Why You Should Hire a Marketing Generalist

A few months ago, we introduced you to the Marketing Generalist: a corss-trained professional that reminds us of a plate spinner. Have you seen those plate spinners at the circus? They place a flat disc on a tall, wobbly stick, and spin the plate. Then, with great fanfare, they add more, until they have five or six spinning plates all in a row.

If you’re a small business looking for creative expertise, you probably need a plate spinner of your own.

Some small businesses often can’t afford to invest in full creative teams, so they bring on short-term help to complete a big task like building a website. But that doesn’t help with long-term tasks like adding content to a site or conducting a social media campaign...they need find a Marketing Generalist, i.e. a plate spinner.

What is a Marketing Generalist?

Sometimes known as a Community Manager, a Marketing Generalist is a talented individual that have multiple skills you can put to use.

These employees are a one-stop shop: part Copywriter/communicator, Social Media Specialist, PR guru, and Sales Professional. They may have an advanced degree in marketing/communications, but generally, they have years of experience as a do-it-yourself creative sales expert.

Skills to Look for in a Marketing Generalist

Businesses need promotion in order to drive sales. If you’ve made the decision to bring on a Marketing Generalist, there are some basic skills they’re going to need in order to build your business.

• They must be extremely organized, creative, and with solid communication skills
• They must use analytics to build a strategic marketing plan
  
• They should have the skillset that will allow them to develop a business-prospecting plan to help you find more customers
  
  

  This plan should include low cost but high yield marketing techniques such as:

• Content, which include blogs, email, and direct mail campaigns, a website, and even storefront signage (if you’re in the retail business)

• Analytics, the most useful analytics data will help you determine your target audience, their demographic makeup, and geographic location

• Sales Collateral, which could include Power Point presentations, brochures, or internal talking points that will help hone your business pitch.

• External Events like having a community open house, or attending a networking event or even offering your expertise to local media

• Posting to social media in any venue where your potential clients are will be important

The ROI from these activities have proven to be very high for any business, but especially for small companies with limited resources.

Finding Your Marketing Generalist

Is it difficult to find a talented creative with all of these skills? The answer is “sometimes,” which is why Artisan Talent is a great resource for your business.

We can help you find your one-stop-shop resource. Contact us today to discuss your goals and how we can help find the perfect match.