Everyone knows these days it really pays to be flexible and multi-talented. As an SEO I am expected to chime in on all things related to the web, either directly or indirectly but what happens when something lands in your lap that is marketing related but has nothing to do with your core or peripheral duties? My advice to you is grab hold of it and turn it into a successful feather in your SEO cap like I did a couple of weeks ago.

I noticed that one of my team-mates was a little stressed and overloaded with work so I asked her if there was anything lying around that I could lend a hand with. Her reply was cheerful and quick, “definitely, I have had this thing sitting on my desk for two weeks and have no idea what to do with it”. “Here, it is all yours”. I was handed a few sheets of paper describing a little marketing project our company had to complete for an upcoming trade show. We had to think up the name of a race horse and write a blurb about it to show on the plaque that would be displayed with it at the convention. It seems this project was a group effort of a few folks including the boss but it just never moved forward, all that was included was some half-hearted attempts to name the horse. I sat down for half an hour with my humor hat on and came up with what I thought was some witty verbiage and a decent name. The locals sharing the office here were not very interested but said it sounded “just ok”.

I emailed my creation over to the boss and not 15 minutes later received a phone call saying that it was very funny and thanks a lot for completing it. Later that day, after it was sent in to our contact person at the convention I received an email she had sent over saying that it was so funny that it “made her day”!

So the moral of this story is that as a digital marketer you have a lot of responsibility and a big workload but don’t hesitate to help out on unrelated projects because it might just end up being an opportunity in disguise.

For those of you interested, here is the blurb (not sure it will mean much without understanding the entire context though).

Green-Gold Thunder is our entry, his diet is comprised mostly of mercury switches and old anti-freeze so his subtle green glow is understandable.

G.T as he is known around here, usually trains by pulling junk vehicles onto the scale. In his short but illustrious racing career he has compiled 40 wins and zero loses, these have all come against humans attempting to bathe him but we are all proud of his achievements just the same.

He briefly lived in the backyard of our company owner but neighbors complained about the eerie green glow he leaves behind on neighborhood fire hydrants. After the ARA conference, win-or-lose, G.T will saunter back to the junk yard where he will live out his life in luxury and total relaxation, grazing in the ‘U-Pull It’ to his hearts content. If he happens to win the ARA race we will likely stud him out to the highest bidders, donating all the proceeds to local charities and animal shelters as would be his request.

If you are looking for a horse that can blow the field away, literally and figuratively – put your dough down on Green-Gold Thunder because he has what it takes to win.