Marketing is not a one-size-fits-all career. Depending on the industry, the product/service, and your personal style, approaches can vary a surprising amount. Understanding your unique style and strengths can significantly enhance your effectiveness and job satisfaction.
This article will explore different marketing personalities, offering insights into the traits that define different types of marketers. You may not identify yourself in any single category, or, more likely, you might find that you belong to more than one. With this in mind, it’s less important to label yourself, and more important to be aware of where you fit and what you bring to the table.
The Importance of Knowing What Marketer Type You Are
Identifying your marketer type isn’t just about self-awareness; it can also be used as a tool for career development. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses allows you to leverage your natural inclinations and improve areas of weakness, and also helps you to identify what you like. Knowing what you enjoy will ultimately increase the likelihood of finding a fulfilling career, which is of the utmost importance. So don’t try to be something you’re not, even in the world of marketing.
A marketer with a knack for storytelling, for example, might excel in content marketing but could benefit from understanding data analytics to measure the impact of their narratives. Or maybe, they might recognise this is not their area of expertise and fine-tune other crucial skills, leaving analytics to others. Likewise, someone who loves getting into the data but doesn’t so much enjoy telling stories might be more suited to the analytics route.
Recognising your marketer type helps you tailor your career path, enhances team dynamics, and optimises personal and organisational success.
What Makes a Good Marketer?
While there are distinct types of marketers, certain universal traits define a good marketer. Adaptability, creativity, strategic thinking, and the ability to understand consumer behaviour are pivotal. However, the richness of the marketing field allows for specialisation and the flourishing of diverse talents and approaches.
The role of a marketer is, basically, to sell; whether that’s a product, a service, a brand, or something more nebulous such as an idea or a lifestyle, a marketer is supposed to change peoples’ minds. In order to achieve this, all of the above traits have to be brought together in imaginative ways that at once reflect the contemporary world and, if possible, add something new, allowing whatever is being marketed to stand out.
You could also say that a good marketer is a good communicator, someone who is able to disseminate information and opinions in accessible, far-reaching, and compelling ways.
Good marketers share core traits like creativity and strategic insight, but offer diverse talents, insights, and motivations that demonstrate the vastness of the field.
What Marketer Type Are You?
Exploring different marketing personality types reveals the spectrum of skills and approaches in the field. In what follows, we take a look at some of the distinct types—each with unique strengths and potential weaknesses—noting that overlaps often, if not always, exist between them.
Bear in mind that these categories are somewhat of a marketing ploy themselves, and that there could be other ways to understand the same ideas. For instance, it may well be that “the type of marketer you are” depends more on what you’re marketing than who you are. So take everything with a grain of salt.
The Old-School Marketer
Old-school marketers thrive on proven methods and traditional marketing channels like print, TV, and radio advertising, and as such find it hard to get jobs and will often be disappointed! They value consistency, reliability, and tried-and-true strategies that have stood the test of time, at least until now. However, they may face challenges adapting to the rapid pace of digital transformation, struggling to integrate new technologies and digital platforms into their marketing repertoire. For someone who is a truly old-school marketer, the modern world of marketing might diverge so far from what they value that it isn’t a viable job option for them anymore.
The Fearmonger
Fearmonger marketers are adept at creating campaigns that tap into consumer fears and anxieties, driving action through a sense of urgency. This approach can be incredibly effective in short-term campaigns or specific contexts where immediate action is required. However, relying too heavily on fear can backfire, leading to consumer fatigue or backlash, and potentially damaging brand reputation if perceived as manipulative or insincere.
What’s more, in a world where we’re constantly overwhelmed with information that’s communicated as being urgent, even when it’s wholly void of meaning, we have to ask ourselves if it’s even ethical to use this kind of marketing. Is adding to the communal pool of fear for the sake of more profit really the best thing we can do with our time?
The Social Media Master
Social media masters are the wizards of the digital realm, navigating various platforms with ease and crafting content that engages and grows their online communities. Often, this type of marketer will be late-Millennial or Gen Z. They excel in real-time communication and can harness the power of trends and viral content, showing no signs of confusion despite a rapidly changing digital and social landscape. However, their focused expertise in social media can sometimes limit their perspective, neglecting other strategic marketing elements and broader campaign integration. What’s more, they may lack the knack for crafting long-form, in-depth content.
The Storyteller
Storytellers possess the unique ability to craft compelling narratives that connect with audiences on an emotional level. They are masters of content creation, using stories to build brand identity and loyalty. While they excel in creating memorable and impactful campaigns, they may overlook the importance of data and analytics in measuring success and refining strategies.
In fact, these people are likely to be the most tech-averse, and may prefer being left to themselves to perform their work and hand it over to those who can put it out into the world effectively. If you can find the right company, then it is quite possible to secure a role that highlights this talent. However, these types can find it challenging if they have to take on more diverse roles.
The Data Lover
Data lovers are the analytical minds of the marketing world, thriving on metrics, analytics, and evidence-based strategies—the opposite of the storytellers. In the online world, where the two can work in concert, success is often near at hand. These types excel in quantifying campaign successes and making informed decisions based on data. However, their reliance on numbers and analytics might cause them to overlook the human element and the emotional resonance of marketing campaigns, meaning, if left to their own devices, companies can come across as inhuman or slightly sterile.
The Mindful
Mindful marketers prioritise ethical practices, sustainability, and social responsibility in their campaigns. They seek to make a positive impact through marketing, balancing business goals with societal benefits. While their approach builds long-term brand trust and loyalty, they may be perceived as less competitive or aggressive in their market positioning strategies.
Often, mindful marketers are more likely to end up, unsurprisingly, working for brands that are also mindful. These could be businesses, but many people also aspire to work for charities or nonprofit organisations, where their communication skills can be put to good use.
The Overthinker
Overthinkers in marketing are characterised by their meticulous planning and detailed analysis, sometimes to the point of redundancy. They leave no stone unturned in their quest for the perfect campaign strategy. For example, they might find themselves spending far too long trying to decide what the perfect emoji to accompany a post is. However, their strength in detail-oriented planning can become a weakness, leading to decision-making delays or missed opportunities due to over-analysis.
These people work best as members of teams where they can use their skills, and others can harness them in a timely and effective manner. Often, overthinkers will work in the background and feed their results through to more fast-paced members of a team.
The Creative Innovator
Creative innovators are the trailblazers in marketing, constantly seeking out new ideas and unconventional strategies. They thrive on innovation and creativity, often setting trends rather than following them. While their forward-thinking approach can lead to groundbreaking campaigns, there is a risk of prioritising innovation over practicality and measurable outcomes.
Hit-or-miss is a term that applies well to these types. They can come up with a magnificent idea one day, and a terrible one the next. But that’s no reason to avoid being one, as no progress happens without this sort of uninhibited approach!
The Jack of All Trades
Jack of all trades marketers are versatile and adaptable, possessing a broad skill set across various marketing disciplines. They can handle a wide range of tasks and are often the go-to problem solvers in marketing teams. However, their broad expertise may sometimes come at the expense of deep, specialised knowledge in any one area, which can be a drawback in more specialised marketing environments.
Marketers come in various types, each with distinct strengths and with potential for overlap, highlighting the diversity and richness of the marketing field.
Understanding Your Marketing Personality
Recognising and embracing your marketer type(s) can transform your approach to this career path, allowing you to play to your strengths, address your weaknesses, and, perhaps most importantly, work the jobs you actually enjoy! Whether you’re an old-school marketer or a social media guru, understanding your marketing personality is key to finding your niche in the complex and evolving landscape of marketing.
Just remember that you’ll almost certainly have to adjust to some degree, at least while you’re getting started. Remaining somewhat malleable isn’t just helpful in finding a job position, but means you remain open to new possibilities that could otherwise remain obscured.
