Alex Medick

March 4, 2021

What Is A T-Shaped Marketer?

Are you a marketer that does everything under the sun? From paid media and analytics, to branding and web-design? If you said to 'yes' to yourself just now, then you might just be a T-Shaped Marketer.

What is a T-Shaped Marketer? Solid question! To be honest, until a few months ago, I had no idea either. I was just always the full-stack marketer that had a wide breadth of knowledge in multiple disciplines. I was the guy that instead of outsourcing or passing the torch, I figured it out for myself, which helped me grow my skillset and widen my modern-marketing knowledge base.

It wasn't until November 2020 when I saw a blog post from Buffer discussing T-Shaped Marketing that I realized thats the professional slang for what I do.

Alright, below is a little diagram I made to show what I believe a modern T-Shaped Marketer should have skills in... and no, that doesn't mean you need to be an expert in all.

Alex Medick T-Shaped Marketer Outline.png


Row 1 - The Foundation

I'm a big believer that you need to know the basics of this row to be an effecting digital marketer in 2021. I didn't include is a core function in this row, but a skill that has taken me a lot farther in my digital marketing career and knowing how to design and develop websites, as well as knowing how to write and read HTML & CSS.

Nonetheless, if you want to get better at marketing, understand Branding, Design + UX, Behavior Psychology (after all, we're trying to get consumers to engage in our desired behavior, so this is mega useful), and Copywriting.

Row 2 - The Skills

These are the foundational elements of digital marketing. If you don't know how to do these elements at at least an intermediate level, get to studying and optimize your efforts.

For what it's worth. No one is an expert in every field in marketing, nor should you have to be. Hell, I'm definitely not an expert. I'm pretty good at everything above. What I'm really good at is knowing enough to be dangerous, then being able to quickly research, learn, and implement new tactics and efforts based on work demand at that time.

So go out and learn how to be dangerous. That will get you though 90% of the battle, I promise.

Row 3 - The Expanded Knowledge Base

It should be obvious, but just in case it isn't, paid acquisition is a key skillset in digital marketing. Whether it's awareness, conversion, traffic, retargeting, or whatever it is your goal might be with paid media, you have to know your chops.

Granted, once you know the basic tactics and skills, it's a matter of mastering the platforms for each of the 'T' vertical.

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Thanks for reading!

-AJM

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About Alex Medick

Dad, Entrepreneur // Building INSIDE