Life as a Geek Marketer

I was reading Steve Rubel’s blog Micro Persuasion and came accross his article “The Geek Marketer“.

I realized his blog post totally described trajectory I’m currently on and it put into perspective some of the challenges and triumphs that come with this hybrid role.

What I observe most frequently in my job are the tensions that arise between my company’s Marketing Department and our Internet Group. At the heart of the matter is the fact that these departments speak different languages, and the ensuing head-butting is “all very Mars and Venus” indeed.

According to Steve:

With CEOs demanding accountability and time spent online climbing, chief marketing officers are on a push to embed technology into every facet of their strategy. But marketers and technologists are not exactly two peas in a pod. They speak different languages. Marketers like GRPs (gross ratings points). Geeks like APIs (application protocol interfaces). Dilbert mercifully pokes at these differences. It’s all very Mars and Venus.

Enter Geek Marketers. These cross-trained specialists are fluent in both worlds and bridge them. They are marketers by trade, yet they also have a hard-core interest in technology and social anthropology. As curious individuals, they are constantly studying how digital advances are changing our culture and media. Armed with these insights, they regularly apply them in a marketing context by working closely with brand teams to codify new best practices.

Geek Marketers create competitive advantage through rapid-fire testing and learning. The people I know in this role are shepherding the development, testing and measurement of all kinds of groundbreaking marketing programs. Their pilots span from the simple, such as building RSS feeds, to the complex, creating multifaceted community programs. Often they are paired with people like me, who are in a similar role on the agency side.

What Kind of Skills or Knowledge Sets do Geek Marketers Possess?

I ruminated on this question, came up with a list, and then posted the question on LinkedIn. I have to bow out to Marshall Clark Director of Search at FirstRanked for coming up with a far better list than mine.

Here’s the list that includes Marshall’s 8 year expertise and my “getting there” experience – it’s by no means cumulative. Feel free to add any additional skills you feel should be included.

Geek Marketer Marketing Skills:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Marketing (PPC)
• Viral Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Guerilla Marketing
• Internet Strategy & Development
• Interactive Market Research
• Website Analytics
• ROI Tracking & Analysis
• Website Conversion Optimization
• Affiliate Marketing
• Community Development
• Online Reputation Management
• Website Development
• Blogging
• Web 2.0 Syndication
• Podcast/Videocast Production

Geek Marketer Technical Skills:

• HTML
• CSS
• PHP
• JavaScript/AJAX
• MySQL
• Apache Server Administration
• Java Administration

What Do Geek Marketers Read?

Gosh, the list of geek-centric internet marketing blogs out there seems endless, but here are some top picks:

• eWhisper
• Graywolf’s SEO Blog
• Inside Adwords
• John Battelle’s Searchblog
• Mashable
• Matt Cutts Blog
• Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik
• Pronet Advertising
• Read/Write Web
• SEOmoz
• Seth’s Godin’s Blog
• Stuntdbl
• TechCrunch
• Unofficial Google Analytics Blog
• Web Analytics World
• Web Strategy by Jeremiah

Analytics Geek Marketers

Of course we mustn’t forget the analytics geeks, who are a special breed of their own. They are hard-core number-crunchers who use their mathematical expertise to understand consumer behavior, such as Satnam Singh, from the Consumer Insight Group of Avenue A/ Razorfish. Their knowledge of Excel will make you cry.

If you are an analytics geek and data makes you hot, Satnam recommends you check out Avinash Kaushik’s list of Top Ten Web Analytics Blogs.

[tags]steve rubel, the geek marketer, search engine marketing, sem, search engine optimization, seo, social media marketing, web analytics, marshall clark, satnam singh, lorna li[/tags]

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