This recession can feel like a roadblock in the journey of growing our customer marketing and advocacy (CMA) careers. Budgets are tighter. Colleagues are getting laid off. And there’s a lot of pressure to justify the value we bring to our companies.
Unfortunately, with people across industries and roles getting laid off, we’re also trying to ‘hold on.’ We may shy away from asking for a promotion. We may say “yes” to more requests and/or responsibilities. Overall, the recession can throw us off our professional and personal success as customer marketers.
Cue: Leslie Barrett and CMA Soulmate
That’s why we called on Leslie Barrett, the founder of CMA Soulmate and Sendoso’s Director of Customer Marketing and Advocacy.
Leslie has done a lot of work informing business leaders about the value of CMA and guiding CMA professionals to grow their careers using data and metrics.
She’s an influential thought leader who definitely knows, from experience, what it takes to overcome a challenge like growing a CMA career in a recession.
During our webinar in February, Leslie and our very own, Ari Hoffman, VP of Customer Marketing & Advocacy at Influitive, walked us through her new CMA Career Framework.
She detailed out how she built and used her framework to achieve her promotion and salary raise. You can watch the full recording here.
For Tips on Leveling Up Your CMA Skills, Check Out:
- Ari’s Guide on What is Customer Advocacy
- Jeni and Shannon’s Ideas on Building Lasting Customer Relationships
- Ari’s Guide to Customer-led Growth
Leslie’s CMA Career Framework is a fantastic resource for CMA professionals at any career stage. Whether you’re an individual contributor (IC) just getting started, a manager leading their first team, or a trailblazing executive, the Framework is for you.
The framework will help you smash your goals, demonstrate value to leaders and others in your organization, and set your bearings back to the journey of growth.
You’ll find your unique selling propositions, learn the knowledge and skills necessary to advance in your role. And, when you rise in seniority, nurture new CMA pros for both team and individual success.
Why Leslie Built the CMA Career Framework
This is the only document for CMA professionals that clearly details the competencies needed to progress through their careers at every stage or job level.
Leslie designed the Framework to guide CMA pros to have conversations about promotions, gain clarity on their current level, and know how to get to the next stage of their careers.
Neutralize Imposter Syndrome
Whether you have a job or are seeking one, imposter syndrome can creep in. It rears its ugly head when your confidence drops or you don’t yet fully understand your craft.
Either way, when imposter syndrome comes into play, it’s a big threat to our careers. It can stop you and make it really difficult for you to reach your potential.
This CMA Framework will help you put imposter syndrome in check by clearly defining what success looks like and ensuring you exceed your goals. It also helps you build a data-driven approach to how you carry out and report your work.
Knock Your Performance Reviews Out Of The Park
Next, the Framework will give you, as Leslie put it, “a single source-of-truth.” This will be the reference point to keep you on track and motivate you. When you do great work, you’ll put in this document. As you acquire new knowledge and skills, you’ll record it in the Framework.
This asset will map out your career growth and show if you’re trending towards your next promotion. Use it to record your wins, document the post-mortems of your programs, collect feedback from colleagues, note-down impacts, record compliments, and share results.
So, when it’s time for performance reviews, you’ll have the proof to enter those conversations in a confident way. Not only that, but discussions about performance and promotions will be on an objective basis.
If you’re seeking a new job, then the CMA Framework will help you stand out from the competition. When you interview, you’ll already have a roadmap of how you plan to grow and scale within the organization. You can also share all of the positive work you’ve done (with the data, feedback and other proofs to back it up).
Nurture an “Anti-Fragile” Approach
During the webinar, Ari advised attendees not to work from a point of scarcity. You need to operate from a place of abundance, even during downturns. You shouldn’t be afraid of saying “no” and you should be confident to ask for more. But the key is to make sure you know why.
The CMA Career Framework will help you build that case.
You can show your executives what you’ve achieved at the company, the major priorities, and what everyone has aligned upon. This gives you the basis to say “no” in a constructive way that will drive buy-in and support. It also gives you a case to potentially ask for more support.
Regardless of whether we’re in a recession or not, you need to stay on course towards the next milestone of your CMA career journey.
Ready to see how you can put the CMA Career Framework to work for you? Then check out the webinar and download the guide here.
