How Being an Accounts Manager Made Me a Better Marketer

You know what they say about having two jobs? And I don’t mean getting paid for two separate jobs. I’m talking about having two positions in one company and getting a single compensation.

Well, let me tell you – it’s hard.

Obviously, it’s hard. It’s like wearing two faces at the same time.

Imagine doing all the marketing stuff for the SEO Hacker blog on top of creating monthly reports, proposals, contracts and billings, not to mention catering to all the needs of your clients on a daily basis.

I used to whine. I had moments where all I could think of is how unfair it is to live my life.

Gladly, I’m over it now.

After months of doing both Marketing and Accounts Management, I finally learned how to get the best of both worlds. I finally realized that being an accounts manager is helping me become a better digital marketer.

Note: This post is not only intended to people who are on the same situation like me. It’s also meant for those who are struggling to balance their roles in the company or business, and to everyone who fails to see the beauty of work.

Here’s how being an accounts manager helped me become a better marketer, and why you should do the same things.

1. I learned that communication is a two-way process

I knew from the start that I need to have good communication skills in order for me to properly communicate my thoughts in the SEO Hacker blog, but my idea of “good communication” is limited to having good grammar, tone or voice.

It’s only when I started handling clients’ concerns that I actually saw myself becoming more and more adept with listening.

I learned that communication is actually a two-way process.

You need to know what to say, but more than that, you need to let others speak, then you listen, and then listen more. Because it’s the only way you can understand them better.

With marketing, I find that more than just creating compelling content, I also need to listen to our audience.

How?

• By reading and replying to comments. Just to give you an idea, as of the moment we have about 900+ comments pending to be approved and replied. So what I do is allot one to two hours a day to sit down, and read and respond to comments. This way, I’m letting our readers know that we are listening to them.
• By replying to emails, either when they’re asking questions or offering guest post contributions. We don’t accept all guest posts, we filter them to make sure that it’s applicable to the blog. But one thing that we make sure of is that we are able to respond and show that their ideas are welcome.

Everyone wants to be heard, in fact to some, it is their way of measuring how important they are to someone.

“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” -Ralph G. Nichols

2. I learned to be more generous

The best part of doing proposals, and probably the most challenging, is when we have to analyze websites. It is the part where we look for flaws and recommend strategies even without the assurance that they will acquire our services.

We have to be generous with our analysis as well as with sharing the best practices because this is one of the best ways to show that we value our prospected clients, and that we’re good at what we do.

Same way with marketing. I learned that I have to be generous enough with sharing facts, advice and ideas; because it shows that I actually know what I’m saying.

Readers deserve the best.You need to share the full chunk of every idea.

Why? Because the main reason why we read is because we want to acquire the same knowledge that the author has.

If you’re not giving your best, then you’re not letting your readers get the best of you.

Being generous is also not limited to your content.

Do you know why Buffer has tons of followers?

More than just being an amazing tool and avenue of online marketing ideas, they’re actually very generous with sending Buffer stickers, cards and even journals. In fact, I just received (surprisingly) another card, notepad and stickers yesterday.

Let’s admit it. We love to receive something. So, imagine the joy of your audience when they’re getting something from you.

3. Enhanced analytical thinking skills

I am not fond of analyzing data, I hate numbers. The idea of having to evaluate all the digits just so I can have a clear view of a website’s performance is killing me – before. I was forced to do a lot of analyzing when I started doing monthly reports for our clients.

This led me to enjoy Google Analytics.

Numbers and charts could be very boring, but when you see an actual data of where your traffic is coming from, how many shares, or views your blog post gained, suddenly it becomes interesting.

But more than just enjoying the digits and lines, what really interests me is the fact that I can come up with strategies from the data that I’m gathering, and it makes my work a lot easier seeing as I don’t need to start from scratch – I have all the data. I just need to fully understand and analyze them.

For marketers, it’s necessary that you know how to analyze data – it’s not enough that you can write, or your mind’s full of ideas. At the end of the day, you have to have something that can back you up – you need logical reasons why you’ve come up with a certain strategy.

Marketers make no assumptions.

You need to know what makes your audience come back, what they’re looking for, and how you can improve your existing efforts.

Lastly…

4. I learned the essence of building a relationship

As far as I can remember, I’m the type of person who prefers to sit down in front of the laptop 24/7, than mingle with people.

I didn’t realized that when I accepted the Accounts Manager’s position, I would have to meet clients once in a while.

This scares me. I remember the first time I met with a client – I literally was at a lost for words. But I was sent out more than once and that made me a lot comfortable with talking and facing people.

At the same time, I learned that meeting clients actually builds better relationships, because you get to hear them personally, their frustrations, demands, and compliments.

In marketing, relationship building is one of the biggest tasks. You need to identify the people around you, may they be experts in your field, or marketing different niches.

Building relationships is equal to building trust. Being connected with reputable people means bigger chance of getting the same respect.

Over to you…

Have you experienced being in multiple positions? What did you do to maximize your situation? Did you find it hard, did you complain, or did you master your first job to benefit the second one?

Share your thoughts by commenting below!