Earlier this month, I shared my proudest moment with CIM London, as a marketing professional – this was creating the website for the Onyx Squash Academy from scratch.
This was no bragging opportunity, but being a member of one of the leading professional governing bodies, it was obvious to mention the Onyx Squash Academy website; mainly because it was a project that I did just to get back into marketing and show my talents as a 3rd generation business professional.
Image credit: CIM London
I have been associated with the CIM aka the Chartered Institute of Marketing, for nearly 15 years, and became a fully-fledged member about 6 years ago, then became Chartered in 2013.
Other marketers spoke about their jobs; hence, I was very honest and frank about my experience in building the website.
Combing the interest in Marketing and Squash
Many marketing professionals will always strive to be just a marketing person – but with me, I chose to be both a Chartered marketing professional and Squash (fan) person.
Many people have asked why Squash? The real reason is because of my personal experience of playing Squash and the wanting to do something that could promote the sport to a new audience as a way of bringing community cohesion, plus I did some work with England Squash a few years prior.
Despite a few problems along the way, the company is looking good.
Why marketers should be entrepreneurs
There is an age-old question can marketers be entrepreneurs? The answer is YES, mainly as we have the insight and know-how to reach the target market.
For instance, when the credit crisis happened in 2008, I noticed there were many major job redundancies and the role of marketers was the first to go – now imagine if you were a marketer with years of experience, but without the skills to do certain tasks, such as website design or SEO. It is quite common and some have the knack for delegating.
As a result, some retrain for new careers; whereas others decide to train for skills and build up a specialist in marketing to do some consulting work.
Hence, I decided to do some consulting work for a Personal Trainer friend of mine and take on a non-marketing role; by doing this I was able utilise my earnings allowed me to fund my CPD training and a bit of the marketing strategy.
End result: a website that has done well on Google.
To share my proudest moment with the CIM London community was an honour, for lots of reasons, mainly to give fellow marketing professionals hope that getting back into marketing should not be hard. Also, stress why it is essential to invest & use your skills for your own venture.
Blog post by Jermaine Ranger MCIM Chartered Marketer
