I wouldn’t trust marketers who only talk about marketing. Marketing is incredibly nuanced. It can’t be summed up in terms metrics, formulas, hacks and tactics. To be a decent marketer, you must be a decent, empathetic human being.

At the end of the day, you are exchanging a good or service for somebody’s hard-earned money. Which is to say you’re exchanging a good or service for somebody’s time. Time away from their kids. Time away from their spouse.Time away from their loved ones.

Those who don’t take this responsibility seriously, should be sent to bed early with no dinner (and perhaps even a slap on the rump). Your job as a marketer is to find and sell something that provides more value than the money it costs.

I’m sorry, but this requires more “feeling” than “thinking”. Metrics, formulas, hacks and tactics are solid guardrails. But, they won’t get you all the way there. Intuition just may. If you’re considering hiring a marketer or a marketing agency, I would focus less on what they know about marketing and more on what they know about people. They should be well read in fiction, as there is no better look into the human psyche. They should be insatiably curious, as finding the answers require a determination of a truffle pig.

Above all, they should care about helping people. No, they don’t have to be Mother Theresa. But, they can’t be in it strictly to make a fast buck to buy a boat.