Notes on the first year: young Birdies look back
Just about a year ago, we put the spotlight on four new Blackbird hires who were a month or so into their time with us – and the digital marketing industry in general. Their insights revealed a lot about Blackbird’s training process and about the folks who were knee-deep in it.
A year later, despite our intentional practice of putting new hires through the grind early to make sure it’s the right fit for both sides, all four are still Blackbirdies who continue to grow and add value to our clients every day.
We chatted with the four – Account Associates Rishita Arora, Macy Lustig, Anna Seitz, and Rachel Trac – shortly after they marked their first workiversary with us. The topic: what’s changed from the early days at our San Francisco advertising agency, where they’ve made the biggest strides, and what challenges they’re looking forward to tackling next.
On gaining confidence in the role
To a person, the quartet all spoke with much more clarity and confidence in their roles than they had a year ago.
The most common theme of their improvement was perspective – the ability to zoom out and understand the significance of their work in the bigger account picture. From communicating underlying performance drivers to clients instead of just delivering data, to producing a narrative that leads logically into next steps, to proactively presenting strategic recommendations, the four each mentioned finding traction in understanding marketing performance more holistically.
“As I’ve grown in this role, I’ve developed a clearer understanding of how all the pieces connect, allowing me to propose strategic recommendations with greater confidence. ”
Blackbird’s learn-by-doing approach, with frequent challenges to trainees to explain the “why” behind their actions and to ask questions about the significance of an initiative, was a theme the quartet touched on as important when they first started. Their growth in proactively communicating the why, and in their ability to jump into a range of accounts and immediately recognize optimization opportunities, bears that out a year later.
On the year’s biggest lessons
Marketing acumen is one part of the job, but client service is another part altogether. When detailing their main learnings from the first year, not one mentioned a marketing technique – instead, they listed proactive client communication, adapting to the needs and goals of a range of clients, setting clear expectations, and how to communicate less-than-great news with a proactive set of next steps to address the issue.
Another lesson, sparked by the theme of client communication, included the drive to stay curious and resourceful to tackle new initiatives as they emerge.
“It’s been really important to do things beyond the strategy. To go beyond the prescribed next steps – ideating and taking action and being that person who has done more than what’s expected.”
On the year’s biggest surprises
The most prevalent surprise among the first-years was the industry’s rate of change, which, taken with the breadth of areas encompassed by marketing, led all four to mention how essential it is to commit to constant learning.
From the rise of short-form video adoption (even in LinkedIn) to constant platform and privacy updates, new marketing developments aren’t just something the first-years need to learn; they’re something to introduce to their clients, with insights and recommendations.
Second to the rate of change in the year’s surprises: the integration of analytics into every facet of marketing.
“The amount of analytics that go into everything that we do has been surprising. Everything we do has a reason, even within a creative.”
On the upcoming challenges to tackle
The discrete challenges these four Blackbirdies are ready to embrace are bigger than they were a year ago. Nailing the ins and outs of tracking in a changing measurement landscape, understanding all the front- and back-end elements that need to play well together on websites for marketing to work, and interpreting (and acting on) advanced data models are all on the list of goals to tackle in their second year.
On the next steps to becoming great marketers
When reflecting on what it will take for them to become excellent marketers, the first-years delivered a range of ambitious answers, but there was a theme that transcended channels or analytics models: empowerment.
One path to excellence was the ability to take full and complete responsibility for a client’s goals. Another was the ability to go beyond prescribed next steps and go several levels beyond expectations to deliver results. Another was to collect enough experience and learning to go from being analytical to strategic, with answers for every client question that came up. Another was to put every action in context and understand how it contributed to the full picture.
Each agreed that earning greater responsibility, while it comes with added pressure, was essential in continuing to learn the trade.
“It all goes back to ownership – you grow and learn when you’re held accountable. The more opportunity you earn here, the more of a chance you have to learn.”
At our ad agency in the innovation hotspot of San Francisco, we take pride in our mission of developing great marketers. By Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule, these folks are only about a quarter of the way to excellence, but they’ve come a long way in their first 12 months.