Today is the first day in eight years that I will not go to work as a marketer within the staffing industry. Next week, I start a new job as Managing Director of Marketing for Bennett International Group, a specialized trucking and logistics company based in McDonough, GA. It is an opportunity for me to change industries, although ironically it is one with a huge ongoing staffing concern – the recruiting and retaining of truck drivers. I will also be changing locations, trading working from home in Western NY for working from an office in a place that is 1,000 miles away. (more…)

I have come to another crossroads in life. After what has been a beautiful summer in Western New York spending time with family and friends, my wife and I had to make one of the most difficult decisions we have ever had to make; the decision to move. On September 4, 2012 I begin a new job with a different company, in a place far, far away from home. McDonough Georgia, about 40 minutes south of Atlanta is the headquarters of Bennett International Group, a privately held trucking and international logistics provider. There, I will work as the Managing Director of Marketing, helping to continue the story of one of the most successful businesses in the Atlanta area. (more…)

In this, my eighth year at Hudson I have embarked upon a different role that has already made me crazy busy in the first quarter. It started in the middle of last year, when my boss and I discussed the changing roles of marketers, and the skills we needed in the department to be the best possible business partners to the organization. Able to make one additional hire, I was given a unique choice; hire a marketer to lead the IT practice, or hire my replacement so that I could become that lead marketer. This was not an easy decision. I have prided myself on being the online marketing guru within my company. If I brought in more online talent, wouldn’t that limit my unique value proposition to the organization?

The answer as I thought about it, should be no. In fact online marketing ought to be the core competency of ALL marketers in a B2B professional services business. Why? Because buyers have shifted the primary source of their decisions from their peers to online sources. It only made sense that whatever role I wished to play, we should go out and find the best potential online marketers to join us.

With that decision made, we posted an online marketing manager job in June. We screened many excellent candidates. In the end, it came down to 2. Just as we had to make the tough decision on who to hire, a more traditionally trained copywriter decided to leave our team. We made the bold move to hire BOTH of our top candidates (one to replace our departed colleague). Starting in August, I had the great pleasure to onboard Bobby Wilson and Beth McEnery, two outstanding professional services marketers in the Chicago area.

Through the end of the year, our entire team was tied into the rebuild and launch of all of our global websites on a new Content Management System (DotNetNuke) with a new design, and a heightened focus on SEO and lead generation. As the project wound down to launch, I finally had the team that could effectively do some of what I have been doing in interactive for 8 years so that I could transition to a more all-encompassing lead marketer role.

Onward Toward Hudson IT
I have always preached that the only way to grow is to make yourself uncomfortable. If you aren’t uncomfortable in the things you are doing, then you aren’t learning. You have to learn new skills and do them with proficiency in order to make yourself comfortable again. It is purposeful career stress. Even though I was performing my interactive marketing duties to a level of proficiency, I needed a new challenge. I needed to be uncomfortable.

I accepted the responsibility of becoming the lead marketer on the Hudson IT business as well as continuing my primary responsibility as Director, Interactive Marketing for our North America region. Check out my new professional bio on the Hudson IT website. As lead marketer, my duties have already diversified to marketing strategy, increased budget responsibility, sales literature development, event planning and management, and brand positioning to name a few. While these new areas of learning alone are enough to keep me busy, I have also taken on additional people management responsibilities within our team. I’m very much looking forward to achieving outstanding results for the IT practice and helping to guide the careers of our new marketers. 2012 should be a great year!

Here we are with just a quick little note to brag about being Silverpop Engage Certified. The sneaky thing about being a marketer in the digital age is just how much technical knowledge you need to have. I’m not talking about being able to write Java code, or write a SQL query (although some marketers likely have to do this too). I’m talking about getting certified in all of the technical tools we mix together on a daily basis to do our jobs. From Excel to Salesforce.com, from Adobe Photoshop to WordPress, from CSS to CMS, we are constantly required to use one of the more diverse kits of technical tools needed by any industry.

I know that engineers and architects get certified in everything from building codes to AutoCAD, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t know if they are asked on a nearly daily basis to be fluent in a new tool. From one marketing tactic to the next, there is always a new piece of management software, syndication software, creative software, Cloud Whozit, and SaaS Whatzit. So, when a vendor takes the time to offer a certification, you know they are in the business of user proficiency and user adoption. Silverpop knows that to beat their competitors at Marketo and Eloqua, they need a legion of loyal fans who are rock-star proficient at using their software to make marketing magic. If I weren’t in the weeds with the system every day trying to prove its value to my company, I might not have even bothered. I found the certification process thorough and useful in learning many corners of the software I might not have explored otherwise. With that knowledge, I just might be more ambitious with my marketing than I would have before. Mission accomplished, Silverpop. You have my thanks for the Certification challenge, and I have this handsome certificate not suitable for framing to adorn my blog and resume.

I’m getting a taste of the single life. For the longest time, Tricia has been the devoted wife while I take many a trip to Chicago or other cities on various business excursions. I have also been known to take my share of guys trips. So, I thought it was only right to encourage my lovely bride to take some time to herself for the first time in almost forever. She left for Florida bright and early Sunday morning. She’s hanging out with one of her close friends and clients, leaving me home alone to pretend what it’s like to be a single parent until Thursday night.

Let me just say, that I have a new appreciation for a great many things. Here are my top 10.

10. My Wife, the Maid. It’s not that I don’t clean up things around the house, I really do. It’s just that when you work with a partner on household stuff, it doesn’t seem nearly as repetitive. You don’t have to pick up the same exact kid mess 3 times. She usually picks it up twice and I’ll get it once.

9. Groceries. You know what? They don’t magically appear. Somebody around here actually goes to the store and buys them. Huh.

8. My Wife, the Bill Payer. These things just keep appearing in the mail. Not that I thought money magically disappeared from my account. Or, did it? hmmm…

7. Executive Chef and Meal Planner. This actually should be my #1. The fact that I married someone who has something on the table every night to delight me, is an absolute treasure. I will forever listen and participate when she says “What should we have for dinner?”. That is one of the more stressful questions, I now realize. Granted she has so much more practice than me that the answer comes more quickly. Still…what a pain!

6.  Chief Bottle Washer. Those darn dishes don’t clean themselves, despite the farcical idea of the “dishwasher”. Shame on whoever invented this “magic device that cleans your dishes”. You rinse every dish anyways – saving them in a special place for days. Then you have a massive pile to unload and put away.

5. Chief Laundry Officer Ditto. Except that my jokes about how I don’t know how to use the washing machine will probably never fly. I’m very good about putting my laundry away. I didn’t realize how much disipline there is in actually getting it to that point.

4. Taxi Driver. The kids and me have to be or want to be in 10 different places per day. Hello car, I really never knew where all your gas went. NOW, I know.

3. Spare Time. There is so very little of it for things like, oh I dunno…blogging, or working out or being a Cubmaster. Clearly running a house with 2 people is far more efficient if anyone has ambition to accomplish anything outside of keeping the home in one piece.

2. Work And… The fact that someone would run a household and have a job, and still have a smile is nothing less than remarkable.  I’ll be just fine, and I’m betting I could last a few weeks. I also know that running the house takes practice, and I’d find ways to be more efficient.  Still, though that kind of multi-tasking is not to be underestimated.

1. My Best Friend. It’s just strange. When you are so used to sharing the hustle and bustle, and talking about it at the end of the day, things can seem very quiet. I have the oddest thoughts. I think about the things that Tricia takes care of, as I go about taking care of them for a week. I think about what it would be like if she weren’t here. Yes, morbid. Of course I would adapt. People do it all the time. But, our life together is soooo much better as two. So much more efficient, so much more interesting. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

Let me say, this experience is absolutely awesome. My kids were looking forward to the change in parenting from Tricia being the primary homemaker to me. I’ve done some things differently (like allowing them to do hot tub snow angels as an example), but I do find myself saying the same things that I often think my wife harps on too much. It’s as if all of the practice she has in her role has led her down a certain path. I could see myself there too. I’ve learned a lot this week. I could totally do this. You know what? I don’t really want to. I’ll be happy when she’s home, and I’ll have a different perspective on how great she is at her jobs.