The Virtue Of An Indirect Path

The Scenic Route

As a quasi-soft science, marketing and advertising attracts a fair number of people who come to the discipline later in their career. This isn't a field where you get a certificate to practice, or have to endure a residency or apprenticeship. It is something that many just learn by doing, with the caveat that bad marketing is frequently better than no marketing.

This means that there is, well, a lot of bad marketing out there, but also no shortage of different ideas. From a direct marketing standpoint, that's all to the good; the worst result in any test is no difference between creatives. The challenge is to fold the merits from these other backgrounds into the field.

Which is where I get to defend my own peculiar career path.

As a teenager, I was utterly convinced that I was going to be a journalist, and in particular, a sports writer. It was what I thought about all the time, from reading histories of various leagues to delving deep into statistical nerdery. Sports are how I got through math classes, because my brain well and truly hated most math classes, which might come as something of a shock to lots of people in my network. I developed the ability to prepare for the questions that I needed to ask, never lacked for the courage to ask said questions, and have a single-task focus that helped my subjects to open up, more often than not, and give me workable quotes.

So I went to a school (Syracuse) that was known for journalism, and focused on the field -- newspapers -- that held the most appeal to me. (The broadcast guys and girls were always a little too pretty for comfort, frankly.) As a hedge because there's something a little off-putting about old men asking young athletes questions about playing games, and because Syracuse insists that you try a lot of classes before you lock into your major, I developed an interest in political science, because that meant I could go from sports to politics later in life. That turned into a second major, because of good circumstances, and a desire to make my resume more impressive. I raced through school fast, doubled up on degrees, and then cast my resume to the winds, ready to work anywhere in America that needed a fresh sports writer.

Luckily, this didn't work. At all. Partly due to poor timing, partly due to poor networking, but mostly because starting salaries in journalism wouldn't have been high enough to pay for my student loans, let alone for the transportation that I'd need to do the job in the first place.

So instead of a direct path into that field, I did a lot of temp jobs. Used my speed typing and detail skills to work in law offices, which paid better than journalism and let me use public transportation, bicycles and feet. Stayed active in journalism by doing free-lance work for music magazines. Got the music bug and recorded my own stuff, then helped a friend start a trade conference, which finally led to a job in marketing for one of the event's sponsors... six years after getting my degree.

My first job in marketing taught me more than any job in the field that I've had before or since, and I owe that employer a ton... but they received terrific value as well. Political science meant that I was skilled at boiling down decisions to the legal minimums, and to hear the other side before making a case for either option. Journalism meant that I'd dig into details that others missed, and not just take things at face value. And my sports nerdery made me able to dig into numbers that other marketers would run away from, and invent my own derivatives from those, because that's kind of what sports nerds do.

Had I just gone to business school instead of journalism, maybe I have a similar or more lucrative career... but honestly, I don't think the choice would have prepared me better. By coming in through a different door, I bring other aspects to the table, and that perspective helps to create a personal brand.

Because at the end of the day, there's no single path to a career in marketing and advertising, and maybe not even a preferred one. You can learn the basics in a class or in the field, but since the nature of the work isn't set and forget, where you start is far from where you finish.

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