How to explain to your friends and family what you are doing all day long in the office

If you work in Marketing, I bet at least once in your life you’ve been in trouble trying to explain what does it mean to actually “work in Marketing”. What do you actually do?
As I had experienced this a lot of times, I learned how to face the fateful question:
“What do you do?”

• solution n°1: The best one to avoid any complication, expecially recommended in case of old or very curious people: just reply “I work in the administration of a big company”, and then quickly try to draw the subject of the discussion to some other direction

 

• solution n°2: The only way to confess you are marketeer to your friends without losing their friendship (assuming you’re not a good actor): just reply “I work in Marketing”
  Friend: “So what?”
  At that point you could just be rude and arrogant quoting the Wikipedia definition, or try to explain in your own words in this way: “I’m in charge all the activities that are needed for a branded product to be sold”
  Friend: “So what?”;
  You: “For example, did you see the commercial for the new Finish Gel we just lanched..?” usually you can’t finish the sentence and your friend goes like: “Aahhh so you invent new products and you make the advertising!”
  You: looking at the bright smile on his face, the satisfied smile of someone that has finally discovered a wonderful secret, you can’t be so cruel to reply anything but: “Yes…yes, exactly”.
  Please smile back. Try to act spontaneous.

 

• solution n°3: The toughest one. To be attempted only when you have a couple of spare hours and a very smart interlocutor. Just follow solution 2 until you get to “AAhhh so you invent new products and you make the advertising!”. A this point you should be strong enough to admit: “Actually no, we don’t invent new products, R&D does”.
  Friend: “So you just tell them what you want them to invent”
  You: “Actually no, consumers tell us what do they need”
  Friend: “so you ask people what they want!”
  You: “Actually not, the agency conducts a market research.”
  Friend, getting more and more disappointed: “Ok so you just do the advertising”
  You: “To be honest no, I don’t, an advertising agency does it”.
  The Friend, super confused: “So what do you do every single day at your desk? What’s the first thing you do when you arrive in office?”
  You: “Well, I open a report to know how much we sold the day before”
  Friend, completely lost: “Whyyy???”.
  Try to assure him adding: “Then, around 11 o’clock, I usually develop a commercial, and in the afternoon, I invent a new product to launch.”
  Your friend will now be relaxed and your relationship will be safe.

 

Now your only problem will be to convince your family and friends that no, the red ball on Finish tabs is not totally your idea.

What actually motivates me every single day is the fact that working in marketing you can feel you are really driving the business, you have the responsibility for the results. You can make things happen coordinating, driving and stimulating your colleagues. You have to collaborate with a lot of people from different departments, of different experiences, from different countries, with different and sometimes contrasting points of view in order to reach common objectives with passion and commitment.

It is a work where synergy and team-work is the key. You have a chance to really make the difference by finding brilliant and fast solutions, solving problems in a smart way.

That’s why, apart from the creative and funny side of marketing, my eyes shine when I talk about my job.

In the picture you can see the ex Vanish Core Team: Cristian, Trade Mktg Category, me, the ABM,  Simone, the Senior BM, and Monica, Controlling. Everybody committed to find together the best solution!