Firstly, marketing isn’t as glamorous as it may appear. Looking after a marketing department for a marketing agency is a complicated mix of 4 rather different skills. These include the ability to multi-multitask, communicate clearly and concisely, truly understand each service and manage all of this on VERY little sleep – but more on that in a moment.

The marketing randoms: Tim Shier, Santi van Zyl, Lyndi Lawson, Katharina Scholtz

The Quirk Marketing Department sits on the cusp between two different worlds – that of an agency and that of traditional client. I mean – heck, we are marketing a marketing agency. As a consequence we have tremendous resources available to us, but are forced to divide our attention between dealing with clients and balancing both online and offline activities.

Having had this portfolio for almost a year it’s been a tremendous learning curve as well as a constant struggle to get a hold of the ever evolving role. Here is what I have personally learnt about the 4 “skills” which are involved in the day in the life of a Quirk Marketing Guru:

Skill One - Multitask:

Managing a marketing department isn’t like anything I have ever done before. There are literally hundreds of tasks constantly being juggled and it’s a constant fight to keep all the balls in the air.

Learning 1 – Prioritise:
Prioritise your months, weeks and days at the beginning of each. The job of a marketer is never done and it's critical that the marketing priorities are synched with that of the business. At Quirk we do this as follows: monthly big marketing meetings (4 hours of bone crunching re-prioritisation), 2 weeks later a smaller to do list meeting is had in which any priorities are updated and it’s then up to each individual team member to manage their days.

Learning 2 – Have a System:
With so many things constantly going on it’s vital to have a system which works for you. In my case I have little black books that I write EVERYTHING in. This combined with strict inbox management, religious calendar usage and pedantic document filing means that less time is spent working it all out when you return to a project which you haven’t looked at in a couple of weeks. Truth be told I’m only just getting into a system that actually works for me – it’s not easy when there are upwards of 150 emails, masses of phone calls and other interruptions flooding in on a daily basis.

Skill Two – Clear and Concise Communication
When you are working at 100% of your capacity it becomes vital that all efforts result in streamlined activities. Seeing as such a huge component of a marketing team’s job is communication it’s therefore vital that it’s done clearly to reduce duplication through both confusion and misunderstandings.

Learning 1 – Think:
All too often I find myself rushing to get something done and I don’t take the time to think it all the way through. Thankfully it’s something which I have quickly learnt and although Rob is constantly giving me a hard time about “not thinking” it rarely results in pain for anybody these days :).

Learning 2 – Less is More:
Not being the strongest copywriter on the planet has meant that I often waffle content and don’t get to the point. Waffle is the devil.

Skill Three – Understand What you are Selling (on Every Level):
The Quirk offering is technically quite complicated and it’s critical that it can be explained to anybody ranging from somebody in a clients marketing team all the way through to their chief technical officer.

Learning 1 – Focus on Their Needs:
Having come from a Bachelor of Science majoring in Computer Science and Psychology I often find myself getting overly technical. Marketing managers often don’t care how it works (although I’m an exception), they just want to know how it’s going to make them money. Conversely, the technical team wants to know how it works, how easily it will integrate with existing systems, often leaving the money side of things much lower down the pecking order.

Learning 2 – Never Trust Second Hand Statistics:
Simple – there is always somebody out there who knows more about more and you will be found out if you are not properly prepared  - know the origin of the statistics or if your source is wrong.

Skill Four – Sleep is a Scarce Resource
There have been times over this past year when I have worked 20 hour days consistently for 2 week stretches. It’s not fun, it’s not sociable and it’s not productive, but when there is a deadline which can’t be missed then there is no other option. Currently I average between 4-6 hours sleep a night, 7 days a week and it seems to be enough.

Learning 1 – Sleep Fast becomes a Priority:
I once went for a stretch of 9 days where I was getting less than 3 hours sleep a night. By the end of the little run I couldn’t string two sentences together and I just couldn’t keep it up. It was a sheer learning curve, but it was a great piece of mommy’s advice that finally changed things “Live a balance life Tim!”

And so we work hard to maintain our balance in the marketing team, who I'd like to introduce to you now:

Lyndi – Assistant Marketing Manager and Deputy Minister of education
Lynd's is the hard hitting, “I take no Cr**” blonde of the marketing team. With her super human ability to write fantastic copy, manage multiple simultaneous projects (including the textbook2.0 production) and consistent ability to wake up at 6am, she is a massive asset to this continually evolving team.

Santi - Internal Marketing Manager, Account Executive and Head Slave
Santles is the omnipresent mother to us all. She has an infinite ability to take on more work (and somehow fit it all in), keep office morale up and make sure all the offices run like clockwork. Santi has been at Quirk the 4th longest of all of us and is a crazy mix between an ADD bull in a china shop and a compassionate Care Bear.

Kat – Blog Manager and Research Writer
Kat is a straight hitting “I don’t beat around the bush” kind of girl – with a very creative journalistic interest and an unwavering dedication to her GottaQuirk cause. Kat is beautifully articulate and has been known to work overtime “for the fun of it”.

Tim (me) – Marketing Manager for Quirk and BrandsEye and Head Pirate
Ed's Note: Tim thinks he can get away with nothing being written about him! Muhahaha - not likely. Tim works seriously long hours, likes lame pranks and is always available to help out with whatever you need. His responsibilities are quite large and varied (to be honest I'm not sure what they are most of the time) but he's consistently enthusiastic about his work. Oh and he's a magician. Don’t judge him, it’s kinda cute.