Having worked for the last three and a half years for an associate company of Lilac James, I’d often heard marketing terminology bandied around the office. I won’t lie, I often sat there pretending I knew what my co-workers were talking about. Looking back, as they talked about USPs and CTAs (see, I’m catching on!) I probably looked like one of those nodding dogs on the parcel shelf of a car, all glassy eyed and gnashing teeth!
The business I worked for was a lead generation company which relied heavily on PPC, as well as some of the more traditional marketing campaigns to drum up business. I did at least learn what those 3 letters stood for, although in the beginning I was imagining some kind of fancy stapler as my mind processed ‘paper click’!
I’m guessing it’s partly my age. I’m 21. With 24 years’ experience. Being a child of the 70s I grew up in an age where home computers were only for the rich and you were lucky if you got a quarter of an hour once a month of keyboard time at school. My working background after school in the late 80s was secretarial and I had children in the 90s so stayed at home bringing them up until 2011 when my youngest started nursery school. Times had changed dramatically during those years with the birth of the Internet. Once we had a PC and laptop at home from the mid 00s, what I didn’t teach myself I learned from basic computer courses and the kids, but there was still a massive gap in my skills.
So now I find myself in the marketing and SEO arena and it’s a vast one! I’m discovering at the moment that it’s a bit of a learning curve (more of a sharp incline than a curve if I’m honest) and I feel at times like my 9 year old son would learn quicker than me (kids these days are born with a microchip in their brains which hardwires them straight into any technology with a screen, aren’t they?)! I’m literally learning my ABCs. Well BtoBs and BtoCs to be more precise. Don’t get me started on ROIs because the last time I looked that meant Republic of Ireland, and a DA as far as I was concerned showed that I watched far too many American Police procedural dramas! I’ve also learned about keyword research and competitor analysis and having written several articles for the purposes of content marketing, I’m beginning to find a writing style that I’m comfortable with.
This change in direction is challenging and not just for me. I have a competent and vibrant group of professionals around me who are not only looking after a large client base but are showing me the ropes and granting me the knowledge and encouragement I need to become a valued member of the Lilac James team.
Let’s face it, it’s not rocket science and I’m living proof that it’s never too late to learn a new skill set and indeed job role. Not bad for an ol’ bird like me. I’m telling myself that the world of marketing and SEO is like a foreign language. Hopefully I’ll be fluent in no time.
Merci beaucoup and bonjour!
