-
Need some advice on my marketing career
Posted by on December 20, 2025 at 5:49 pmI’m looking for some honest advice and perspective from people who’ve made the shift from execution-heavy performance marketing to more strategic brand roles.
Background:
I have about 3 years of experience now. I started my current remote marketing role about 3 months ago. My scope includes PPC (Google & Meta), CRO, email flows, and managing the online store.I recently had my probation review, and my manager’s feedback was that while I execute well, I lack some core skills expected from a digital marketer at this level like:
- independent strategy thinking
- proactiveness
- critical thinking
- deeper consumer and brand understanding
My experience so far:
I switched into marketing during university and have mostly worked as an individual contributor. In my previous remote role, I managed Google Ads for 15+ client accounts and consistently delivered strong results (on average ~300% improvement in conversions and revenue). However, that role was very execution-focused, limited experimentation, clear KPIs, and success was defined purely by results.This new role is different. It’s for an established US-based brand that already sells through Amazon and large retail stores.
- I started with Google Ads but couldn’t bring CPC below the target KPI.
- I then moved to Meta Ads. Over ~4 weeks, CPC dropped to the lowest the brand had seen, but we couldn’t confidently declare a “winning” creative due to fatigue and inconsistency.
I’ve realised I haven’t previously worked deeply with a brand-led business, as opposed to service or agency-style performance marketing.
Current situation:
My probation has been extended, and I’ll now be working more closely under my manager shadowing her, asking questions, participating in discussions, and building stronger opinions around the brand, customer, and strategy. Not doing PPC but handling TikTok instead & other operational things.I’m taking this seriously and genuinely want to improve.
What I’m struggling with / looking for help on:
- How do I move from being good at execution to actually thinking strategically?
- What does “being proactive” look like in a marketing context (especially when you’re new)?
- How do you develop strong opinions without feeling like you’re asking obvious or “dumb” questions?
- How do you balance using AI as a support tool without it replacing real thinking and depth?
- Any frameworks, habits, or exercises that helped you build better consumer understanding and strategic judgment?
I know I have strengths in creativity, data analysis, and performance marketing. I want to get my data analytics stronger & focus on becoming the subject matter expert in what I do.
TLDR;
I’m a performance marketer with strong execution experience (PPC, CRO, email) who recently moved into an in-house role at an established US brand. Feedback from my probation review was that I lack strategic thinking, proactiveness, and deeper consumer understanding. I’m now shadowing my manager and want to grow from execution into strategy. Looking for advice on how to think more strategically, be proactive in a brand context, and develop strong opinions without sounding inexperienced or over-relying on AI. -
1 Reply
-
I’m not a professional by any means but I worked in house for a brand for 7 years, and while I was very successful, I attribute almost none of it to my own personal skills. The brand had good competitive products with an amazing creative team that consistently fed me straight gasoline. Every platform responded well to the ads, no matter the format or configuration. So don’t get too frustrated with yourself. In some cases the company could just suck.
-
I would just type this all in to a chatgpt project with all the context and ask it to plan it all out for you.
-
Actually now you are actually challenged by company where things are already established. I would suggest first understand properly all business in’s and outs. You need to first do R&D in specific area not all at once. Also you need to study your market competitors very closely and offering. Lowering Cpc is one piece of puzzle .. important thing is are you actually giving your competitors tough time through offering .. How you setup funnel and are you utilising first party data to its full potential .. I just touch few pointers but you need to add more points through R&D and create proper plan .. PPC become complex with time mark my words
Log in to reply.