Day in the life of
Marketing Communications Director – Richard Dedor
There really is no typical day.
My role is to oversee communications to our members and prospective members as well as serve as a representative to the community to support our brand and our key initiatives. Just the other evening I went to a press event in support of a community project we helped to fund. Other times I am at events to meet people and support and extend our mission.
From a communications perspective, sometimes the communications are onboarding focused, or service upgrade notifications. Othertimes, they are more challenging related to account fraud, closures, etc. Finally, I oversee all the communications as it relates to our acquisitions; there will be two of those at the end of 2021.
There isn’t a typical day and that is what makes it fun and challenging at the same time.
Pros
The pro is that I get to use both sides of my brain: some days I’m writing emails and member messaging and others I’m strategizing our marketing strategy with our team.
I love what I get to do. I get to be creative. I get to help. I get to be the champion inside our credit union for streamlining, asking questions, and standing up for our members to ensure they have the best experience possible.
Cons
The cons are that in this field, you’re never off. Marketing is an “always on” profession.
The larger challenge from a marketing perspective is simply just regulatory. I come from the non-profit and agency world where anything goes.. Not so in the financial services world and while those rules and regulations are good and necessary for a balanced system, it does make it more challenging; but mostly in a good way.
Advice to aspiring communications directors
Being a communications director requires you to wear many hats; oftentimes all at once. You have to think strategically, operationally, and creatively. To reach this point in my career, I have taken on many roles and forced myself to be challenged in each of my roles. It is also not for the faint of heart and not a job you’re going to get right out of college. Focus on learning each day. Ask hard questions. Listen.
If this is a path you want to go down for your career, learn business strategy, learn persuasion, understand communications and audience behavior, and understand organizational structure. All of those things play into my job as a communications director.
