Eyes Wide Open: What Cutting-edge Marketing Really Looks Like

With a degree in marketing from a great business school, one would think I know about strategy. Words like integrated, strategic, and plan often get thrown around in the marketing and advertising universe. Of course I know what these words are; I studied them. I wrote an umpteen number of marketing plans for both fake and real companies. I have done the work. I know my stuff, or so I thought.

But I didn’t know that I didn’t know. Segmentation, targeting, positioning, and branding are all terms I know in the textbook definition sense, yet I didn’t really know what they meant until I started working at FabCom, a full-service integrated marketing and advertising agency in Phoenix.

Fresh out of college with no experience, what’s a gal to do? …Get a job at a digital marketing firm. Hired as a Social Media Copywriter, I wrote blogs, and you guessed it, social media. I had my list of clients for whom I curated monthly social media calendars while writing brand-building articles for other clients. My purpose was to make my clients local experts and be the voice of their brand in the digital sphere.

My work got passed to the SEO team who then passed it along to the design team. I never saw it again. You see, I thought I understood my clients. Their online voice was my voice, but I didn’t understand anything else about their online presence. I didn’t know their Google rankings, clicks, or if I’d been a good investment for them. My job was to create content and nothing else. I did this for seven months, until I didn’t.

Everything changed when I walked into FabCom. I was proud of my experience and of my writing—it’s good for a rookie—but I was looking for more and Brian Fabiano, FabCom’s CEO, told me I could be more and I was ready for it.

So, I thought I knew strategy, I wrote it in college and planned cohesive online content month-after-month for multiple clients. That is strategy, right? Yes, maybe, but only in the most basic form. And FabCom isn’t here for that. When you talk about comprehensive strategy, dynamic segmentation, and integrated marketing and advertising, that is where FabCom is leading the industry.

What’s the difference? you might ask, because marketing is just marketing. But it isn’t just marketing anymore with the advancement and accessibility of technology. Marketing is now multi-channel, cross-platform, diverging, and most of all, strategic and integrated.

For each new client, the team at FabCom tailors an individualized, strategic marketing plan. Hours of data-driven research and collaboration go into each and every plan. Branding, positioning, integrated cross-channel and cross-media mapping are done to such a great extent, it seems intuitive, but it’s just passion and understanding for the changing face of marketing.

And here I am, the girl who was told before I worked at FabCom, “You’re just a social media person, and don’t realize it yet.” Brian saw past my lack of experience and focused on my potential. Likewise, FabCom sees where a client has been, is at now, then zeros-in on the raw potential, and creates an integrated strategic marketing plan to make that happen.

Coming into this position, I felt underprepared because FabCom does things so differently. They have redefined what it means to be a strategic marketing and advertising agency through unparalleled understanding of their clients. There isn’t anything that can prepare you for joining an integrated strategic marketing agency. While years of experience may help get your foot in the door, a vision for the future and passion for what you do is the fuel this company runs on.

This is marketing and advertising on a new level. I have only scratched the surface of understanding during my first week at FabCom. In the months that follow I will continue to learn and earn my place at this brilliant agency until I, too, am seen as one of the experts.