Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging
Look at that headline for name dropping, eh? Well, you can’t exactly call me a butter–upper because Gini Dietrich happens to be a really good friend who has starred in my videos and I in hers.
Now that we have that out of the way, here’s what this blog post is about:
Advertising Age featured a story, “Don’t Call Me CMO: Top Marketers Say Job Has Evolved Beyond Title,” I find quite amusing.
The giggle is more about the why.
Why do people feel the need to define themselves based on a single three-to-five word title? When a professional reaches the level of chief anything officer, they have successfully moved along the professional development career path to become a chief.
Why don’t we call everyone in the C-suite “Chief Cook & Bottle Washer?” That would sum up the role we’re all playing in the workplace today, right? Technology, analytics and social media have created a pea soup of necessary qualifications, and the chief marketer appears to be the most confused.
According to the article, some of the “better titles than CMO” proffered are:
Coming from a discipline of marketing frequently at odds about titles and roles, I get the confusion and need to create identity in the marketplace. Public relations professionals have been grappling with professional branding for a very long time; of late, we’ve been quite clever about hiding behind a really cool title to mask the fact we’re in public relations.
Perhaps it’s cool to be in public relations again?
I have now adopted the new label of “hybrid PR” for myself, thanks to Gini Dietrich’s blog post awhile ago when she described all the things PR peeps do in the marketing arena and it matched my competency. The only problem is it still requires explanation. At least hybrid vehicles paved the way for a combo engine, and people looking at a title can guess that hybrid means many things added to the mix. It’s pretty easy for me to just be president of Soulati Media, Inc. because that it indeed the title put on incorporation documents to get my federal tax ID number.
For those who lead teams in a corporate environment, there is so much merging and blending happening that I can see why the title thing has become an issue.
I don’t think there is a title for the chief marketing officer that can capture everything they’re responsible for, do you? The kettle has to simmer first before anyone will be able to tell.
The pitch, tone, inflection, decibel, and timbre of your vocal chords when they deliver your personal sound become richer with age. When you speak with a six-year-old, her voice is like a flute with soprano qualities. It’s so high, no adult can mimic it.
Even pre-teens have that kid-like quality to their voice that denotes youth, and it’s precious just before they reach puberty.
For young women, especially, the quality of their voices and how they elect to deliver the syllables of inflection in a professional setting can often be their downfall.
There have been many different coming from teens and 20-somethings. Most notable is the Valley Girl delivery popular in the ‘80s and still evident in this decade. Today, there’s something called where the end of a sentence is twanged with a vibrato of the vocal chord to hang on to a syllable longer than usual. The Kardashians are notorious for this.
For an example of what I’m talking about, hit this video monologue by and you’ll see a variety of sounds resonating from this woman as she imitates a range of sound delivery.
Have you ever listened to your own voice via recording? I encourage you to record your voice on your iPhone and listen to it. Or, make a video and interview someone as you stand behind the camera. Listen to how you sound when you’re in a professional interview.
One of my fave (hilarious) videos with Gini Dietrich, of SpinSucks fame, in has me guffawing and inflecting strangely all over the place not to mention the too-fast speaking, but I had tons of fun laughing through the three minutes. I knew I was inflecting for laughs, and it was purposeful. Would you be able to switch it up yourself?
When you are cold pitching someone as you look for a job or try to snare earned media, think about how your voice comes across on the phone. It’s your asset, and you should regard it as such. There’s a maturity consideration for voice intonation via the phone.
It’s imperative you lower the timbre of your voice as much as you can and never inflect up at the end of a sentence as this becomes a question where there is none. If your delivery is nasally, and Americans are notorious for speaking through their nose, it sounds like you’re in a tunnel or you have a cold.
Your voice needs to signify confidence and positive self-esteem, and how you elect to impress someone on the other end of a phone line depends a lot on your delivery (and of course what you say).
If you have a nervous giggle or speak too fast, you can easily adjust these habits. If you have serious inflection or timber issues perhaps you may want to consider a voice coach to help you adjust your tone to be more professional versus not yet seasoned.
Not all young people come across as light and airy on the phone, and when I encounter them I know immediately they have a command of professional delivery with a firm hand shake.
This post originally appeared on
Look at whose blog is rated #1 among 60 in the world for PR from Inkybee? (And, ahem, this blog right here is ranked 29!)
Ms. Gini Dietrich of SpinSucks fame and CEO of ArmentDietrich claims that top spot and to no surprise of mine. Gini has been rockin’ PR and social marketing blogging for nigh on seven years; in fact, Spin Sucks just had a birthday!
I had the distinct pleazhure of seeing my twin, the Gin Blossom, in Louisville where that guy, Mr. Social Media Explorer himself Jason Falls, invited us both to present.
You can see Gini’s presentation on SlideShare here, and you can see Jayme Soulati’s presentation, Savvier Social Media Across the Marketing Blend, on SlideShare here.
I could not resist grabbing her for a few minutes for a Soulati Media On The Street, and it will be your pleasure to hear the giggles roll as we share in our ‘raderie.
Enjoy my BFF! Man, do I love being behind the cam…
The hospitality of the Louisville IABC chapter and the Louisville Digital Association knows no bounds.
At its 5th Marketing Summit, where I presented, the day was packed with a breadth of topics and the widest array of speakers I’ve seen at a day conference.
Jason Falls, Mr. Social Media Explorer and Café Press, was emcee and earns credit for pulling in presenters the likes of:
And others from the region who spoke from public utilities, about retargeting campaigns and more.
Although I whined for four weeks that Jason assigned me the toughest topic – how social media integrates across all the marketing disciplines, the presentation rocked, and it was probably due to the fact that I had a row of hecklers (ahem, Gini Dietrich, Heather Whaling and Deborah) in the front row (not to mention my new laser pointer which reached all the way to the back of the room and spotlighted people who were too engrossed in their devices).
Thanks to Fashionbi, the Milan startup covering global fashion brands, for #RockHot analytics for my deck.
Thanks for Trackur for agreeing to “sponsor” my presentation with the first-ever advertisement in a PowerPoint deck.
Thanks to J. Crew for being the crux of the presentation with a case study on its very savvy social media, although they didn’t know it.
Thanks to the audience for letting me entertain while provoking the main goal – think differently about social media.
This is my first official upload of a SlideShare deck. I’ve always shied away from sharing my prezzies.
To my surprise and utter delight, there are already 128 views in less than 24 hours. #RockHot!
What’s interesting is that a deck can have the best pictures, but it’s truly all in the delivery.
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