Why it’s Important to Build a Team with Diverse Career Backgrounds

Digital marketing is an interesting industry, specifically the link-building aspect of it. I try to explain my job to people outside of the industry and they graciously nod and pretend to understand. Before I joined the Go Fish Digital team, I had never done link-building or even heard of it. I just knew the company was looking for someone with journalism experience and someone creative; I checked both those boxes. 

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I applied for the job and kept an open mind. After being hired, I learned that everyone on the team had a different career background and not a single person came from a link-building background. I’ve been at Go Fish Digital for over a year now and I have seen firsthand how having a team with a diverse work history can be beneficial. 

Below, I’ve outlined how certain skills from different industries could be an asset to any digital marketing team. As an added bonus, I had the team weigh in! 

Problem Solving Skills:

We all have run into client issues, like an error on a graphic or a wrong number in our data – stuff happens. But being able to recognize those problems and act fast is a huge asset for any employee to have. Senior Content Marketing Associate, Alex Gaines, says it’s one of the most beneficial things she took away from her last job. 

“My last job was running an online store for a large healthcare system. From shipping to stock to website issues, I quickly learned problem-solving skills because orders needed to be sent in a timely manner no matter what. While my job at Go Fish Digital is a completely different line of work, I have used these problem-solving skills with my content campaigns when things aren’t going how I’d like. Like online orders, our campaigns deserve the same fast attention to stay on schedule during the promotion phase.”

Journalistic Mindset: 

We have two people on the Content Team who have previously worked in news, Kara Taylor, a Content Marketing Associate, and myself. There is something about having worked in a newsroom that opens doors to so many different career paths. Kara and I chose the marketing path after we decided we wanted to do something outside of the news.

When we left journalism, we didn’t leave our journalistic mindsets behind. Kara says: 

“I feel that my experience in journalism helps me a great deal because I have a better understanding of the news cycle, who to contact, and how to contact them. I love that I am now on the other side, pitching to the writers rather than being pitched to.”

Bring your Passions to Work: 

We all have things we are passionate about, whether that be animals, food, or working out, but most of the time we don’t get to mix our personal passions with work. The great thing about working at Go Fish Digital is that we work with clients in a ton of different industries. This leads to the team being able to work on projects that we feel passionate about. 

When you are working on a project about sports and you really love sports, you are probably more likely to put in that little extra effort. Senior Content Marketing Associate, Josh Kobert, spent some time working in sports media and he says: 

“For me, the time I spent working in sports has been extremely beneficial because it made me a better consumer of sports media and a better producer of sports-related content marketing ideas. When you work in that industry, you spend a lot of time reading about sports, statistics, and all the other things that sports junkies obsess over so you can improve your own broadcast and presentation. That helps you develop a level of expertise and understanding as to what will and won’t resonate with fans. Bringing that knowledge to my work at Go Fish Digital has resulted in a number of highly successful sports-related campaigns already, and will continue to do so in the future.” 

Understanding Traditional PR and Digital PR:

What a traditional PR team does and what the Content Team at Go Fish Digital does are two very different things, but the two can greatly benefit each other. We work with a lot of clients that hire Go Fish Digital for content campaigns but then also simultaneously work with a traditional PR firm. 

Yes, sometimes sharing media lists and messages with those teams can be a pain, but it’s also mutually beneficial for you and the client. Content Marketing Associate, Erica Prush, says, 

“When I worked in an in-house PR position for a tech company, I observed firsthand the relationship between an in-house PR team and their external agency. Not only was this super useful in terms of learning how to foster meaningful connections with my clients, but it was also a great model for understanding the traditional PR perspective in a digital PR role. At GFD, we partner with our clients’ PR, branding, and traditional marketing agencies all the time, so having some insight into their perspective has been a huge help!” 

The diverse career backgrounds on the Go Fish Digital Content Team has, in my opinion, made us a kick-ass team! We collaborate, we get creative, and we lean on each other for inspiration and new ideas. If we all had the same work history, what fun would it be?