Friends,<\/p>\n
As you know, I’m currently working for the 8th largest B2B marketing communications firm (by billings) in the UK and I’m dead chuffed about it. (a bit gratuitous, innit? – ed<\/i> See? You’re doing it now. It’s infectious.) However, problems pop up in any new job and in this job, because it’s completely remote, it’s hard to get a read on people. What I tend to do in these situations, and stop me if this seems very familiar, is overcompensate. “Oh no!” I hear you exclaim, beating your chest and tearing at your garments. “How can this possibly be so! Haven’t you learned your lessons?” To which I reply, “Was that supposed to be plural?” And you answer in chorus, “Yes, plural.”<\/p>\n
so be it.<\/p>\n
I’ve learned some lessons, like when to sit down and write about it before I dig myself the deepest hole. And that brings us to now, and the current problem is this: Is it my job to jam mildly-spiced words into a casing to be boiled, sliced, and served to a mildly interested public in order to tick a box on a marketing communications manager’s spreadsheet of monthly deliverables? Or is it my job to bring the training and knowledge I’ve gained over several decades to develop engaging narrative to compel the reader and bend them to my will? <\/p>\n
Well? Is it that one?<\/p>\n
After being told recently that my work was too esoteric, too cerebral, and also that my work was too formulaic, stodgy, like a datasheet, I went a little overboard. I thought I’d see if I could get more love from colleagues if I started being more “wacky.” This did not go well.<\/p>\n
Then I buttoned things down and asked colleagues for reports on target demographics and the results from previous campaigns. This continued my streak of not winning any friends.<\/p>\n
So here I sit, at a loss as usual. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to report that this is the worst of my problems. <\/p>\n
Not so bad, eh wot?<\/p>\n
Your best pal,<\/p>\n
– bob<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friends, As you know, I’m currently working for the 8th largest B2B marketing communications firm (by billings) in the UK and I’m dead chuffed about it. (a bit gratuitous, innit? – ed See? You’re doing it now. It’s infectious.) However, problems pop up in any new job and in this job, because it’s completely remote, … <\/p>\n