I have been doing a lot of interviews lately because of my new book, and I normally don’t get thrown by an interviewer’s question, but I really wasn’t sure what to say to that one. I write a lot about marketing and have two books out on marketing, so people assume that I am a marketer, but I am not sure that I am.
If you get my business card, it says that I am an IBM Distingusihed Engineer, which doesn’t sound a whole lot like a marketing job. And it’s not.
And my previous job at ibm.com said I was the Manager of Global Web Experience—still doesn’t sound like marketing, although it was closer.
But I think that’s OK. I mean, who says that I need to be a marketer to write about marketing? I got a professional certification in marketing, so at least I am trained. I wonder, though, if it is helpful to marketers that I am not a professional marketer. I wonder if that helps me see past the ways marketing has always been done to help everyone get to where we need to go.
After all, part of my message to marketers is that everyone in your company needs to be a marketer. They all need to be out there in public helping your customers. That’s what Web 2.0 is all about. So, in that sense, I guess I am a marketer because we all are. Maybe that’s the answer I should have given to that question.
Well, if you want to see the dopey answer I really gave, check out the full interview I did with MarketingCrossing.
