Marketing, What??? What is Marketing? My Story.

I still remember when I fell in love with this word called Marketing. I never even considered or knew I could make this a career.  I was 30 years old and had a secretarial certificate and worked my way up to become an Executive Assistant to multiple executives in a start-up healthcare technology company and I have to say I was Very good at my job. I was also in school to become a teacher because that is really where my “passion” was but well my life took me in other directions and I was never able to finish college earlier in life.

One of the Executives I worked for was the VP of Sales and Marketing and being a start-up, this is where most of my time was spent and I was a natural.  Long story short, my new passion became this word “Marketing”. It changed my life. I changed my degree and graduated with a Bachelors in Marketing Management and was promoted to Marketing Coordinator. Everything was right in the world until the recession hit and I was laid off.  That was tough and a hit to the ego.  I thought was I really good enough to be in Marketing?  Should I go back to being an Assistant?  It was hard to get a marketing job in this market even in Chicago but I didn’t give up.  I was passionate that this was the direction I was meant to go.

Eventually, I found my dream job as a Marketing Manager for a CAE solutions software company that was new to the US market and needed someone who could understand the market.  I don’t know if it’s my background from being a manager of sub shop at 16 years old, being a waitress, assistant or great upbringing but I’ve always had a knack for understanding client’s needs and this set me apart from many marketers at this time.  I look at what the clients’ wants and needs, not what the company can do and wants to promote.  During the time with this company, I also went back to school and graduated with a MBA in Management and Strategy. (I also have a passion for “Learning”.)

Now, this word “Marketing” has changed dramatically since I learned about it and it changed my life.  Back then, we used “Traditional Marketing” – tradeshows, postcards, letters, cold calls, logos, traditional campaigns.  We just started using email campaigns.  We had a very limited website. We did have Salesforce and I was a Salesforce Administrator and that was very exciting. It was Marketing Automation during the early years.

Nowadays, this word “Marketing” is so much more and continuing to grow at rapid speed – “Digital Marketing”. At my dream job, I was able to incorporate our website with Marketing Automation, with Social Media, with Whitepapers, EBooks, Webinars, Content Marketing, etc. They still do Tradeshows, mailings, print ads, online ads, etc. It’s an intense marketing plan but works well for their industry.  In the first 4 years, we were able to double the market share.

Now, I get to do my THREE passions, “Marketing”, “Teaching” and “Learning”. Teaching never went away and throughout my career, I never stopped teaching or mentoring. This blog will be encompassing all Three areas. I am blessed to do what I love, marketing, teaching and learning and hope you will join me on my journey to see what happens next.