The Changing Marketing Disciplines round table brought together Janeen Anyon (Chapter Lead, B2B Marketing, Spark) and Michaela Ryan (Recruitment Consultant, Campfire Digital Recruitment) to share insights on successfully navigating functional changes in your marketing career.
Here are the top 6 takeaways from Janeen & Michaela:
1. Start internally and learn from leaders – Begin your discipline shift by working with internal stakeholders who already know your capabilities. Observe and learn from the leaders in your team who have mastered the discipline you're targeting. This internal foundation provides a safe space to develop new skills before seeking external opportunities.
2. Embrace failure and build your personal brand – Learning from failure is critical when venturing into new territory. Use these experiences to grow and adapt your approach. Simultaneously, work on improving and leveraging your personal brand, which becomes especially important when transitioning to a new discipline where you need to establish credibility.
3. Focus on transferable skills and continuous learning – Make a list of your key transferable skills that apply across disciplines. Supplement these with targeted online courses to fill knowledge gaps. Always return to marketing fundamentals – they remain relevant regardless of specialisation and provide a solid base for any transition.
4. Perfect your professional presentation – Keep your CV clear and concise, with thoughtful cover letters (avoid using AI to write them). Consider creating a video CV as an alternative to traditional cover letters for better cut-through. In interviews, maintain professional presentation – dress smartly and maintain traditional etiquette like handshakes, even as interviews become more conversational.
5. Develop essential soft skills – Get comfortable with presentations and impromptu speaking to groups. Enhance your people skills, as relationships are fundamental across all marketing functions. Always be prepared to demonstrate ROI – this skill becomes increasingly important as you move between disciplines, especially when transitioning from tactical to strategic roles.
6. Build commercial acumen and seek diverse experiences – When job seeking, be organised and proactive – contact recruiters directly to explain your situation. Volunteer for projects outside your comfort zone and shadow leaders in disciplines that interest you. Spend time with the finance team to strengthen your commercial understanding, as this becomes increasingly valuable in senior roles, regardless of marketing discipline.
The speakers emphasised that formal education matters less than practical experience for most recruiters. They also cautioned that promotions, while exciting, can lead to imposter syndrome when they take you away from areas where you excel – something to consider carefully when planning your career path across different marketing disciplines.