Thus I was both shocked and deeply honoured when a colleague at Accenture asked me to speak at a meeting of their marketing communications team. I have always held them up as a paragon of marketing, and couldn't figure out what I could actually tell them. But it turned out our problems are not so different, and my experiences seemed to resonate.
So here comes one of those rare blog entries in which I actually talk about my job.
I have been a crisis magnet in my professional life. From joining the world's largest defence contractor the year the Berlin wall came down to signing on with the UK's largest telecoms and IT specialist PR agency just before the .com crash, I have a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And as nice as a quiet life may be, what I told this group was: What doesn't kill you really does make you stronger. We should all actually give thanks we're living through the biggest financial trauma in a lifetime, because those who make it out the other side will be sharpened, toughened and generally much better at what they do than they could have ever become in soft and happy times.
Survival, however, is challenging. Especially in marketing and communications functions that are often the first to feel the axe. How to hang on? These were my four top tips.
Be better value than others
In a big corporation, rising up the ranks often means doing less as you oversee more. Never lose your practical skills and your ability to roll up your sleeves and actually do the job. I define the basics of marketing communication as the ability to be the intermediary between the business and the public; the ability to be a thorough and pesky reporter; and the ability to write well. Beyond that, we should all constantly be looking for new skills to add to our portfolio. In this way, when teams start shrinking, you're the logical one to stay.
You can manage and do. You're cheaper than an agency, but can deliver most of the same stuff. You can interface with executives, but drop back to the coal face to deliver the basics. That makes you great value for money. It may not be glamorous (and, in fact, there are many of us in this recession who've fallen back to doing jobs we did a decade ago) but you'll stay employed and win the respect of your management. You might even have fun. There's a joy in the tactical production of communication activity that's never going to be matched by meetings, spreadsheets and corporate politics.
Take advantage of change
A crisis is actually a great time to try new things. I find that companies are actually much more open to risk in tough times. I'm currently fronting a web-based television show that I never would have done in fully funded days; we would have insisted on a "professional" presenter. I'm now not only having a great time, but saving bucket loads of money. (If you have any interest in enterprise IT, go to You Tube and search for me, and you'll see what I mean.)
A decade ago as another employer was going through tough times, I realised what we needed was a "Do It Yourself Toolkit" so that the few, and often unskilled, team members left in communications after mass job cuts would have a clear guide to how to do the tasks required. This turned into an award-winning initiative, and something I sold to other companies when I went to the agency side. Again, something simple and pragmatic that wouldn't have been attempted in fat and happy times. There are always opportunities for clever people to benefit from a crisis. You just have to find them.
Think like a business person, not a communicator
It's easy for communications people to talk themselves into an ivory tower. We are the guardians of reputation, brokers of objectivity, creators of stories that go beyond the mundane details of daily business. All true. But if we don't temper that idealism with the cold, hard fact that we exist to help sell stuff ... we're signing our own death warrant.
Consider yourself part of the sales force. Hold the sales guys' hands. Work directly with customers whenever you can. This doesn't mean you should abandon subtlety and big picture, merely that you need to temper it with reality. Some of the best work I've done at my current company has involved packaging marketing activities for the sales force. We'd publish a media partnership, then I'd provide sales with very specific instructions of what to do with it. Down to writing the letter for them to forward to their customers, and providing the cheat sheet they can use at the customer conversation to link the editorial to what we have to sell.
Being a business person means thinking about the bottom line. We're all used to arguing that marketing communications needs to be well funded to make an impact. But if the business is going through challenging times, is that a fair argument? If your personal finances are skint, do you splash out on new clothes and parties? No, probably not. You find a way to stretch what you have. That's what a good business person does with communications in tough times.
Most importantly, you have the courage of your convictions with executives. Communications people have a long tradition of being biddable, friendly team players who do whatever it takes to make the senior executives happy. (Perhaps a consequence of a field that was once dominated by nice girls doing a few years' work before marriage and children?) Giving people everything they want is never a recipe for long term success. You need to do what's right for the business. And if sometimes that means disagreeing with a senior executive ... you have to do it. In the long run, you'll get more respect and be considered more valuable.
Always have an escape path
Hopefully, you'll never have to use it. But it's madness not to always have the CV fresh, connections running across the marketplace and an eye open for new possibilities. You never know when the axe will fall, the company will be acquired or a new boss will decide to swap out the team. Being unemployed through no fault of your own is a reality of the modern world, you need to be ready for it.
I've worked for several very large corporations, all of which have featured "lifers" who've never worked anywhere else, and have gotten so comfortable ... and typecast ... in their companies that they were virtually unemployable anywhere else. I remember watching a 30-year veteran of McDonnell Douglas, a very senior executive, weeping in public when he lost his job and wondered who would hire a 50-something man with no diversity of experience. I vowed this would never happen to me.
Network like mad. Always stay aware of what's going on in other companies. This is where agencies can be particularly useful. Never turn down a head hunter's call. Always keep that CV up to date.
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing inherently bad about being with one company for many years. But in work, just as in relationships, it's always a boost to the ego to know that you're desirable, attractive and wanted by others. You can then make a decision to stay right where you are, loving it. And you'll be a better marketeer for being connected to, and wanted by, the rest of the world.
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