Cheryl Goeres discusses collaboration, creativity, the value of digital marketing and the moment she knew where she wanted her career to go.
From a young age, I’ve been involved in team sports and when I wasn’t, I was drawing in a sketchbook. Marketing has merged my ability to collaborate on teams with my creativity and has allowed me to develop great ideas for my clients. I knew early on, while taking marketing courses in university, that this was the career path for me.
Temperance, an essential value for young marketers to embrace, is also one of the hardest to develop. While the marketing profession is extremely fast-paced, it’s imperative to maintain the highest quality of work for your company and clients. By taking on too much you could potentially overlook small details that could affect a campaign.
If you do overlook crucial details, be honest and own your mistakes the moment you notice them. As humans, we all make mistakes. It’s how we handle them that sets us apart from the rest. While it can be difficult to accept, your colleagues will appreciate your honesty and you’ll build trust with your team, clients, and employer.
Initially, I studied Graphic Design and took some marketing courses when I started my career. While working as a graphic designer, I began my transition into a Marketing Coordinator role. That’s when my interest in Digital Marketing began to take shape. I had to express the value of digital marketing to my manager who wasn’t familiar with this innovative marketing form.
In the beginning, it was very challenging to learn Google Ads, Analytics, and Facebook Ads on my own. While working full-time, I took the Google, Facebook Blueprint, and Brainstation courses and completed a program at BCIT. My drive to learn helped me gain the knowledge to excel in digital marketing and allowed me to show the value in it through analytical reports and ROI from ads.
Marketing is a collaborative profession where you can interact with like-minded individuals and learn from their experiences. Initially, I assumed I wasn’t qualified for vital marketing roles because my digital marketing knowledge was self-taught. It wasn’t until I started reaching out to people on LinkedIn that I began to overcome my fears. It never hurts to be top of mind when someone wants to add to their marketing team. So don’t be afraid to reach out to other marketing professionals.
Jelly Digital Marketing and PR was my first agency experience and opportunity to teach digital marketing. I was absolutely terrified at first, but my goal was to become a Certified Meta Lead Trainer in my first three years. It wasn’t easy, but I’m incredibly proud of reaching my goal in just one year. Meta (Facebook) holds quite a high standard with their Blueprint and Trainer certifications and all that hard work paid off.
When I moved into the Marketing Coordinator position, we hired a marketing agency to help us with a massive campaign. This campaign included digital advertising on Google and Facebook, which piqued my interest in digital marketing because I never knew how they worked. We received detailed reports on the campaign’s progress each month, which raised the thought, “How did you find all of this?” I started poking around in Google Analytics, Google Ads and Facebook Ads, and that’s when I knew where I wanted my career to go.
The ideal marketing role for me would be the head of a Digital Ads team while teaching at marketing conferences. At Jelly Digital Marketing and PR, we have RQOTD, also known as the Random Question of the Day. One of the most recent questions was, “If you had the job you wanted in Grade 10, where would you be working right now?” My answer? I’m exactly where I wanted to be. I’ve always wanted to work at an agency, and I’m fortunate and thankful to work at such an amazing one.
