The test of a true marketing professional is the ability to rise to the challenge. What do I mean? Marketers, whether their strategists, graphic designers, writers, account managers, or copywriters, need to walk the talk and prove their marketing skills through their own online presence. An online presence, whether it’s an Instagram profile or a blog website, is an advertisement for that individual and what they’re capable of it.

Think of a restaurant in Chinatown with a logo made in Word with Calibri font and then printed by the neighboring VistaPrint. Or the ad agency that boasts doing great work but their website is dated and looks like it’s from circa 2002. All of this is below-par branding, in turn reflecting badly on the company trying so hard to establish themselves as professionals and serious artists.

Thus, I think one test of a modern day marketer is having an Instagram, Twitter, or blog presence with a dependable flow of traffic. Not for validation, but for the ability to do an experiment: can you create a social media handle and strategically build a 10,000 person following? Can you create a blog page & gather hundreds of readers not by chance, but with agency?

It’s the mark of someone with consistency and resilience. It’s all too easy to be lazy and “hope” you bring in an audience. Any attractive person on Instagram can do that. But through metrics, a collection of strategic ideas, and A&B testing, I believe anyone can succeeded at bringing in a crowd.

THIS is the mark of the modern day portfolio for the marketing professional. Not pretty business jargon on a resume.

Want to learn how? Start by reading this article by Kevin Kelly and this lecture by Tim Ferriss.

~JK