Robert Edgcomb – Success and Leadership in the Marketing Industry
In this inaugural fifth episode, Lee interviews Robert Edgcomb, Marketing Manager at SMA Healthcare. They discuss career advancement in the marketing industry and how the manager to director level differ. Robert brings a deep understanding over his time working in social media and marketing and the next chapter in his work.
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00:00:00:05 - 00:00:14:09
Lee Murray
Welcome back to the Explorer and Growth Podcast. In this episode, we explore what it looks like to move from a marketing manager role to a marketing director role inside of a growing nonprofit organization. My guest today is Robert Edgcomb from Smart Health Care. Hope you enjoy.
00:00:16:10 - 00:00:18:18
Lee Murray
All right. Robert, thanks for being here.
00:00:18:19 - 00:00:19:14
Robert Edgcomb
You have Emily?
00:00:21:13 - 00:00:47:21
Lee Murray
Yeah, definitely. So let me give a quick introduction and then we'll jump into this conversation. So Robert and I were having lunch. The other day, actually, and we were talking about his transition, our upcoming transition from marketing manager to director. And, you know, it was just such an interesting conversation. I thought it would be great to bring him on here and share those thoughts and ideas more widely with the audience.
00:00:48:04 - 00:01:07:23
Lee Murray
I think there's probably a lot of companies at one time or another that are building a marketing team and they could either the owner or their marketers can benefit from what's going on, what's fresh in Robert's mind at this point as he's transitioning. You know, these are the kind of things that I don't think get talked about as explicitly.
00:01:08:06 - 00:01:25:20
Lee Murray
I think we met a lot of times on podcasts. We'll talk more high level about things. And but this is just like the raw, you know, here's an actual person that's actually, you know, getting promoted. And so I think it's going to be really cool to see what's on his mind. Just background. Robert and I have been friends for about three years or so.
00:01:25:21 - 00:01:48:20
Lee Murray
We attend the same church and as I said, he's currently the marketing manager at SMA Health Care, and I'll let him kind of talk a little bit more about his organization. And Robert got his masters in Strategic Communication from Washington State University, and prior to this role, he was in the social media specialist role, creating a bunch of cool content that, in my opinion, I've seen.
00:01:48:20 - 00:02:09:15
Lee Murray
Some of it was very unique to his industry. I don't really see a lot of that happening in the nonprofit space. So as he's going through the transition from manager to director, I know his responsibilities are obviously going to change. What he's owning is going to change. I'm sure he'll be challenged in a lot of new ways, but he's excited about this next step.
00:02:09:15 - 00:02:13:20
Lee Murray
So let's get in the conversation. Thanks a lot, Robert, for being here.
00:02:14:10 - 00:02:25:15
Robert Edgcomb
I appreciate you having me, Lee. I'm excited for the transition and you know, it's been a really exciting three years and I'm ready for more and an opportunity to grow with. I'm a junior with some health care.
00:02:27:23 - 00:02:44:13
Lee Murray
CO so well let's do this let's start out by kind of framing out estimated the business you're in the industry you're in I know it's a nonprofit that I think will give us context for any of the perspective you have on what we're going to talk about.
00:02:44:13 - 00:03:13:20
Robert Edgcomb
And as you said, state health care is a nonprofit. We are a behavioral health care provider and a six county area and northeast central Florida. We provide services to individuals who are dealing with a variety of mental illness and or addiction, and we provide a pretty comprehensive set of services to treat both of those things and sometimes both of them at the same time or separately.
00:03:13:23 - 00:03:32:18
Robert Edgcomb
So that's kind of the broad overview of what we do. I don't want to get too specific or too into the details, sure, but we have about 950 employees and like I said, we serve six counties. And in our last fiscal year, we serve just over 26,000 clients provided treatment services to them.
00:03:34:12 - 00:04:11:17
Lee Murray
Yeah, that's great. So sizable organization, you know, needs a lot of marketing help, support to everybody in the operating at every level. So, so that's great. I mean, and it's a service, obviously that we're seeing more and more in need of. So, you know, this is not something that's going away by any means. Let's start by kind of talking specifically about what your you've been doing in your current role, right, as marketing manager, just to sort of set the stage for where you're coming from.
00:04:11:17 - 00:04:36:18
Robert Edgcomb
Over the last three years, I have kind of done a variety of work. I've a lot of content creation, developing graphics and videos for social media, developing those skills. When I came in, I didn't have a lot of those skills, but I've been given the opportunity to grow, to build those up and to learn and try new things.
00:04:36:18 - 00:04:55:12
Robert Edgcomb
So I've been doing a lot of that and I do a lot of I do some or most of our communication works. If we have to send out press releases or emails to media or any contacts like that, or if I need to coordinate speaking engagements or get somebody to do an interview, I handle a lot of that work as well.
00:04:56:01 - 00:05:14:07
Robert Edgcomb
And then some of our internal communication, which is kind of combined both the content creation and communicating out to staff. I've done some projects along those long, those rounds as well, just doing a little bit of everything, but it's really centered around that content creation and social media management.
00:05:16:00 - 00:05:46:20
Lee Murray
Gotcha. So that I kind of think of those roles as sort of the practitioners, right? You're actually getting your hands dirty with creating video or coordinating at best, you know. And so now as we're talking about, you know, you're moving from manager to director, I'm sure there's probably going to be a lot of different duties or responsibilities are probably going to be, you know, more systems that have to be put in place or maybe a team you have to build up.
00:05:47:03 - 00:05:55:05
Lee Murray
I'm interested in all of that. So tell me tell me what you're thinking and then what maybe the organization's thinking about how you're moving into that role.
00:05:56:16 - 00:06:17:13
Robert Edgcomb
Okay. Now I give you a little bit of background about our marketing department. We are okay. When I was hired, I was hired two months after our director was hired, and we were the first marketing department for our organization and first formal marketing department. So we've been given the freedom and the opportunity to kind of build what we want to build.
00:06:17:13 - 00:06:54:13
Robert Edgcomb
And over the last three years we've done a little bit of this and that in terms of content and in terms of like real strategic marketing, but a heavy focus for us has been our brand, building our brand, establishing it and managing it, which is really helping us as we prepare to move forward with our work in the marketing realm, really looking at having more a more strategic approach in what we're doing in a more targeted approach and not just be in this let's do this project, let's do that project, but really looking at our goals and our objectives and our strategies and building our work around that.
00:06:55:09 - 00:07:13:03
Robert Edgcomb
But as I prepare for this transition, one of the big things that I know I'm going to have to do is I'm going to be in charge of the department. I no longer have the freedom to defer, to go to my boss or go to others to say, What do you think about this? It flips. People come to me and say, Hey, what do you think about this?
00:07:13:03 - 00:07:45:04
Robert Edgcomb
So just preparing myself to know that I'm I'm in charge at the department. So if we succeed, that falls on me. If we don't succeed, that's not me. So I want to be prepared for that other thing I'm going to have to do within the managing the department as managing a staff member. Over the course of the next couple of months, we're going to be looking to hire a new graphic designer that will fill my role, but somebody who actually has that background and someone who can really be involved in a lot of our content creation.
00:07:45:04 - 00:08:09:01
Robert Edgcomb
So I'm going to be focused on that as well. And so I'll have a staff member alongside of me. And so that's something that'll change when I step into this new role. One, one part that I don't know if it's good or bad yet is an increase in meetings that I need to attend right now. I don't have a chance of doing that, but when I step into a director role, there's more meetings that I need to be involved in because I need to be aware of what's going on across the organization.
00:08:09:10 - 00:08:17:04
Robert Edgcomb
So those are kind of some big things that I know that I'm going to have to step into when I move into the marketing director role.
00:08:18:23 - 00:08:36:21
Lee Murray
Yeah, definitely. And so, you know, if you're stepping into some of these other business meetings, I would think right. With leadership, what is that going to look like for you? I mean, are you are they wanting you to come into those meetings and and how are they how are they thinking about that? Are they saying, okay, we know?
00:08:38:01 - 00:08:50:16
Lee Murray
Well, let me ask you, this was your previous because I think you're you're going to be taking over from the current director. So was that person in those meetings and then how are you function that moving forward.
00:08:52:08 - 00:09:19:05
Robert Edgcomb
He was he's in pretty much all of the big leadership meetings has a seat at that table and is part of all of the conversations those those teams of people. When you sit at that table, you're involved. You're not just a body and a seat. There's a lot of engagement because we look our you look around at that table you have in smart, capable, hardworking people who bring a lot to the table in different areas.
00:09:19:05 - 00:09:44:19
Robert Edgcomb
Some are more operational, some are clinical, and some are more business minded. But it's a collaborative group that when you sit down at that table, like I said, you're you're part of the team. It's not just I'm here to listen. There's engagement and through those meetings, my boss will come back and give me updates about what's going on and if it relates to work that we're already doing, or he'll bring new ideas to us or projects that we definitely need to be working on.
00:09:45:02 - 00:10:14:07
Robert Edgcomb
And so I think that'll be the perspective where I sit down is getting a real good pulse about what's going on in our our company, our and really in our industry. We cover six counties. So that's a lot of a lot of area and a lot of people. So we there's a lot going on and so just being able to keep a pulse on all of that and really make sure that the work we're doing on a day to day basis lines up with what our organization's trying to trying to do.
00:10:15:01 - 00:10:24:16
Lee Murray
Sure, sure. Yeah. So now in the director role, will you be reporting to the CEO or to VP, or how does that work in organization?
00:10:25:09 - 00:10:32:21
Robert Edgcomb
By direct report will be our report to our chief operating officer who reports to the CEO. Yeah.
00:10:33:18 - 00:10:58:24
Lee Murray
Okay. So, you know, I'm thinking about the the team aspect of this because now you guys are a team of two or three or you're about to bring on another person. So, you know, it's a small team and what are your thoughts about growing that team? I mean, strategically, where do you find that you have the greatest need?
00:10:58:24 - 00:11:10:10
Lee Murray
I mean, I know you talked about graphic design, right? If if that part works out, where where do you see how do you see that team growing?
00:11:10:10 - 00:11:37:02
Robert Edgcomb
Well, I think starting hiring somebody who has that background in graphic design right now, my boss and I have very complementary skills. He has all of that. He's really talented in that area. I'm also in like video production. He's got a huge background and all of that, much more creative and artistic than I am. But our skills, our skill sets are so complementary that as I prepare for this transition, it's finding somebody who fits that complementary skill set on the other side.
00:11:37:22 - 00:12:01:17
Robert Edgcomb
So bringing them and and then looking at kind of the work we're trying to do and keeping them involved and engaged in everything. And then down the road, one area that I've kind of started to look at and thinking about and has already brought it to the table is the possibility of adding somebody in like a communication coordinator role to help maybe manage that media side of things, social media.
00:12:02:09 - 00:12:29:07
Robert Edgcomb
And then one piece is developing information or bullet points or whatever it may be to prepare some of our leadership team when they have to go to Tallahassee or the state for legislation, they're able to provide some of that information so they can advocate on behalf of our organization. So there's some areas in there from that's another position, but that's a little more long term as I start to settle into my new role.
00:12:31:02 - 00:13:04:12
Robert Edgcomb
And then another area that I've started have been starting to talk about and have been kind of kicking the can down the road. But we haven't really go out and get it for Get It Moving is bringing interns in. I'm a big I'm a big proponent of development. Okay. Somebody in who can who who's still in school give them a chance to get some experience, develop some of their skills, give them real world interaction with our either our industry, both mental health or behavioral health services and or marketing.
00:13:05:06 - 00:13:28:14
Robert Edgcomb
But also it allows us to be able to do a little more when we have something like an intern with us, we're able to throw more projects out there and just keep that ball rolling. So those are some vision I have for the department. Obviously, this is a never an ever changing field, so my vision could change or it could evolve over the course of time.
00:13:28:14 - 00:13:38:23
Robert Edgcomb
And I may look and say, maybe not a communications position, but there's something else more valuable that we need over the course of the next couple of years.
00:13:38:23 - 00:14:13:03
Lee Murray
Definitely. So you you have, as I understand it, locations where you're providing a service. Can you reach out to some of those people at a location to assist you in any way to maybe help create content or put stop, you know, put marketing pieces on the front line? You know, I'm trying to think about your team as not necessarily full time hires or part time hires, but, you know, people that are existing in the company that can help you build before hiring, is that is that an option?
00:14:13:03 - 00:14:47:02
Robert Edgcomb
I would say yes. I mean, I think we're like I said earlier, we're a pretty collaborative team. So trying to figure out how we can assist each other, we can develop all of these materials, we can develop these videos. But social media only goes so far. And so being able to share more of that interpersonal face to face communication and providing our staff in these different counties and different facilities material to reach more people or reach people on the ground, if you will, only takes our our name and our brand further.
00:14:48:00 - 00:15:14:06
Robert Edgcomb
And then also having conversations with them about you know, referral sources in the area, whether that's just this is generally speaking like doctor's offices or other medical locations, bringing them materials or developing some sort of like email template to reach out to them to try and just kind of put our name out there and continue to bring more, more clients enter the door.
00:15:14:06 - 00:15:37:02
Lee Murray
Yes. And you know, the whole partnership part of it, we talked about this a little bit in our conversation before, I think is very key because you want to be providing value to your resource partners who can refer you business. I know in the nonprofit world, a lot of it can be partner driven, you know, so, so, so tell me a little bit about your your thinking there.
00:15:37:02 - 00:16:02:19
Lee Murray
Like and I'm I'm a kind of like a broad, you know, thinker when it comes to marketing tactics, right? Like I don't necessarily have to be on the latest trend. If it's valuable and working for the audience, then yes, we want to focus on it. But you know, if we want to direct mail or if we want to put up a sign on the side of a boat bus, you know, it really depends on where is your market and will they find value from the message and where you're delivering it.
00:16:02:19 - 00:16:18:14
Lee Murray
So, you know, if you're looking to reach out to your partner specifically and then I would I want to talk about your end user, but what are some of your kind of marketing tactics that you're trying to try to push out there that may be different than what you're doing now? Okay.
00:16:18:22 - 00:16:39:12
Robert Edgcomb
So I think I touched on one earlier email marketing, and I think it's a really low cost effective way to reach people. But in order to get actively a, I need to think what information do they need? Not necessarily what information do we want to provide them? Because we've we've got that aplenty. Sure. But what are they looking for?
00:16:39:12 - 00:17:04:20
Robert Edgcomb
Yeah, sure. And what's in a what's going to get them to respond, whether it's sharing information about some of our programs and services. And they may think, hey, I have a family member or friend that I can refer to them or we talk about maybe some of our need from a financial standpoint, and we get them partnered up with our our foundation and get donor dollars coming through.
00:17:05:09 - 00:17:29:08
Robert Edgcomb
So it's a figuring out what what selling points are going to get them to respond to our our marketing efforts. So there's a lot of options. But I think, like I said, email marketing is something we really haven't done a lot of, but there's so much potential with all of the information that we have kind of just holding on to.
00:17:29:08 - 00:17:51:00
Lee Murray
Especially for the partner side. I agree 100% email is underrated in my opinion. I have a lot of success with my clients when on on email and it's following kind of that same train of thought that you're laying out. It's what kind of value are they looking to receive and how can we provide it to them in a digestible way that builds trust, right?
00:17:51:21 - 00:18:28:05
Lee Murray
Yeah. It's, you know, it totally will work. And I think for for your end user, these communities that you serve, I've had the chance to work with a couple different nonprofit type of companies that are organizations that work with states and you know, they're kind of essentially going after a similar user base. And so we've looked at I've had the chance to work with bigger, you know, communications teams and and see what they've been doing and see how it's worked right.
00:18:28:05 - 00:19:00:19
Lee Murray
And a lot of the things that they're doing are very old school, right? Very tribal, like, you know, getting in touch with the local pastor at a church or or like a local community organization that brings people together in a certain way. And they have the network right there in touch with the end user, end user. And so it's just getting in touch with them and disseminating the information in a in a valuable way through that partner sometimes.
00:19:00:19 - 00:19:17:18
Lee Murray
And sometimes it could just be fliers to the, you know, to certain neighborhoods or message boards or it doesn't necessarily have to be a fancy Facebook ad campaign, even though I think Facebook ads does, they do still work.
00:19:17:18 - 00:19:43:05
Robert Edgcomb
Yeah, I totally agree with you. You know, there's there's no shame and a more I think the term you used earlier boots on the ground approach you know more personal are face to face getting out into the community. You know we have staff on our team that that are doing that. They're going to community meetings, they're giving presentations, they're bringing materials and just dropping them off.
00:19:44:04 - 00:20:13:08
Robert Edgcomb
One idea that my boss and I have kind of kicked around and don't know the feasibility of it, but is developing a pretty simple brochure or card that has some of our information and getting them on public transportation like busses. A lot of our client base maybe is using that to get to and from their appointments. And so having that readily available for them and a place where they're going we know they're going to be is an idea that we've we've talked about.
00:20:13:08 - 00:20:34:19
Robert Edgcomb
But stuff like that is knowing where our client base is and then reaching them directly because they're not they may not be on social media, they may not be on their phones all the time and are going to go to our website and find that information. So finding better avenues to reach them that are really easy and simple.
00:20:34:19 - 00:21:06:17
Lee Murray
100% agree. And I think at that point it just comes down to creative on those ads. And inside the creative, it's all about the copy right now that we're down this sort of marketing tactic, rabbit hole. I've seen that the simpler, the better, you know. So a way to like just very succinctly communicate what it is, how you solve a problem for them that at a glance they're maybe drawn by an image or they're drawn in by the visual.
00:21:06:24 - 00:21:28:21
Lee Murray
And they can they can discern what it is that you do in an instant. And maybe there's a QR code. I've seen that those actually work pretty good or you know, what I've seen on my side. And as you're kind of bouncing around ideas, something to consider is our text campaigns, right? And some of them can be costly and they're pretty risky.
00:21:28:21 - 00:21:54:22
Lee Murray
But there's ways to do it that are less costly. But, you know, text the word rent, you know, to 99 for 1 to 2 to learn about X, right. And so if your play, you know, if that one key word is playing to the problem they're trying to solve, you know, you're going to find a way to get them to become aware of you.
00:21:54:22 - 00:22:24:03
Lee Murray
And if they see that bus with that same creative, that makes sense every single day, you know, there's a more likelihood of them because, you know, a lot of people, our phones, right. They may not have a desktop computer. They may not have Internet at their home. You know, I'm thinking of the underprivileged communities that are kind of marginalized and, you know, having kind of worked with some of these communities and trying to get them to to see that, are there solutions for them?
00:22:25:09 - 00:22:51:03
Lee Murray
You know, I may be kind of talking outside it, but maybe this contextually it makes sense for conceptually, but maybe it's it's not specifically your your demographic. But but I think in concept, though, those texting campaigns work really well to get people just to grab an idea and take a call to action. So, you know, I think there's there's a lot of things there that that could turn into experiments.
00:22:51:03 - 00:23:11:18
Lee Murray
Right. And that's kind of the way I think about marketing is you you have your kind of general strategy that you're going for, for the year, for the quarter, and then inside of your campaigns that you're running, you have experiments, right? And there you have a hypothesis based on what you know and you're running towards a certain goal within that experiment.
00:23:11:18 - 00:23:18:15
Lee Murray
So it looks like you've got a lot of experiments that you could pull one off the shelf, maybe you've had on there for a little while and thinking about you.
00:23:18:19 - 00:23:49:22
Robert Edgcomb
Absolutely them. And I think to your point about earlier is keeping our message simple. My boss and I talk a lot, is less, is more. And then within that, we're not trying to tell the whole story through one piece of marketing material. We can definitely get people to the places where they can get that information. We don't need those pieces of advertisement or brochures or whatever they are to tell the whole story of the organization.
00:23:49:22 - 00:23:52:18
Robert Edgcomb
That's not that's not the purpose that they serve, for sure.
00:23:54:07 - 00:24:19:14
Lee Murray
For sure. Let's switch gears really quickly and talk a little bit more about your your role. And, you know, keep in mind this audience, I think most people are listening to this are going to be business owners, CEOs, small growing companies, and some marketers are also at those companies. So I think it'll be interesting because we talked to touched on this a little bit on the front end.
00:24:19:14 - 00:24:48:13
Lee Murray
But you know, as a marketing director, like what kind of thoughts do you have for how business owners should be thinking about promotion? Right, because you're going through promotion now, timing, role description. You know how they're thinking about how you're building a team. You know, any advice for a small business owner who wants to take their small marketing team and maybe they have a stand out player and turn it into something more?
00:24:49:15 - 00:25:17:01
Robert Edgcomb
Yeah, I think first and foremost, you want to look at your your team and then from there, like look at the skill sets that they have. What can you build on? What can you where can you go with who you have, especially if you're looking to do some sort of internal promotion and I think that's that's where I've been able to succeed is our organization has taken our department.
00:25:17:15 - 00:25:44:00
Robert Edgcomb
And I'll talk specifically about me and has built upon my skills, given me an opportunity to develop more and to grow in different areas and giving me a chance to kind of stretch myself. But there really they're really relying on what skills I bring to the table and not trying to get me to be something that I'm not, which is part of why as we make this transition, the position I hire is an area where I'm not as strong.
00:25:45:00 - 00:26:14:03
Robert Edgcomb
And so that's so looking at the strengths of your team and building upon those I think are so important. And then within that, it's just kind of a constant communication with them and just laying that out. That's something I've really benefited from through this transition. It was kind of told to me sort of informally when I got hired that this transition plan was going to be put into place and over a few years they were going to try and groom me for that role.
00:26:14:22 - 00:26:32:23
Robert Edgcomb
But I stepped in and just did my jobs. But it was a constant communication. I was like, Okay, Robert, here, this is what we're going to be looking at. Here's the timeline. And it's just been over and over communicated to me, which really helped me understand, okay, this is where I am now, but I need to be doing X, Y, Z to prepare for what's coming.
00:26:32:23 - 00:26:46:01
Robert Edgcomb
And then I've asked questions through that communication. Okay, you tell me this is what we're doing. What do I need to do to be prepared for that? So I think that communication has been going.
00:26:46:01 - 00:27:04:11
Lee Murray
Yeah, and you know, and kudos to your leadership too, because for in order for them to be able to properly guide you, they have to be they first of all, have to have a vision for where they're going and have to be executing against that vision so that they can come to you and say, hey, well, here's what we're going.
00:27:04:11 - 00:27:44:10
Lee Murray
And here are the strong suits that we see that you have now, how we want to build you, build our team up and build you within the team. I've noticed a lot of times that, you know, as companies are growing fast, they they have to have people like yourself that are thinking like this on their team to push ideas to them, to remind them, you know, hey, I need to know from you where we're headed if you're not communicating that to me so that I can properly continue to train myself proactively, you know, be resourcing, thinking ahead, building campaigns, those kind of things.
00:27:44:10 - 00:27:54:15
Lee Murray
So, you know, and kudos to you, right, because you've been doing that and it takes both people coming together with both of those training, thoughts aligning.
00:27:55:20 - 00:28:22:10
Robert Edgcomb
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I've I've been fortunate to have that I developed over the course of three plus years now such a really strong relationship with our leadership team. And I think some of that comes from trust and also displaying a level of like dependability. They know that when a project comes to comes to me, I'm able to get it done.
00:28:22:10 - 00:28:41:19
Robert Edgcomb
Or if I have questions about it or if I'm not sure that I am the only one who can do it. I'm not afraid to come to them or go to others and ask questions. But that level of trust has really allowed us to take this step. And I don't I really don't think of it. If it was absent that I would be where I am right now.
00:28:41:19 - 00:28:47:19
Robert Edgcomb
But that level of trust has carried us to this point.
00:28:47:19 - 00:29:17:03
Lee Murray
That's awesome. So if we kind of our maybe our final topic here, look backwards at where you came from as a marketing manager, social media specialist, you know, kind of wearing all hats as a lot of marketers do it. Small companies. So for those current people that are in those more junior roles and they have acknowledged in their career that they want to progress forward and move up to director.
00:29:17:04 - 00:29:42:18
Lee Murray
Maybe maybe they're not suited for a specific graphic design video, you know, videography, editing, paid ads. You know, there's a lot of roles in marketing as the companies, companies grow. And I would just maybe want to stop for a second right there and say if there if there is anyone listening to this and they they are not sure where they fit, then that's that's a good tell to say.
00:29:42:18 - 00:30:04:10
Lee Murray
You need to go try out a few things, right? Like if you feel very creative then get in a creative role and get guidance on, you know, a feedback on how you're doing about creating good creative that is effective in, in our campaigns. Right. And maybe your that maybe that's a hobby. Maybe it's not something you need to do for your career.
00:30:04:10 - 00:30:44:01
Lee Murray
Right. And the same thing applies across the board. Maybe you are creative, but you don't understand the tracking measuring reporting side. So you're not very analytics focused. That's fine. Find your spot. Right. But I think for someone who wants to understand it across the board and someone who really enjoys managing people and, you know, wants to grow in leadership, I think the, you know, moving from manager to director eventually to VP and on up the chain there as a or an organization may grow or as you may grow in your career from organization to organization.
00:30:45:06 - 00:31:14:00
Lee Murray
I think that's very a very important thing to to not miss finding your spot, understanding of how the roles work together. But I would I would ask you, what advice would you give to someone that is wanting to be on this path of going from I'm wearing a lot of hats right now, but I think even though I am wearing a lot of hats, maybe I do want to be in a more leadership role as it relates to marketing.
00:31:14:00 - 00:31:32:21
Robert Edgcomb
I have to and I've kind of touched on both of them already. First one is ask questions. If that's something you desire. Yeah, start talking to your leadership team, asking them, what is the possibility of this? What is what do I need to do to prepare for this? What are what are skill sets that I need to add?
00:31:33:15 - 00:31:58:16
Robert Edgcomb
Start just really asking questions and opening that dialog because it's a lot of times and I've seen this in where I work, kind of taking that initiative usually warrants a positive response. You know, you're not you're not doing it to a point of like you're stepping on somebody's toes or you're trying to get somebody out the door. But it's really just you want to advance your career because by advancing your career, you're also helping the organization.
00:31:58:16 - 00:32:30:17
Robert Edgcomb
So just continuing to just constantly ask questions about that. And then the second one, you kind of we're just touching on it, but something that I've been told is to always be learning, find a way to learn something new, add a new skill set to your toolbox, if you will. And something my boss told me when I first started at SMI was that he strives to learn something new every day, and at the end of the year, he's learned 365 new things over the course of three five years.
00:32:30:24 - 00:32:52:00
Robert Edgcomb
Those add up very fast. It's a lot, and it's not necessarily like I need to become an expert in InDesign in two days, but just learning little things over the course of time, you really you become a valuable asset to your your company and your organization. And, you know, it starts to open doors for you.
00:32:52:00 - 00:33:13:16
Lee Murray
The power of consistent learning is a that's a pretty powerful thing. I mean, actually, if like I love the InDesign analogy because if you were to say, okay, I'm I think that graphic design is where I'm going to be best suited and I'm going to go for it. Okay? I need to know everything there is to be an effective graphic designer.
00:33:13:22 - 00:33:39:22
Lee Murray
I need to get better at InDesign. Well, I mean, you can really start to extrapolate that out over the course of the year, right? Let's say you're at the beginning of 2022 and well, we're where we know what maps for you by the end of the year. What would be a good goal for you to have feel good about InDesign and then you can break that down over the course of the year and every day be learning, okay, I need to learn how to, you know, select use this select tool and do this other thing.
00:33:39:22 - 00:34:03:11
Lee Murray
I'm not an expert in design person, but as you can tell. But you know, I need to learn how to do this one thing. And if you learned 20 things throughout the month, well, I mean, you probably after one month would be more capable than a lot of people who pick up InDesign and then out over a year, you're you're starting to hit expert status and start to realize like, wow, I can really use this tool professionally.
00:34:03:21 - 00:34:30:05
Lee Murray
So I think that's huge that that's a great advice for marketers of all kinds. And what's so great about that is it leads us into my last bit here, which is continued learning, right? If marketers and or small business owners keeping all this in context, want to keep learning and doing what you're saying, what books, podcasts, YouTube, radio or wherever, what have you found that's been effective?
00:34:31:20 - 00:34:59:01
Robert Edgcomb
Well, I have to and I'm actually going to grab them both. The first one, it's an older book, but it's called Brand Warfare. 1009 Hildebrand and I picked it back up this week and kind of look through it. And although it's it's about 20 years old, some of the information is a little outdated. There's just some still some really relevant information in there and some good points to just kind of keep in mind as it comes to brand management.
00:34:59:01 - 00:35:22:01
Robert Edgcomb
And I don't want to go too off topic here. Brand management can mean a lot of things and there are definitely some things that definitely are worthwhile in that book. And then the other one is it's a leadership book. It's called It's Your Ship. It's about a naval nice book. And then you took one of the it was one of the warships in the Navy and made it one of the best ships in the Navy.
00:35:22:01 - 00:35:37:20
Robert Edgcomb
And so it kind of talks about his leadership practices and how he was able to do that and really investing in his team, investing in the people on the ship. And it's just a it's is a book. I read it in college. I actually got to hear him speak when I was at sets and which was really cool.
00:35:38:16 - 00:35:58:15
Robert Edgcomb
But it's a book that I've kind of I've held on to and kept on my bookshelf because I like to go back to it every once in a while. And now, as I'm getting ready to step into a leadership role and it's kind of brought itself off my bookshelf so I can look through it. And then the other one, I don't have a copy of it with me, but is the Cliffs and Strength Finder.
00:35:58:21 - 00:36:32:00
Robert Edgcomb
I don't know if you're familiar with that assessment. Oh, yeah, yeah. I did that about a year ago and it's really allowed me to take ownership of who I am and what strengths I bring to the table. I think a lot of times if you would ask me what my strengths are, I kind of get real technical or real specific, but this is kind of giving me a more direct, targeted look at who I am and what I value I bring to the organization so that if nobody if you've never done that assessment, it's really worthwhile.
00:36:32:00 - 00:36:55:08
Robert Edgcomb
I think the book is 15 or 16 bucks on Amazon. I'm not entirely sure of the price, but it's really allowed me to look at myself kind of internally and how I can bring value to the organization through those strengths. And I learned a lot about myself. Some things I kind of was like, I didn't even realize that, but like now that I've done it, I'm like, Oh yeah, that's definitely me.
00:36:55:08 - 00:37:26:07
Lee Murray
Yeah, yeah. You know, being in touch with your personality and how you operate and all of that, you know, don't play to your weaknesses, play to your strengths. And if you don't know what they are, then that's a good start. I love all three of those. And you know, from a business owner standpoint, if I put myself in the shoes of a CEO owner that's trying to raise up a marketing director, I mean, I is you're is the person that you're looking at reading those kind of books, right?
00:37:26:15 - 00:37:47:04
Lee Murray
Are they trying to become a better leader? You know, are they looking at internally introspectively who they are? Because you know what? I hear you say as and now I'm moving into a leadership role, it's like, well, you have already been a leader. Like you're already thinking like a leader. It's just the title is going to bring a little bit more of a leadership, you know, formal role.
00:37:47:18 - 00:38:15:06
Lee Murray
And that's the that's what an organization needs. I need people who are already exhibiting leadership qualities and already thinking like that. They're growing personally and and they want to grow so that, you know, someone's coming to you and asking you more and more and more about where is this going? And, you know, not from a pay standpoint or benefits or, you know, all the extemporaneous things, but from a, hey, I'm trying to get better and I can see an opportunity for me to get better here.
00:38:15:12 - 00:38:30:21
Lee Murray
What does that look like in the organization, which is all the things that I see you doing, that is the person that you want to promote and give them the reins and say, Hey, I know you're not going to know how to do everything, but I want you to figure it out because I think you're already on the path to figuring things out.
00:38:31:23 - 00:38:54:01
Lee Murray
So you know, good work. And I think you've got, you know, a bright future ahead as director. And it would be, you know, it really depends on how much of the reins they give you, you know, so you can do it. You can, but there's so much you can do now. Now that path is paved, and I think you're thinking about the, the right way.
00:38:54:18 - 00:39:10:14
Lee Murray
Um, one last question and that is just a question I ask all the guest. If you could change the mind of a small business owner about anything doesn't have to be marketing related, then what would it be?
00:39:10:14 - 00:39:29:00
Robert Edgcomb
And I don't know if it would be and I don't know if they all need their minds changed on this. But it's okay to take risks to just kind of jump out to feet forward. Not sure what you're jumping into or where you're going to land, but it's okay to take a risk. I mean, know, I've seen that in my work.
00:39:29:00 - 00:39:50:22
Robert Edgcomb
I've seen that in other industries who have done that and it's been successful. But sometimes it doesn't work, but it's okay to take a risk, you know, because I think if, you know, if you're not trying something new or trying to be creative, you could end up falling behind. But I think to some that up before I start rambling, it's okay to take risks.
00:39:50:22 - 00:40:09:00
Lee Murray
Yeah, I would agree 100% and I think a lot of the small business owners that are now up to the mid-sized, they have taken a lot of risks. Maybe their mortgage, their home or, you know, put their personal assets on as collateral to get their business started. I don't know. Lots of risk, right? You've been through a lot.
00:40:09:04 - 00:40:32:20
Lee Murray
I the way I would rephrase it for those people is to continue to take risk, you know, in the same way that you're saying take small risk. Like, remember, you've overcome a lot already. So, you know, let's keep going. Right. So I think that's great advice. Love it. If people want to find you, where can they go to find you?
00:40:33:06 - 00:40:34:03
Lee Murray
I know you're on LinkedIn.
00:40:34:11 - 00:41:00:19
Robert Edgcomb
Yes, LinkedIn. Just search Robert Edgecombe. You'll find me in the beard. You can't miss it if you ever had a picture of somebody with you. It is not me and that is our updated headshot. And then you want to contact me. My professional email is I'll spell it out. R Edgecombe edg c0mb at SMA Health Care dot org.
00:41:01:05 - 00:41:23:20
Robert Edgcomb
I'm happy to collaborate touch base bounce ideas. As I said earlier, the advice I gave is always be learning. That advice applies back to myself as well. So I'd be happy to talk to people who are have been through what I've been through or going to go through what I've been through or and just kind of talk. It'd be great to connect.
00:41:23:20 - 00:41:29:07
Lee Murray
Love it. Thanks again, Robert. Glad to have you on and we'll be talking to you soon.
00:41:29:19 - 00:41:31:06
Robert Edgcomb
Thankfully. I appreciate your time.
00:41:31:18 - 00:41:53:02
Lee Murray
Hey, I really appreciate you tuning in to this episode of Exploring Growth. I'm trying to get this in the hands of as many growing businesses as possible so they can take this practical wisdom in deployed in their companies or with their teams. If you're getting some value out of this show and know someone who should listen as well, would you consider sharing with them or leave a positive review on the platform in which you're listening or watching YouTube?
00:41:53:02 - 00:42:01:11
Lee Murray
Audience Leave a comment below something you liked or your perspective on what we discussed. I'm grateful for everyone that tunes in every week. Let's keep exploring.