Almost Timely News, 5 September 2021: Demise of the T-Shaped Marketer, LinkedIn Content Curation

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Almost Timely News, 5 September 2021: Demise of the T-Shaped Marketer, LinkedIn Content Curation

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What’s On My Mind: The Demise of the T-Shaped Marketer

One of the enduring concepts that’s stuck around in marketing – especially in hiring – is the idea of a T-shaped marketer. The idea of T-shaped skills dates back as early as DL Johnston’s “The T-Shaped Man” from 1978. For those unfamiliar, a T-shaped person is someone who has a wide array of generalist skills across a discipline, and one area of deep specialization. If you were to diagram out the level of skill this person had, it would look like the capital letter T:

T-shaped person concept

In practice, very few people manage to be both strong generalists and strong specialists.

A big part of the reason for this is specialization tends to require serial thinking and learning – you start at point A, move to B, move to C, etc. You can’t skip steps, lest you miss key fundamentals and building blocks that later steps require.

Generalization requires the opposite. Generalization tends to require parallel thinking and learning – you sample a little of A, a little of B, etc. all the way across the discipline, and the value you add is being able to find connections and parallels among the different samples. Then when you find the areas where great value could be unlocked, you bring in specialists.

Serial and parallel thinking don’t co-exist well in our brains. We tend to lean towards one side more heavily than the other. For example, you will find very few folks who are talented bakers that are parallel thinkers; baking demands both precision and serialization. Even where you put the yeast – on top or on the bottom of your dry goods – can make a huge difference in a simple loaf of bread. Likewise, you will find very few folks who are talented artists that are serial, paint-by-the-numbers thinkers. The most skilled painters can visualize the entire image all at once in their heads, and then make it manifest in ways that we can’t even see until it’s done.

Why does this myth of the T-shaped person endure in marketing and business? The reality is that most of the time, mediocrity is sufficient to get the job done. A press release doesn’t need to win a Pulitzer. A banner ad doesn’t need to be able to exhibit at the Met. The backing track to your 25-minute sales demo doesn’t have to compete against Lorde or Will.i.am. Thus, you can be minimally competent in much of the basics of marketing while still being good at something, and be labeled a T-shaped person. That’s the hope of hiring managers – someone whose work output in most areas is good enough, and in an area needed most, stellar:

The T-shaped person ideal output

So why am I talking about the demise of the T-shaped marketer? Because AI is eating away at the concept rapidly. The current generation of AI models produce mediocre output. Natural language generation produces some pretty rough first drafts. Today’s music generation models are good enough to produce inoffensive backing tracks and elevator music that won’t upset anyone. Image generators can spin up thousands of boring ads in one shot.

In other words, AI in the current generation is outstanding at mediocre output. Which means that concept of the T-shaped marketer is an endangered one:

The end of the T-shaped marketer

As the line of mediocre output from AI advances, it will do more and more of the mediocre work, the stuff that everyone can do to some degree. That line advances a little more each year; three years ago, natural language generation was in a sorry state of affairs. You wouldn’t even consider using machine outputs for final product. Today, machines can write the same bland press releases humans can, with the same average level of quality.

Three years from now? Those machines will probably crank out better blog posts than the average person.

So what does this mean for you? No matter where you are in your career, focus on being really, REALLY good at something. Being okay at a whole bunch of things is an eventual recipe for unemployment, because the machines are well on their way to being okay, being good enough, being “I can live with that quality”. Machines are still quite a ways off from being able to create masterpieces, create content that evokes real emotion, that conveys a sense of spirit. Find something that you really love doing in marketing, and make it your slam dunk.

Good enough isn’t good enough any more.

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ICYMI: In Case You Missed it

If I had to suggest only one of these articles to read from this week on the blog, it would be why I stopped doing content curation on LinkedIn. Spoiler: the algorithm doesn’t favor “set it and forget it” posting. Read the post for all the gory details.

Skill Up With Free Classes

These are just a few of the free classes I have available over at the Trust Insights website that you can take.

Thank You Notes

These are the places you’ve had or mentioned me – on your podcast, on your blog, in your newsletter. Thank you!

What I’m Reading: Your Stuff

Let’s look at the most interesting content from around the web on topics you care about, some of which you might have even written.

Social Media Marketing

Media and Content

SEO, Google, and Paid Media

Ad: The Marketing AI Conference

Want to get a jump start on learning how to pilot AI in your marketing? Join me at the third almost-annual (thanks, pandemic) Marketing AI Conference, MAICON 2021. Hear from folks actually implementing AI in everyday marketing. I’ll be presenting a session on the basics of natural language processing.

Want to get more of a sense of some of the topics? Watch this livestream I did with Marketing AI Institute Chief Growth Officer Cathy McPhillips on YouTube:

Tools, Machine Learning, and AI

Analytics, Stats, and Data Science

All Things IBM

Ad: Create Better Content with AI

Does content marketing take too much time? Do you find yourself struggling to meet deadlines and still produce the quality of content needed to attract and win audiences? MarketMuse’s AI-powered content creation software combines cutting edge natural language processing with a user-friendly interface to dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to produce great content. Research, outline, and even get machine-made first drafts that rank well in SEO and answers users’ questions.

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Good Reads, Long Reads, Interesting Stuff

Fun, Games, and Entertainment

Economics, Politics, Environment, and Society

Ad: How to Prove the ROI of your Marketing Agency

I put together a brand new talk on how agencies could use data-driven marketing as a way to showcase their value and real results they obtain. In it, you’ll learn the 5 steps agencies must take to be more valuable to its clients. For folks on the client side, these are the things you should expect of your agencies, things you should ask for when agencies are pitching you. Agencies not doing these things will not serve you as well as they could. There’s obviously a lot more detail, so go ahead and watch the talk now.

Watch the talk now by filling out this form »

How to Stay in Touch

Let’s make sure we’re connected in the places it suits you best. Here’s where you can find different content:

My blog – daily videos, blog posts, and podcast episodes
My YouTube channel – daily videos, conference talks, and all things video
My company, Trust Insights – marketing analytics help
My podcast, Marketing over Coffee – weekly episodes of what’s worth noting in marketing
My second podcast, In-Ear Insights – the Trust Insights weekly podcast focused on data and analytics
On Twitter – multiple daily updates of marketing news
On LinkedIn – daily videos and news
On Instagram – personal photos and travels
My free Slack discussion forum, Analytics for Marketers – open conversations about marketing and analytics

Events I’ll Be At

Here’s where I’m speaking and attending. Say hi if you’re at an event also:

MAICON, September 2021, virtual, register here and use discount code TRUSTINSIGHTS20 for 20% off
MarTech East, September 2021, virtual
Content Marketing World, September 2021, Cleveland, OH
MarketingProfs B2B Forum, October 2021, virtual
HELLO Conference, October 2021, New Jersey

Events marked with a physical location may become virtual if conditions and safety warrant it.

If you’re an event organizer, let me help your event shine. Visit my speaking page for more details.

Can’t be at an event? Stop by my private Slack group instead, Analytics for Marketers.

Required Disclosures

Events with links have purchased sponsorships in this newsletter and as a result, I receive direct financial compensation for promoting them.

Advertisements in this newsletter have paid to be promoted, and as a result, I receive direct financial compensation for promoting them.

My company, Trust Insights, maintains business partnerships with companies including, but not limited to, IBM, Cisco Systems, Amazon, Talkwalker, MarketingProfs, MarketMuse, Agorapulse, Hubspot, Informa, Demandbase, The Marketing AI Institute, and others. While links shared from partners are not explicit endorsements, nor do they directly financially benefit Trust Insights, a commercial relationship exists for which Trust Insights may receive indirect financial benefit, and thus I may receive indirect financial benefit from them as well.

Thank You!

Thanks for subscribing and reading this far. I appreciate it. As always, thank you for your support, your attention, and your kindness.

See you next week,

Christopher S. Penn