@Quincy
Dude, relax. Yes, it’s a somewhat side conversation to the broader question asked. But, like OP, he’s asking about skills that are helpful in positioning for future success. Some companies or agencies will want more specialized and deep knowledge. Others (like SMBs) will need/want someone who can wear multiple hats. It’s all relevant to the conversation.
I don’t think he’s asking you or anyone else to give free consultation. If you don’t want to provide an answer, just move on. It’s not necessary to slam him for asking about this distinction in skillsets.
Quincy said: @Zem
That’s because copywriting, campaign strategy, and graphic design are 3 separate full-time jobs.
In some situations.
No, they are legitimately 3 separate jobs. Unfortunately, as a content marketer, I find myself doing all 3 for the price of 1. Just because it’s a common practice, it doesn’t make it right.
@Quincy
We don’t get to pick what’s “right,” when The Man comes looking around for layoffs. I’m glad I’ve got a campaign management background, sold for a bit, and am good at PowerPoint. I can speak to a strategy, execute it, and pitch and report it. I teach my team to do the same. The question was “what’s invaluable,” which chatGPT these aren’t going to be separate positions/salary designations.
@Nico
Sorry, but in this economy, constant layoffs happen in the marketing field regardless.
I have more than 10 years of experience doing graphic design, copywriting, campaign management, event management, live broadcasting, CRM/customer journeys, public relations, social media management, blogs, video, photography, and more.
Still been laid off 3x in the past 5 years through no fault of my own. How “invaluable” is it if we just get tossed aside anyway?
While I agree we all need to have a diverse skillset, it doesn’t make it right that employers demand 3+ separate roles from us at all times.
Edit: My answer to this question was that you need to know someone to get your foot in the door. That’s truly the one “invaluable” trait someone in this market needs to succeed.
@Quincy
I’m right there with you. I have 15 years of very similar broad and deep multimedia and comms experience and an MBA. I was laid off from an agency 14 months ago, and 80% of my interviews have come from referrals. I have to strip years of experience, certifications, and graduate degree from my resume to get a bite from most places.
@Zem
As a graphic designer with my minor in marketing, it irks me that so many roles want both a designer and a marketer.
I have been that person who wears all the hats, mixing both skills on small teams. I’ve had marketing-forward jobs and graphic design-forward jobs. Design and marketing require vastly different skill sets. I agree it is hard to find people who are skilled in both for that very reason.
I went to college. None of my design classes would have prepared me for a marketing job. And on the flip side none of my marketing classes would have ever prepared me to be a designer. So when someone is looking for someone who can do both, they are looking to get one person to do two jobs, and save money. That’s how it has been at every place I have worked so far. They don’t have the budget for both roles so they roll the role into one.
@Zem
I have these. But for the future, I see some issues.
I see a lot of skill requirements to be photo and video shooting and editing. Also, even with graphic design that also takes a long time.
AI is slowly making copy and graphic design obsolete. I work with graphic designers and copywriters and they use a lot of AI to do their work. Now it’s also noticeable when someone uses it but a normal business owner likely won’t care.
@Taylor
Copywriting and graphic design people are not obsolete. The good people learn to use the tools to get better and be more efficient, but the tools don’t eliminate the need for the people.
My company just writes copy. That’s literally all my team does. We are much smaller than we used to be, but we’re still very much in business and people like the quality of our work better than what they get from using AI tools or working with a company that just has their team use AI to turn things around extra fast and for extra cheap.
If anything, we’re gaining traction right now to grow again because people in budgeting and hiring at companies believe the entire marketing department can be one person. That belief leads to an increase in one-person marketing teams who need help. Copywriting is not only highly time-consuming if you’re doing it right but also fairly easy to delegate, and we’re priced to make budgeting simple so we’re an easy solution.
For a lot of marketing jobs right now, the person doing the hiring wants to know that you know how to manage everything they need, so the best thing you can do is figure out which parts are high-level and technical enough that you should do them yourself and then come up with a collection of solutions that allow you to feel and operate like a whole team without needing the budget of a whole team. That’s how you become invaluable.
@Sam
Thank you! This has been good advice. I don’t disagree about how hard the skill set actually is though. The thing is my agency is like the ones you sorta mention where people have so many clients (we have like 30-40 a team) that the copywriters do not have time to be technical with it so they’ve resorted to AI and I’ve seen when they use it for Google Ads where I wish I could just do it myself.
So I meant no disrespect there and am glad to hear it’s an appreciated skill.
@Taylor
For sure. AI generated ads can be very cringey. It can be hard to maintain quality when you have a whole lot of clients. A lot of things have to go right to keep it up long-term. Being smaller and getting to be pickier with our client base has gone a long way toward maintaining a standard of producing reasonably good work for people.
@Zem
I would agree here with u/willacceptpancakes here OP. Lots of good comments here, but would have to agree. This is where we found our niche. We have a handful of designers who are also great writers/marketers.
We have a handful of designers who are also great writers/marketers.