If you are just starting your career as a search marketer, Amanda Richman, CEO of Wavemaker which is the second largest media agency network in the world, says that you should “reframe it around precision marketing instead of search.”

Richman adds, “Folks coming up from the ranks the search have this great understanding around consumer intent. They understand how to optimize against certain signals. They should broaden that beyond the digital world to think about what insights they’re saying that they then act on that they could bring earlier into the strategy and planning process.”

Wavemaker CEO Amanda Richman recently reflected on her career with Geoffrey Colon, Head of Brand Studio at Microsoft Advertising, and offered advice to those new to search marketing:

What To Tell Young People Just Starting Their Career in Search Marketing

It’s about the journey, not the destination. If you’re very linear and you think about your career and levels of advancement and steps and hard goals and in your mind at 24 you think here’s where I’m going to be in 20 years, prepare to be blown away and maybe blown out as well.

You have to stay relevant and I’d say have a certain humility too. Acknowledge that you’re not going to master anything in this space. It’s constantly evolving, stay nimble, surround yourself with really smart people that you can constantly be learning from and your career is going to take some really interesting twists and turns and you’re going to enjoy the ride.

Search Marketers Should Reframe Around Precision Marketing

I would say first to step back and reframe it around precision marketing instead of search. Folks coming up from the ranks with search have this great understanding around consumer intent. They understand how to optimize against certain signals. They should broaden that beyond the digital world too to think about what insights they’re seeing that they then act on that they could bring earlier into the strategy and planning process.

They might consider how they think holistically across an addressable television and other formats and obviously, within search itself, voice and other means, to actually get to that consumer intent and pay it off for brands. That is a tremendous skill set and an opportunity for them to really reframe from search expertise to broader precision marketing experts.