Why I have a boring title. Marketing Consultant.

No conversation starter (pretty smart one, though). No Social Strategy Director. No Social Strategist. No Chief Banana Distribution (although I like that one very much). No Foreign Kid. Just marketing consultant at InSites Consulting. Probably the lamest of all job titles.

I DO think titles matter. For many, the title on a business card or in the signature of an email is a way to measure you up. Some clients only want to do business with one of the partners. It’s pretty damn difficult as a junior to get the same respect as a senior.

One of my biggest challenges is to convince more traditional CEO’s, Boards of directors, marketing directors and others to reframe some of their thoughts and break some of their existing conventions. That is a difficult task. The task is made easier by convincing them not all the things they did before were crap. To convince them they merely have to reframe some of their efforts and implement them in a bigger scheme. By using existing vocabulary. By even using some of their exisiting models. Because, let’s be honest: not everything was bad before “the digital age” or “social networking revolution”.

Existing vocabulary like “branding”, like “marketing” and traditional titles like “marketing consultant”. It is a pretty safe, non-treathening title that refers to people they already know.

I was inspired by David Armano’s blogpost:

My title is boring. SVP, (Senior Vice President) signals the level I hold as an Edelman employee. “Digital”, signifies where I spend much of my focus. It’s literal, straightforward and not very clever. And I’m not entirely sure it should be. Lots of folks in my shoes would likely rush to integrate the word “social” into the title. This is, of course the flavor of the week—and is understandable.

To end with:

After I’ve written a piece, I often go back and change the headline to reflect what I’ve written. Sometimes it’s not even close to what I started with. This and my experience during the dot.bomb have taught me that the story is more important than the headline. And I’d rather have a boring title than a boring story.

So, mock me for being a “marketing consultant”. I’m crying all the way to world domination 😉