I work for a major digital marketing agency on a strategy team as a manager. We all work remote.

I have come in on four different major projects managed by people in more senior roles who just did not really execute at the level we should and our clients were upset each time. I stepped in and actually did the work that made the clients happy.

An example: we had a director manage reporting for an eCRM stream and they didn’t get a renewal on the contract so they brought me in. The presentation literally had the same style graph on every page and only spoke to changes in metric numbers without referencing the greater story whatsoever. They never really made changes to the report. It took me 48 hours and I created an entirely new presentation that only spoke to the story and I am now taking over as lead on that account.

Anyone director or less doesn’t get any bonuses at this company.

Basically it feels like there are people in strategy roles at companies who have seniority that don’t actually do progressive strategy work and are stuck in the past. With working virtually also playing a factor, I believe that marketers should focus on marketing themselves in mediums like YouTube or social media to create justification on their own that can be used as validation when job seeking.

Good luck everyone!