I was playing a little recreational poker ($1-$2 Texas Hold’em) the other day and a couple of younger folks were arguing about the advantages of pursing a career in either Marketing or Finance. One of them told the other that you can only go into marketing if you are ‘artistic’ – I chimed in with my 2 cents saying ‘you don’t need to be artistic, because I don’t have an artistic bone in my body but you do have to be ‘creative’.

When I came on-board in my current position it was with the understanding that I would be able to exercise my creativity and look outside the box for marketing opportunities. I spent quite a bit of time learning as much as I could about the industry and much of my research was done on topical forums.  Now forum advertising is nothing new and it can bring in some decent targeted visitors but I was looking for a way to connect with my potential visitors/customers on a more ‘grassroots’ level.

After chatting with a few independent forum owners I decided to try for something a little more personal than your average banner or text ad.  I asked if I could have a discussion area of my own dedicated to relevant topics of the forum that were not being covered already. The forum owner jumped at the chance to have more quality content on his site and also make a few bucks in the deal. Now, almost three months later I can tell you that this one piece of advertising/promotion has returned a fantastic ROI, while the exact amount of business it has driven to ourselves and the affiliates is not known. There is not doubt that just the pure online exposure to the heart of our target market vs. the small cost in dollars and time has been very worthwhile. It has also served the purpose of promoting the affiliates in our own network which in turn gives them more value.

So don’t give up hope if you are not artistic, with a healthy dose of creativity a career in Marketing could still be in your future.