How to Be a Valuable Marketer

As an agency, we see this all too often when working with our contacts, who are typically in-house marketers. They’re smart, hard-working and great at their jobs, but they can struggle to secure a voice at the table when the big business decisions are being made. 

Sound familiar? 

As both a marketer and a business owner, this frustrates me enormously. When an organisation has a high-performing marketing team, everything becomes easier. At the business level, great marketing translates into more opportunities to successfully drive growth, profit, strategic decision-making or a combination of all three. Making the marketing team more valuable should be an obsession shared at all levels of an organisation.

I aim to give you, the smart and motivated marketer, a range of ways to be more valuable (and more valued). This is not a checklist, you shouldn’t aim to be great at everything. But you should find the ones that excite you and where you have natural ability, and improve in these areas. 

My Co-founder, James Lawrence, hosts our Smarter Marketer podcast. To close out each episode, he asks his guest for their one piece of marketing or career advice. Some of these quotes are featured below. Each and every guest is successful, but their advice is often unique and sometimes contradicts another guest. I believe this is because you become most valuable by spending time developing those things you love and have a natural ability in. 

Ask yourself, what gets you out of bed in the morning? Which parts of your marketing role give you energy? In which areas does improvement feel almost effortless?

There might not be a single path to pursue when it comes to being more valuable, but some marketing activities are more impactful than others. Here are what I consider to be the most valuable traits of a marketer.

“A great strategy is simple: define the problem, set the goal and find the unique insight that connects the business and the customer."
- Julian Cole, Strategy Consultant (Uber, Apple, Disney, Facebook)

Marketers who can clearly articulate the connection between business objectives and consumer needs are the ones who get a seat at the table. Strategy isn’t about complexity - it’s about clarity. Keep it simple, focused and actionable.

Think about what you’re after - is it revenue, retention, market share, or something else? Ask yourself and your team: 

• “How does this campaign lead to revenue?” 

Then ask:

• “Am I offering my customers what they’re looking for through this revenue-generating campaign?”

Keep your objective clear and concise for internal stakeholders and sharp and actionable for your customers to bridge the gap between your business and your customers.

"If you obsess over your customers' biggest questions and answer them honestly, you'll win. Content that directly addresses concerns around cost, problems and comparisons is what drives trust and conversions."
- Marcus Sheridan, Author, They Ask, You Answer

The most valuable marketers don’t just create content for the sake of it. They create content that answers the real questions their audience has - especially the difficult ones. Even if your audience is curious about questions that might push them away from purchasing your product, address them. Show them you genuinely care about their needs and when the time is right and the need is real, they’ll be back for your product. 

Whether it’s pricing transparency, direct competitor comparisons, or detailed problem-solving guides, addressing what your competition shies away from will help you stand out while building trust and authority.

"Curious marketers thrive because they adapt and experiment. They stay ahead by testing, learning and pushing boundaries."
- Kat Warboys, Senior Marketing Director, HubSpot APAC

Marketing is evolving faster than ever. The best marketers are lifelong learners who embrace change, test new strategies and stay on top of industry trends. AI, automation and shifting consumer behaviors will continue to reshape the landscape - if you stay curious, you’ll be able to turn these changes into opportunities and stay ahead of the game.

​​"The best marketers understand their customers deeply, not just through data but through real conversations and experiences."
- Aimee Engelmann, 2022 CMO of the Year

The most effective marketers don’t just sit behind dashboards. They interact with customers, understand their pain points firsthand and use these insights to guide marketing strategies. If you want to make an impact, get out of the office, talk to customers and experience their world directly.

Getting to know your customers doesn’t have to be awkward or complicated. You can join sales calls, run one-on-one customer interviews and ask open-ended questions to uncover frustrations, motivations and decision-making factors. It’s important to do due diligence and ask the right questions though - don’t waste your customers’ time. At the same time, don’t be too transactional - you’re not just researching, you’re cultivating a relationship with the person in front of you.

"Marketers need to stop obsessing over perfect attribution models. Focus on understanding impact holistically, not just what’s measurable."
- Rand Fishkin, Co-founder, SparkToro

Marketing attribution has always been flawed. With increasing privacy restrictions and algorithmic changes, the illusion of perfect measurement is fading fast. Instead, focus on a mix of qualitative insights, brand-building and measurable performance - not just what their attribution models can track.

"Brand creative outperforms performance marketing 80% of the time, even in the short term. Marketers who ignore brand investment are making a costly mistake."
- Paul Sinkinson, Managing Director, Analytic Partners

While Paul’s advice is golden, I urge you to not dismiss performance. The key is to resist the pressure to focus solely on short-term performance metrics. 

Brand-building efforts drive long-term revenue growth and, counterintuitively, even outperform performance ads in the short run. If your marketing strategy is purely transactional, you’re missing the bigger picture.

"Marketing has an enormous impact on shaping aspiration. Brands should stop reinforcing outdated stereotypes and instead create aspiration around what truly makes life better."
- Cindy Gallop, Founder, If We Ran the World

Marketing has always shaped what people aspire to, but too often it reinforces outdated norms. If you feel your campaigns or creative are falling prey to stereotypes, rethink what aspiration means for you, your customers and society at large - not just in terms of material possessions, but in ways that genuinely improve people’s lives. Whether it’s shifting gender roles in advertising or challenging traditional consumer behaviors, it’s important to know how to make your brand part of cultural progress in a positive way.

Never forget that as a marketer, you have a significant amount of control over how valuable you are to your team and your organisation. Be curious, customer-centric, and data-informed. Be a storyteller and a collaborator. And always be measuring and iterating.