Anyone here work as an SEO / Digital Marketer role in the corporate world?

[Luke Neely]

I work in the tech industry, but on the sales side of the company I work for.

Wondering what it would be like to make a switch in a professional capacity to take on SEO / digital strategy?

This would obviously vary from what type of industry, company, size, etc you work in but would love to get your thoughts overall if any of you work SEO / digital in the corporate world on what you like / don’t.

 

[Jord]

It can be a high pressure role, targets are usually set to be hit, strategies are expected to be executed and you have a major role on the growth of a company moving forward in terms of number of leads and sales.

But it can be rewarding in the the right circumstances. The feeling of having a contributing factory to a 7 figure growth from lead generation and sales is a real buzz. It made getting up in the morning so much easier.

But the major thing as you mention is to think about is the company you work for. At times from my past experiences you find that many in the corporate don't fully understand the potential of digital marketing and after initial boosts they can start to not look for growth in those aspects therefore limiting resources etc.

This is when the position can become stale when growth is not really sort after from the company due to a number of different circumstances. You stop honing your skills and that's never good for a career. Hard to judge I suppose from the beginning but I know that was the thing that killed my joy and made me realise it was time for a change.

 

[bernard]

I really liked working in a medium sized digital agency (20-30 people). It was a good mix of personality types with Adwords, SEO, webdesign, sales. It had some of the advertising banter and coolness, but more down to earth.

As for the actual SEO work, it was quite boring. SEO analysises of websites is .... boring, when done over and over. Linkbuilding was better, but also quite boring due to the repetetive tasks. When you do linkbuilding for yourself, at least it accumulates, but with clients, you have to do it over and over and over. I suppose that part of the business might have changed somewhat with the focus on content marketing.

What I really did like was the ability to get your hands in a lot of stuff, due to the lack of certifications etc and being a small company. That's me though, I always hated to work for a big corp. I really enjoy this work with having to do a bit of everything and so now I do it for myself. I also really enjoyed the banter and being around "cool" people. With "cool" people, I mean extroverted, positive people, with strong networks. There was a lot of interesting discussions and people were up to date on current trends and such. Good for someone who is not so naturally inclined to that.

Then I also worked in a more defined corporate SEO firm as part of a multinational ad space agency. I quit after a week. I could tell, that I would wither mentally and turn into a zombie.

 

[eliquid]

I'll give you the most honest answer on this board ( of note, that doesn't mean anyone else posted an in-honest answer ).

It depends entirely on who you are.

I've been doing this since 1996. Both in the corporate world and self employed. In an agency and non-agency role. As a SEO and as a CMO and everything in between.

The worst part is dealing with people that have unrealistic expectations, take credit for your work, don't understand what you do and how it impacts, and generally are idiots that only care about themselves. These people aren't just clients, they can be your co-workers.

Is everyone like this? No.

But the few bad apples you will encounter can disrupt everything else, if you let it.

That is the bad side of it.. and again it depends entirely on who you are if it will bother you or not.

I guess this could be taken as a general statement for any job, but I find tech-like jobs and marketing-like jobs tend to be a bit worse about it.

I did a lot to uncover my personality type and who I really am. Based on those findings, I was able to really find my fit in the digital marketing arena that really fit me to a T. I wouldn't shy away from a role in the corporate world now, knowing what I know, if I had to now. But it would be a very defined role.