
"Read my book and my blog" sounds egotistical.
"Attend my seminar" sounds like a sales pitch.
"I don’t know" sounds like I'm an idiot.
About 6 months ago, I put a little note on my site that went like this: "Please note: Due to the tremendous success of my latest book The New Rules of Marketing & PR, except for seminars, I am unable to take on new consulting clients at this time."
However, some people really need help and support, both full time and part time. Many companies are looking for smart people.
So I wanted to create a sort of new rules of marketing & pr job description. The idea for this came from Jeff Ernst, VP marketing at Kadient (I'm on the Kadient board of directors). Jeff has an open position right now and this is how he described what he's looking for:
"She (or he) created her Facebook profile well before any of her buddies did, then encouraged them all to join, and now has 700 friends on Facebook. She writes her own blog where she talks about her favorite bands. She loves to experiment with new ways to drive traffic to her blog. She's read David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR, and is passionate about combining her love for social media with her work by applying the new rules in a B2B marketing environment. "
(I think Jeff was buttering me up with that last sentence, don't you).
Jeff says: "This doesn’t sound like the typical marketing job description."
I agree. But new rules marketing & PR isn't a typical marketing job.
I'd add a few other random things to our emerging alternative job description:
1. You're curious about new things and always try stuff like Skype, Second Life, Twitter, Ryze, XING, digg, and reddit early. But you are busy and there is so much to do so you don't keep up with the things you try (like Second Life for example) and you don't feel the least bit guilty when you leave a network.
2. You know that the bosses who tell you that ROI and leads and clipbooks are the most important measurements are dead wrong. To prove it, you are building up evidence that the things you're doing outside the traditional stuff -- like commenting on blogs, focusing on the phrases people use to search and tossing out a few online news releases -- are beneficial. But its tough because you really have two jobs -- a full time role in new marketing that you know is the way to go, and a full time role with the traditional crap to keep your bosses happy.
3. You don't "go online" and you don't "use the internet" because your physical life and virtual life are one in the same.
4. If you are located in the US, you follow the presidential election, but do so online and salivate at the thought of investing the sort of money that the candidates are spending on TV ads to implement a bunch of cool viral initiatives.
Does this sound like you? If so, you've got an amazing career in front of you.
Got something to add to the job description? Please add other thoughts to this ongoing riff.
Looking for a job? Maybe post a comment here with a link to your blog or Facebook page and someone in a cool company will find you.