By Laia Cardona, on 4 August 2016
Would you like to know what marketing animal you are? The life of a marketer has much in common to life in the wild. In the jungle of digital environments, always full of danger and doubts, only the most resourceful can collect the fruits of KPI and prosper, while the clueless inevitably fall behind.
It may seem from time to time that only the strongest prevail, but, just as in the natural world, different animals have different strengths, weaknesses and skills which they use to survive. Some strategies are better or worse, others complement each other. Today, I encourage you to find out what kind of animal you are in the marketing world, and I’m sure you will learn something new about you and your team!
What marketing animal are you?
Knowing what animal you are as a marketer (and what role each of your team members plays) can help you make the most of your strengths and compensate your weaknesses. These are some examples of the fauna that can be found in marketing departments and agencies.
1# Cameleon
Cameleon marketers are excellent at adapting to change and quickly fitting in to their surroundings. They are experts in changing tastes, hobbies, habits and even exterior looks to adapt to marketing trends.
If native advertising or social selling become a trend, cameleons will be the first to talk about it using all of the latest platforms. And, as they will have studied all of the articles, ebooks, webinars and video tutorials on the subject, they will quickly become experts.
Being a cameleon has many advantages as their adaptability allows them not to miss out on a single opportunity and stay one step ahead of the competition. Every team needs at least one to keep their colleagues up to date. But they also have their own dangers, as running after every trend that pops up can sometimes make us lose our focus of our brand’s main goals.
2# Elephant
What’s an elephant’s most remarkable characteristics? Exactly: their impressive memory. We all know that one marketer who remembers the first banner they created back in 1999, for what client it was and how many visitors it attracted.
If you feel you identify with the elephant, congratulations: You must be a very valuable asset to your company. You know all the CTRs, ROIs, metrics, clicks, visits and impressions of the entire history of campaigns off by heart without even having to look at your computer. Any time anyone needs a specific number in a meeting, everyone turns to you. In the highly unlikely event that you find yourself out of work in the marketing world, you will always have a backup career in the game show world.
3# Dolphin
A free and intelligent animal. They hate being tied down - dolphins love their free space, bouncing from social network to social network and lingering on their favorite marketing strategies.
Dolphins are excellent as freelancers and when they do work in a company the need to have their room to roam free: they can only do their best when they allow their creativity to be as free as themselves.
4# Ostrich
The Ostrich is a very nice animal, with exuberant plumage and an impressive runner among birds. They do however have a bad habit that can be problematic: they hide their heads underground when they are afraid.
Marketing ostriches believe that threats disappear by looking the other way. You will notice they will always control the KPIs that are going well and ignore those that aren't. But don't dismiss them entirely: it is important to know how to keep your head high and face rougher times with elegance.
5# Leopard
The animal world’s fastest runner! The leopard marketer always take the lead and break record after record: they are the first to arrive, publish the most-shared posts and write the most viral tweets.
The secret behind the Leopard’s speed is in its bone structure and its muscles, but the secret behind the leopard marketers still remains to be discovered. No one knows how they do it, but they always manage to speed ahead of everyone else. They incite admiration as much as jealousy: deep down, everyone like to be like them.
If you have a leopard on your team, treat them the way they deserve to be treated. Create a great work environment, give them the freedom and flexibility to run by their own goals and keep them motivated. If you treat them right, they are the kind of person that will inspire their colleagues to be better and better every day.
6# Butterfly
An animal of legendary elegance. Their ads are comparable only to the subtlety of their flight and their beautiful colors. Butterfly marketers have exquisite taste and always choose the best images, videos or visual resources. They know that the lighting can either destroy an image or make it unforgettable and make sure to work always with the best photographers, photography directors and graphic designers. As for their personal accounts, they are the stars of Instagram.
Beautiful and fragile, butterflies are an essential part of your team, that can really make your creativity shine and attract your consumers’ attention. Don’t make the mistake of locking them up in a cage!
7# Cuckoo
These stubborn birds are very good at tricking others, to the point where they even leave their own eggs in other birds’ nests for their chicks to be raised by adoptive parents.
As you may have guessed, cuckoo marketers specialize in fraudulent advertising techniques, in order to make profits by faking results. Luckily, there are less and less of them everyday: today’s marketing professionals strive for ethics in order to generate positive engagement with consumers and hence creating much better results. From time to time however, an odd marketing cuckoo will fall from its nests and try to seduce us with their dark ways. Be sure to steer clear of them!
