At 29, he is already a marketing director; at 33, I am still a regional business supervisor. Is marketing the right path for me? As the 'most widespread' profession, how can marketing professionals grow themselves? Marketing professionals, or salespeople, can be considered the most widespread profession in the world. As long as your work involves selling products or services to customers, whether your product or service is automobiles, housing, clothing, food, beverages, health products, electronic devices, or insurance services, financial services, catering services, training courses, etc., you are a marketing professional. In addition, positions supporting marketing, such as planning and customer service, can also be collectively referred to as marketing professionals. From grassroots sales, to sales supervisor, to marketing manager, to marketing director/operator, to marketing general manager/general manager, the professional advancement is the dream of many marketing professionals. After accumulating professional and resource advantages, some marketing professionals have the more glorious dream of starting their own business in marketing or related fields and achieving operational success. But the reality is that among the 80 million marketing professionals, only a few can truly advance along the professional or management track. Many marketing professionals, after years of drifting, still linger at the grassroots level or between grassroots and middle management. Some choose to continue drifting in confusion, while others eventually give up. So, since you have chosen the marketing industry, how should you get through it? How can you grow yourself, improve yourself, enrich and enhance yourself? There may be too many answers to this question. Here, I will share some of my insights and discuss them with my marketing colleagues. 01 Choose an industry and stick with it persistently To do well in marketing, mindset, energy, physical strength, and learning ability are all important factors. But the most important factor can be said to be experience. Where does experience come from? Nothing else but the accumulation of effective time. In terms of products, marketing is divided into many industries, such as furniture and building materials, alcohol and food, medicine and health products, home appliances, insurance and finance, leisure and tourism, beauty and cosmetics, etc. The sales channels and customer characteristics of each industry are quite different. This determines that marketing experience in one industry is generally difficult to transfer to another. Therefore, for marketing professionals, it is very important to find an industry that suits you and that you love, and truly start your marketing career. Avoid the situation of selling beverages yesterday, building materials today, and skincare products tomorrow. Without staying in one industry and field, it is difficult to accumulate professional and resource advantages. Some people might say: 'Didn't some marketing masters achieve brilliance in their marketing journey by working in multiple industries?' I can only answer: This phenomenon does exist, but it is not common. Those who sell alcohol and market alcohol for ten years, or sell tea and market tea for ten years, have a higher success rate in the marketing field. 02 On the marketing journey, choose a company that suits you After choosing an industry, the next step is choosing a company. From the perspective of career growth, when entering the workplace for the first time, don't pay too much attention to the distance from home or the starting salary. It is best to choose a large company with certain influence and market share in the industry (even if it is the most grassroots sales position). For example, if you are in the FMCG industry, you can first enter companies like Master Kong or Jingpai Jingjiu (in their regional market grassroots sales positions), starting from grassroots positions such as merchandiser or sales representative. The mature and complete marketing structure of large enterprises helps you lay a solid initial foundation. So, does that mean small companies or small enterprises in the industry are not worth starting your career in? That's not the case. From another perspective, although some large enterprises have complete marketing structures, for the thousands of marketing personnel under them, their system seems like a machine, with strict and rigid process control, which can easily cause grassroots marketing personnel to feel lazy and lament that 'it's hard to stand out.' Choosing small and medium-sized enterprises often offers more flexibility, mobility, and innovation for personal career growth. Moreover, the division of labor in small and medium-sized enterprises is relatively less detailed, which to some extent helps marketing professionals develop comprehensively. Therefore, in summary, whether to enter a large enterprise or a small and medium-sized enterprise should also be decided based on personal personality, intentions, and opportunities. 03 On the road of growth, find a 'good mentor by your side' In the marketing field of every industry, there are national-level marketing experts and representatives of practical schools. However, due to distance, opportunities, and other reasons, you may not meet them for years, let alone have them personally guide and teach you. Therefore, regarding the concept of 'mentor,' pragmatically speaking, it first refers to 'people around you.' This mentor can be your immediate superior or a senior colleague in the same position who entered the industry a few years earlier. As long as they are willing to sincerely guide you in the industry, they are your mentor. At different stages of growth, you will encounter different mentors around you. In the eyes of some post-90s marketing newcomers, some mentors may not be perfect, and some may not have successful careers in the workplace, but as long as they have strengths that surpass yours and are willing to enlighten and guide you, they are good mentors. Being humble and following their pace is the best approach. At the same time, be attentive. As long as you are attentive and good at accepting, this 'mentor' can also be a peer you often meet in the market or a distributor boss you cooperate with. In short: having a mentor by your side to lead the way and point out the direction is better than groping blindly on your own. 04 Good industry insight books are the best senior teachers There are countless marketing books on the market, absolutely numbering in the 'tens of thousands.' For marketing professionals, the difficulty is not 'having no books to read,' but 'how to choose the right books to read.' Regarding reading and learning, many marketing professionals fall into these two major misunderstandings: A. They often chase after 'big-name' books like 'Positioning' and 'Strategic Marketing,' thinking that after reading them, they have grasped the authoritative truth of marketing. (In fact, these books are somewhat helpful for understanding the source thinking and overall logic of marketing, but they lack specific guidance for many frontline tasks.) B. They like to read books like 'Collection of Successful Marketing Cases' and think they are 'exciting and good-looking' and 'easy to understand and use.' In fact, many such books are just piles of cases, not comparable in time and space, often 'outsiders watch the excitement' without summarizing the real logic behind effective marketing. So, for marketing professionals, what kind of marketing books are more useful? You can focus on books written by marketing professionals with real practical experience in your industry, and look at the bits and pieces of others' marketing journeys, sharing successes and failures, and insights. Some marketing professionals may feel that such books are boring, or 'have no highlights' or 'are hard to understand.' Then, first reflect on yourself: Do you often stay on the surface when doing market work? Do you get by without serious thinking habits in the market process? If you have these problems, it will be difficult to enter the scene and empathize when reading such books. In addition, at different stages of growth, you can selectively read different books. For example, if you are just entering FMCG marketing, you can focus on books about product knowledge, terminal visits, distribution and promotion; when you move to middle-level marketing positions, you can focus on books about regional market operations, distributor management and collaboration; when you move to middle and senior levels, you can focus on books about business operations, overall channel management, and channel auditing. When you truly understand a good book, even if you haven't met the author, his growth, personality, struggles, and hopes can present a clear imprint before you; this is also a level of 'reading a book alive.' Then, you have 'made a profit'—at the smallest cost, you have found another good teacher. 05 'Doing things' and 'creating momentum': do what should be done without confusion Some experts say: Be down-to-earth and do the small things in hand with care; doing each small thing well and serving every small customer well is the real principle. Other masters warn us: Marketing professionals should focus on doing big things and not let small things wear you down. These two views are not contradictory. Doing small things well means that marketing is a craft that requires burying your head in the work. Doing big things means that you need to continuously exercise and broaden your 'vision' as a marketing professional. On the road of pulling the cart, sometimes you need to slow down, look up to check the direction, and seriously think about the road under your feet. Doing small things requires 'doing things with action'; doing big things requires 'creating momentum with strategy.' If you are unwilling to do small things, it is difficult to form 'strategic thinking that can be implemented,' and if you lack the high-vision 'momentum' in your heart, it will be difficult to achieve the key leap from quantitative change to qualitative change on the road of growth. In addition, doing 'small things' and 'big things' essentially share the same logic: both must be value-oriented, and never 'do for the sake of doing.' 06 Temperament cultivation: on the marketing road, do your duty, and there will be a path suitable for you In life, it is inevitable to compare. Marketing professionals are no exception. 'He is 29 and already a marketing director; I am 33 and still a regional business supervisor. Is marketing the right path for me?' In fact, as long as the direction is right, you can do your work well, fulfill your work and family responsibilities, and even exceed some responsibilities, then you are a good marketing professional. Not everyone has to be a general or marshal. And money is not the only criterion for measuring success. Even if you lack 'success' in the secular sense now, if you are still changing yourself with actions and have your own 'maturity and gains,' that is also a kind of reassuring achievement. Source: Sales and Market (ID: cnmarket) -END-