As digital marketing (and marketing in general) evolves, so does the way we think about what it takes to be a modern marketer. T-shaped marketing, the Pi-shaped marketer, growth hacking, and even ninja rockstars have all been discussed. But what is full stack marketing?
“Jack of all trades, master of none” describes full stack marketers perfectly. Due to the lack of a specialist in smaller teams, this depth of experience may result in the marketer doing multiple responsibilities at once. If all you need is a few short films for your knowledge base, hiring a specialist video marketer is pointless.
Someone who has experience and understanding throughout the complete marketing “stack” is referred to as a full stack marketer. They may be experts in a certain field, but they should be able to comprehend and work on any job they’re given. It’s crucial to remember that “full stack” doesn’t necessarily imply that they know everything.
On the contrary, it’s frequently a term used to describe someone who has some familiarity with all aspects of your business but isn’t necessarily a master of any of them. This benefit also hides the key issue of full stack marketers: experience doesn’t always imply depth or quality of knowledge. They may understand the fundamentals of video marketing, but there’s a slim chance they could manage a campaign from start to end.
That isn’t to imply that a full stack marketer can’t specialize in one or more areas. In fact, having a basic understanding of everything connected to their primary profession might help them improve their operations and motivate them to collaborate more effectively with other teams.
While the generalist vs. specialist debate is old news, most entrepreneurs agree that businesses should hire generalists in the beginning and then focus on specialists afterwards. Why? Startups require people who can wear numerous hats at first. If a PR professional is your first marketing hire, they’ll almost certainly be familiar with content marketing and social media.
However, you’ll need to hire someone to handle your PPC, landing page optimization, and analytics. If a PPC expert is your first marketing hire, they’ll almost certainly be familiar with landing page optimization and analytics as well. However, you’ll need to hire help with public relations, content marketing, and social media.
Full-stack marketers are excellent non-technical recruits for a startup. They’ll take you from zero to ninety, laying the groundwork, gaining early traction, and allowing you to expand quickly during the first year or two. Full stack marketers, on the other hand, are rarely the ones who can take you from 90 to 100 percent. Why? Startups will require specialists in the future to help them grow the framework on which they built their early success.
Fortunately, most full stack marketers have their sights set on a younger startup or a VP of Marketing / CMO post by the time a firm is ready to hire marketing specialists. That’s just the way things work. Either they enjoy the early, rapid growth period (and are departing) or they enjoy the way diverse marketing methods interact (and are progressing). Why do you want to be a Vice President of Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer? Because they are aware of all of the moving pieces. They’ll devise methods for rapid expansion and hire specialists (who are brighter than them) to make it happen, rather than favoring one tactic over the other because they’re more comfortable with it.
It’s generally safe to assume that the full-stack marketer is best suited to start-ups and small enterprises that demand broad rather than specialised talents. A full-stack marketer with a natural entrepreneurial drive and the ability to accept responsibility for growth is an effective full-stack marketer. Individuals with initiative, spirit, and the ability to see a project through from start to end are needed as businesses seek to expand.
Despite the fact that larger firms are more siloed and skill-specific, the full-stack marketer can still succeed. Despite the fact that they are unlikely to be active in every marketing field, their breadth of talent, resourcefulness, and ability to see the entire funnel means they can work well with others and share a shared goal.
The ability to measure and adjust, demonstrate the value of marketing to the business, and a focus on the client and outcome rather than a specialized topic are all traits shared by full-stack marketers in any type of organization. Because of their growth attitude and versatility, they’re also quite employable.
Check out my related post: Why is the marketing for Happy Meals so successful?
Interesting reads:
https://michaelhaupt.com/what-the-heck-is-full-stack-marketing-f950253489b4
https://medium.com/@omerilyasli/what-is-full-stack-marketing-fce60b00cfad
https://www.marketone.com/articles/full-stack-demand-generation
https://www.riverbedmarketing.com/full-stack-marketing-essential-in-b2b/
https://www.process.st/full-stack-marketer/
https://drop-desk.com/blog/beginners-guide-to-full-stack-marketing
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