Job Roles {U24;P4,M2,D2}

Learning Outcome 2 (U24): Understand the behaviours, skills and attributes necessary within the advertising industry

Pass

The job role that I will be discussing in this task is a Marketing Director. 
Marketing directors have to create awareness of the brand that is being advertised. They have key communication skills in order to target specific audiences and build customer relationships. Being the executive of marketing, they have both proofread online and print advertising before it is sent to publicly be distributed. In addition, social media platforms have to be monitored to ensure the target audiences are engaging in relevant posts to reach maximum exposure.


Behaviours and attributes required for this job role:

A Marketing Director is a very important role when it comes to finding a success of either a campaign or a whole business. This is because a Marketing Director has the power of exposure and promotion for the business, meaning they decide what the overall advertising campaigns look like and what they include/say.
Knowing this, there are many professional attributes that a Marketing Director requires in order to carry out their roles to the highest standard.


Professional attributes 

The first professional attributes are responsibility and organisational skills. As head of the marketing department, the Marketing Director has to be responsible for their project team and the overall campaigns produced. Without this attribute, they may not work coherently with the rest of the project team, and may find it easy to shift blame elsewhere if the advertising is not successful. This ties in perfectly with the obligatory skill of being well organised. In order to make sure they are responsible and accept any mistakes, they have to try to prevent them in the first place. Being organised and in full control of the project team is a massive factor in maintaining a high quality of work and having the project team members all on the same page. This includes distributing roles and tasks effectively as well as consistent catch up sessions and meetings on progress of each member. Being a team leader in the marketing department, this is mandatory and reinforces the key organisational skills needed.

In addition, some marketing specific professional attributes that a Marketing Director need are creativity as well as being communicative. In the interest of creating a successful marketing campaign for the product they're promoting, the Marketing Director has to have creativity. Although there are members of the project team who create the aesthetics of the advert(s), it is important that the Marketing Director has the necessary creativity to look over all the different ways they're promoting and find ways they could adapt and improve the design. However, to prevent the Marketing Director having to adjust and change the ways employees have designed or written content for the marketing campaigns, they also have to be communicative. This is so the project team understand what they need to individually do clearly and unambiguously. This restrains any potential mistakes or issues the project may face otherwise. 


Personal attributes

In contrast to these professional skills, a Marketing Director also requires a range of other different skills in order to carry out their role successfully. There are also plenty of personal attributes they need to use in their everyday lives. The first personal attributes that this role may need are being determined and persevering. Marketing campaigns are not easy to get right, in fact, most campaigns in the past. have failed, and very few have become very successful. This is why perseverance is obligatory for this job role. Some of the time, the project team members. do not understand or produce campaigns which are up to the standards of the business, which is another as to why the Marketing Director would need perseverance to start over and explain the core values of the business again. It is an extremely lengthy process to create advertising campaigns, therefore they have to be dedicated. Similarly, determination can be seen in the same light, in that the Marketing Director has to be ready and prepared for the task. Determination is key when attempting to create the best piece of work possible, suggesting to be a top Marketing Director, this personal attribute is absolutely essential.  

Another personal attribute that a Marketing Director may need is aspiration. This may not seem like the type of job role that requires aspiration, however to make an advertising campaign to remember, the Marketing Director has to be aspirational. To make the brand get to the top and become increasingly successful, they need to gain recognition and most importantly sales. This all comes from the marketing campaign endeavouring to create as much awareness and engagement as possible. This ties in with another personal attribute of being a perfectionist. Creating an outstanding campaign doesn't just lie upon whether the Marketing Director is aspirational or ambitious, but also requires them to put this aspiration place. To create the perfect campaign, there has to be an element of being a perfectionist and ensuring there are no mistakes or errors in the process of producing it.


Behaviours

Lastly, a Marketing Director commonly has many different behavioural attributes too. One of the main behaviours that a Marketing Director must have in the process of running a marketing campaign production is authoritativeness. This is because it is fundamental that they confidently and firmly manage the project to ensure all team members understand their roles and tasks so they get done by the deadlines. Without being authoritative, members of the project team may feel too relaxed and may not do the work at a fast enough pace or high enough standard. This is why, as the director of the campaigns, they need to be clear and unyielding. 

Another key attribute that contributes to the successfulness of a campaign is if the Marketing Director is transparent and trustworthy. It is difficult when something goes wrong with the project, but it is easier to deal with if the Marketing Director is straight and honourable with you. This is why these traits are imperative for this job role, as having to manage a whole marketing team can be difficult and there are bound to be problems that the director has to being to some members concern. Creating trust within the project team leads to more efficient work flow and motivation for the team members, provoking a more productive campaign.


These are just a few of the many professional, personal and behavioural attributes that a Marketing Director may require in the workplace to achieve the best potential outcomes of a marketing campaign.


Merit

For a Marketing Director, there are various different career development opportunities to take their careers to the next level. Although this job role is the highest possible one within the marketing department, there are similar progressing jobs available within the workplace which are a step up from this. 

One of the potential job roles they could take on in the media industry would be a Marketing and Sales Director. Often within businesses, due to the close working of the two departments, they merge into one joint team, including one Director to look over both elements. When a business has the infrastructure underneath the top job roles, they can afford to amalgamate the two departments into one workforce. This is a great opportunity for a Marketing Director, because they already have all the relevant skills for the marketing side, and carry attributes and behaviours which are also adaptable for a Sales Director. For example, the professional attribute of being communicative is vital for the head of sales, in that they have to communicate with stakeholders such as the sales team to understand whether they're hitting targets and gaining predicted sales figures. Furthermore, a Marketing and Sales Director would also require some personal attributes which a Marketing Director would possess, such as their determination and resilience in order to generate sales and create a completely motivated workforce. This adjustment to the Marketing Directors career would also be a great switch due to the behaviour traits they have already. Their transparency would make it very easy for the sales department to understand the way they should go about selling the products, therefore lead to a motivated and efficient sales team. Having this behaviour makes it much easier to control both the marketing and sales departments, allowing this individual to be the perfect fit for this career development opportunity. 

In addition, another great opportunity for a current Marketing Director in the advancement of their media industry career would be to take the next step forward and become a CCO (chief customer officer). A marketing Director has all the relevant and required attributes and behaviours to be a perfect fit for this job role. As being a CCO is about understanding what the customer wants when purchasing a product, the ability to be creative and have great judgment are professional skills that a Marketing Director can use strongly to their advantage. Judgement is one of the most important attributes when understanding what customers want, because when creating the advertisement, the CCO needs to give an overview of it and touch up with adjustments from their judgements. A CCO may also carry some key attributes that a Marketing Director may possess. Just like in any job, aspiration and ambition for the project you are working on is critical, therefore this is a personal attribute that a CCO could use when formulating plans of actions for the intention of gaining the customers interest. There are also various different behavioural attributes that a CCO need to use in their daily work lives, for example being transparent with not only their customer team, but their superiors such as the CEO of the company. An example of when they would need to be transparent with the CEO is if customers are not interested in the strategy the business are taking and they are not seeing results in terms of sales and revenue. It is important the CCO is transparent and honest with the CEO about the dilemma, which makes them trustworthy enough to discuss and find ways past the problem with the CEO.

The last, however seemingly largest job role that a Marketing Director could adapt into could be a CEO (Chief Executive Officer). This would be a fantastic opportunity because this job role is one of the most superior there are within any. business. A professional attribute that a Marketing Director has which could be translated to a CEO would be their responsibility. A Marketing Director has to have this attribute because they are in charge of the whole marketing department and have to be responsible for any failures or successes within any campaigns they publish for the business. Similarly, but on a much larger scale, a CEO requires the trait of being responsible for the whole business. because they monitor and manage every department within the business, ensuring it is running smoothly and as it should be. This may be the most important attribute that a Chief Executive Officer could have because without this they would lack trust in the employees which would lead to a less motivated workforce. In addition, a personal attribute that a Marketing Director has and that a CEO would need is determination. To run a business, you need a vision, a plan and a formula to ensure the business thrives and becomes as successful as it can be. This is not possible without pure determination to make the business rise to the top and outweigh all competitors. Finally, one behaviour that would be perfectly transferable would be the authoritativeness of a Marketing Director. This is a fundamental behaviour which would apply to being a CEO because they need to keep control of the business and run it professionally. Without being authoritative, they may lack the ability to discipline and manage the business, making it an inefficient and unsustainable workforce. Furthermore, without this trait, they may not be able to get much information across to the head of departments, leading to confusion within the business and the likelihood mistakes would be made.

However, having the personal attribute of being a perfectionist may hinder their chances of retaining this job role. This is because they may try to be too idealistic and not accept that some members of the workforce can't keep up with the way of working that they require. This could potentially lead to internal issues and upsets, creating a tense working atmosphere.

This was a job search done on Guardian jobs in early June 2019. The Guardian is one of the best known sites for jobs within the media sector, especially those at the top of the industries hierarchy. The brand recruitment advertisement demonstrates some of the benefits of this type of role (£70,000 per year plus additional benefits).

This was a job search done for a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on Guardian jobs in early June 2019. This job is a very specific job role because it requires exceptional leadership and communication skills to run a business. The salary of this job role is very competitive because it is one of the most important roles in a business. If the business find the correct person to appoint, they can demand a salary which they want as they would be very important to the business.

Distinction

Etiquette is the customary code of polite behaviour in society. A Marketing Director is a key role in any business, being responsible for a whole department, therefore they need to demonstrate important etiquette skills in the workplace. There are a variety of different ways that a Marketing Director could portray etiquette in the workplace, and I will be explaining how it impacts and enables others to complete the production successfully, but also how it helps the advertising production process.

Firstly, having general good manners is essential in the work place, for example welcoming people into the business, or just showing politeness to all colleagues. Being polite is a basic fundamental personal behaviour when dealing with stakeholders or a project team. For a Marketing Director, it is absolutely vital they are polite and encouraging for their marketing team, as it would have severe ramifications if they are not. Being polite makes the team feel valued and satisfied with the way they are being treated, ensuring they are highly motivated and inspired to work to their full potential, leading to a more successful campaign(s) and a well recognised and reputable business.
However, if the Marketing Director did not have good etiquette, and didn't treat the marketing team with respect and politeness, it may make the individuals feel undervalued and they may not want to work for the business. This could lead to major consequences and ramifications to the final product of the advertising campaigns, as they may not have been completed to a high enough standard due to the lack of motivation.
In addition, it is very important to be polite as a Marketing Director, because they report back to the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) or their assistant, who are massively important in the business and have the authority to fire individuals or change the way the marketing department functions. Demonstrating a lack of respect to the CEO may lead to the Marketing Director being sacked, therefore having an underlying effect on other people who have to complete the production. This is because they had a guideline of what the Director wanted them to do, and if a new Marketing Director wants to go about the campaign in a differing way, it could lead to confusion and have a detrimental impact on the end product. Furthermore, team members in the marketing department may become upset and unfocused if their boss gets fired, which can also massively impact the way they complete the production. These are all effects that can be caused by the Marketing Director showing a lack of etiquette in the workplace.

Another way a Marketing Director can show etiquette in the workplace is through being humble and tentative. Commonly within the creative industry, for example the marketing department, there are many individuals who are quite egotistical, and are not as open to other peoples ideas and creative thoughts. This is why it is critical the Marketing Director has humidity so they are understanding and open to others ideas. Without this trait, it may become difficult to complete the production process due to not everyone being on board with the Marketing Directors ideas the whole time. In addition, if people feel like they are not being listened to, they may be as driven when it comes to completing the production process to the fullest of their abilities, hindering the successfulness of the project. It is very important to let everyone have a say to ensure there is fairness and equality within the business, and often other people have more sophisticated and potentially successful ideas.

Transparency is a behavioural attribute I mentioned a Marketing Director would need, and it is also part of their everyday etiquette. Being transparent and honest with the progression of tasks is imperative when reporting back to the CEO or a senior work member because lying is immoral and will always end badly. Having this etiquette means the Marketing Director would become more trustworthy and they will be able to work round issues instead of trying to lie out of them.
In addition, transparency could also work when dealing with the marketing team because if someone gets something wrong, instead of getting angry and unprofessional, using good etiquette and being understanding of the dilemma or mistake will allow the Marketing Director to work alongside the team member(s) and resolve the issue.

Etiquette can be shown in how the Marketing Director behaves both physically and verbally, but there are also more ways for them to demonstrate it in the workplace. The marketing department team are key stakeholders for the Marketing Director, as they are the ones directly working for him/her. This suggests they are one of the most important groups to show etiquette to. One way of manifesting this would be to ensure the wellbeing of the staff, not just by speaking, or how they are acting towards them. Creating a safe and pleasant working atmosphere is a fundamental way of showing etiquette to the workforce. A Marketing Director can do this by creating nice working conditions for them 0 including how the workplace is presented, giving them the suitable tools and devices to use, and also being fair and just with the working hours of each person.
In addition, another way of being fair to the marketing department would be to not just sanction for the negative aspects of behaviour, but to reward success. It is a very simple way to show respect and fairness to the workforce, however it is still not presented enough in todays workplaces. Celebrating achievements of employees will make them feel valued and motivated, ensuring their job safety on the Marketing Directors side, and at the same time assuring job loyalty from the employees side.

Finally, the last way a Marketing Director can display etiquette is by being respectful to their external clients. A Marketing Director is working for a business, and sometimes they are in charge of creating and managing the marketing campaigns of another business (clients). Essentially, these are their customers which is why it is so important to show respect to them, as they may lose out on business if they are not. Showing etiquette to them would include being understanding and empathetic of their situations, but more importantly showing punctuality, which suggests they are professional and avoids any rude connotations of them or the business they are responsible for.