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3 Pros and 3 Cons You Need to Weigh About Specialization in Today’s Job Market

Everyone reaches a point in their career where they get really good at a particular skill and they face a crossroads. Do I further hone this skill or do I continue to add new skills? Unfortunately, there isn’t a correct answer. It depends on a variety of other factors.

Understanding Specialization

If you want to understand the progression of the business world – and professional service industries, in particular – you have to get familiar with specialization.

By definition, work specialization is the act of splitting up processes of work into individual responsibilities that are each handled by the most qualified individuals available. Specialization often occurs within businesses and organizations, but individuals also benefit from concentrating on specific skills.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen an increased emphasis on specialization within the entrepreneurial/freelance community and the reverberations of this shift are clearly seen on multiple levels.

“Ongoing specialization has been a decisive factor for the current state of our society,” explains Consultants 500, a platform designed to connect businesses with specialized services. “The effects of specialization is such a broad concept that it touches upon almost everything in our daily life. And our natural urge for specialization is also one of the main reasons why professional services exist. Society and businesses cannot know everything and therefore need specialists with practical experience to help and guide us.”

While specialization clearly plays a valuable role in the business world, the dilemma of whether or not to pursue it as the focus of your own career can be intense. It sounds great on the surface, but what are the costs and benefits when you analyze career specialization at the roots?

The Pros of Job Specialization

While it’s not for everyone, there’s a lot of value that can be extracted from focusing on a specific skill or role. Let’s begin this analysis by taking a look at some of the benefits specialization affords so that you can get a better idea of the “why” behind such a career move.

1. Defined Skillset

There’s something about having specific responsibilities that allow you to get really focused on a defined skillset. This is perhaps the biggest benefit of specialization. When you’re able to stop wasting your time on low-returning tasks and instead drill down to what really matters, suddenly you become a more valuable commodity.

Consider a fictional scenario for a moment. Let’s say your house is getting old and needs some substantial work done. Namely, you need some of the siding repaired and a new roof installed. The first thing you do is call a local handyman who you know is pretty good with installing siding. And when he arrives at your house and you mention that you’re also replacing your roof, he suddenly perks up and tells you that he can do the siding repair and the roof replacement for one convenient price.

The handyman leaves and the specialized roof installation company that you had previously called out for an estimate arrives. They want to charge you substantially more for the job. Despite this, most people would be more comfortable paying the premium for the specialized service. Why? Because specialized companies/professionals are deemed to be more skilled at what they do. In other words, a defined skillset is a bonus.

2. Increased Trust

Specialization comes with a greater sense of trust in the eyes of employers. If you’re looking for a job and are able to say that you specialize in X, Y, or Z, that’s better than saying you have some basic experience doing X, Y, and Z. An employer is going to have more trust that you know what you’re doing if you’ve exhibited a history of focusing your efforts on a singular skill or objective.

3. Better Job Satisfaction

From your perspective, you’ll find that specialization generally leads to higher job satisfaction. The reason for this is rooted in any number of factors. For a lot of people, it’s a result of doing something that you love. That’s because professionals generally focus on a skill that they enjoy. Other people are happier because they get immense satisfaction and pleasure from doing something that they’re good at. It makes them feel like they have something of value to offer their employer/customers/etc.

The Cons of Job Specialization

Job specialization isn’t for everyone, though. Some people aren’t cut out for it and perform much better when they’re able to utilize a variety of skills and take on a diverse set of responsibilities. Keeping that in mind, let’s review some of the major cons of specialization in today’s job market.

1. Potential for Boredom

The majority of American workers aren’t finding fulfillment in their jobs. In fact, a Gallup poll shows that 50.8 percent of people are “not engaged” at work, while another 17.2 percent are “actively disengaged.” Less than one-third of people report being fully engaged. There are plenty of reasons for this, but boredom plays a big role.

Unfortunately, specialization is often a major cause for boredom. If you end up becoming too focused on one thing, you don’t get enough diversity in your life and burn out fairly quickly. This doesn’t always happen, but it’s always a risk – especially for those who like change.

2. Risk of Obsolescence

The world changes and certain skills and occupations come and go in terms of utility and value. When you’re a generalist, this doesn’t really matter. You slowly evolve along with the marketplace. But when you’re a specialist, you can get left behind. Obsolescence is a very real threat.

Consider, for example, someone who specializes in Google AdWords strategy and optimization. What would happen if suddenly Google went under or decided to eliminate AdWords and focus on an entirely different form of advertising? Suddenly that person would be out of a job. That’s the risk of tying yourself to one specific skill.

3. Limited Skillset

You also have to consider the fact that not every customer/client/employer is looking for specialization. When cost is a factor, it’s usually makes more sense for them to hire someone who can offer a variety of services. So while you may view it as a focused skillset, others could see it as a limited skillset. Keep this in mind as you decide where you want your career to go.

The Future of Job Specialization

There will always be an opportunity for skilled professionals to specialize their services. The key to specialization is to make sure you’re balancing your approach. You can specialize yourself right out of a job if you aren’t careful.

But done the right way, specialization can lead to a bright career in today’s job market.

Man at Computer Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "3 Pros and 3 Cons You Need to Weigh About Specialization in Today’s Job Market" was first published on Small Business Trends

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The best Meeker 2017 Internet Trends slides and what they mean

 Here are the must-read stats about what’s happening with Internet adoption, smartphones, ads, ecommerce, entertainment, gaming, enterprise healthcare, China, India, and startups. We’ve picked the most important slides from legendary Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker’s massive 355-page 2017 Internet Trends report, deciphered the complex data, and explained why… Read More

Kangol Tries to Find Niche Reversing Offshoring Trend

Since 1990, U.S. businesses have sent 85 percent of their manufacturing and other operations overseas as a way of cutting costs. But Kangol is doing just the opposite.

The popular hat brand actually recently brought its manufacturing operations back to the U.S. from China. This move hasn’t come without challenges — namely, the cost of labor. But it may also have some unexpected benefits for the brand as well.

At a time when the trend is sending jobs to other countries, the fact Kangol is doing the opposite could really set the brand apart. Consumers appreciate when businesses are willing to go the extra mile to create jobs and help the economy. And they might even be willing to pay a bit more to support those companies.

The Intangible Benefits of Doing Good

For small businesses, the lesson is that sometimes taking the more difficult route and working through challenges for a good cause can bring about intangible benefits in the long run. Maybe your business is considering switching to alternative energy or using sustainable resources in products. It might not be easy to get started. But if your customers support all the time and resources you dedicated to those initiatives — and show it by spending on products and services — it just might be worth it.

Image: AP/YouTube

This article, "Kangol Tries to Find Niche Reversing Offshoring Trend" was first published on Small Business Trends

Top Ten Automotive Startups competition open for submissions

 For the past few years, the Los Angeles Auto Show has hosted the Top Ten Automotive Startups competition. The event is now open for submissions through July 15, so if you’ve got an automotive app, service, or cool bit of tech, now’s your chance. The ten winners will be featured at the LAAS Automobility Technology Pavilion, which is just outside the LA Convention Center. These… Read More

Pinterest Upgrades Promoted Video With Autoplay

After introducing Promoted Video ad units last August, Pinterest is adding autoplay on those ads .

This new format of video plays as soon as you scroll across your feeds. They also autoplay in the platform’s search results.

New Pinterest Promoted Video Autoplay Feature

“So when someone knows exactly what they’re looking for on Pinterest, your video can be right there to show it to them. Your videos will also show up when they tap open a Pin and scroll down to the ‘More like this’ selection of related Pins”, writes Jenny Chiu, a member of the Partnerships at Pinterest team on the official Pinterest Business Blog.

The popular pinning and sharing platform announced last November that it was going to test auto-play promoted videos and now it is doing so with brands like Toyota, Universal Pictures, Adidas, L’Oreal and Visa. Pinterest plans to open the feature “in the coming months” to advertisers in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Advertisers will be able to buy the service through Pinterest’s self-serve ad-buying tool or advertising API or directly from the company’s sales team.

Since the video ads play automatically and are therefore more likely to get views, they will likely also cost less for advertisers. The social network will also charge advertisers based on the number of impressions their ads receive. So if a user quickly swipes past an ad within a second of it playing, the advertiser still has to pay.

Pinterest is obviously following in the footsteps of rivals like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and if all goes as planned, the company might soon be a major challenger in the market.

Finally, Pinterest announced Moat, a service providing real-time attention analytics, will provide data on viewability, or how much of the videos were in view while Nielsen Mobile Digital Ad Ratings will measure audience reach of campaigns using Promoted Video with auto-play.

“See how much people saw — thanks to our partnership with Moat, you’ll soon be able to find out how long people played your video, and how much of it was on screen (like “10 seconds, 100 percent in view”), Chiu added.

Image: Pinterest

This article, "Pinterest Upgrades Promoted Video With Autoplay" was first published on Small Business Trends

Read Mary Meeker’s essential 2017 Internet Trends report

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6 Killer Ways to Use Automated Marketing for Your Small Business

If you believe that automated marketing and email marketing automation are the same thing, you’re not alone. However, as you can see from the chart below, the use of marketing automation extends beyond email. Pulled from the pages of the Email Marketing & Marketing Automation Excellence 2017 Report, this chart reveals the top six ways marketing automation is being used today:

Source: Email Marketing & Marketing Automation Excellence 2017 Report

Automated Marketing Techniques to Consider

Let’s take a closer look at each of these automated marketing techniques and how you might use them to promote your small business.

Email Automation

While automated marketing does extend beyond electronic mail, email marketing is by far the most popular use of marketing automation and the top digital marketing tactic used today. Much of this is due to the benefits of email marketing including more leads, higher conversions, and lower marketing costs.

Click here to discover eight things you can do with automated email marketing.

Basic Profile Based Targeting

Profiles, for both your leads and customers, are the basis of the next four automated marketing techniques.

Targeting is the practice of focusing your marketing efforts on a specific group of people called a target market. Thanks to automated marketing tools, targeting, down to the individual level, is easier than ever, even across multiple channels such as email.

The power under the hood here is the profile. In recent years, marketing automation tools have gained the ability to learn a lot about your leads and customers from their behavior on channels including:

• Your website: the products they browse, put in their carts, and buy, the content they read, and where they come from (e.g. a specific social media platform); and
• Your emails: the emails they open and the links within those emails they click.

Based on these data points, you can hone your marketing efforts to a fine point by sending offers for the products and services in which they’ve implicitly expressed interest. In addition, you can use these profiles to target your customers using one of the four techniques below.

Personalization Using Dynamic Content

Whether on your website or via email, personalizing the experience is an effective way to market your products and services.

The best example of website personalization is Amazon’s recommendations. For each customer, they select the both genre and book recommendations based on your past purchase and browsing behavior. In the case of the image below, the customer buys a lot of science fiction and fantasy book and therefore, that’s what’s recommended to them for their next purchase:

When it comes to email marketing, the numbers show that segmenting your email list, sending different emails to different recipients based on their profile, is very effective.

Broadcast Timing Based on Location, Sign-Up Time, or Other Criteria

Timing is everything and then same is true for both email marketing and social media. If you don’t time your marketing messages correctly, there’s a good chance your email or social update will end up lost down in an inbox or social media stream respectively.

How do you know when to market? By using a customer’s profile which should contain all the clues you need including the time(s) they:

• Signed-up for your email marketing list;
• Most often visit your site and make purchases;
• Open your emails and click on the links inside.

In addition, make sure to account for a customer’s time zone when configuring your automated marketing. For example, if you want to hit folks with an email first thing in the morning, use time zone targeting to stagger the email broadcast.

Advanced Segmentation

Segmenting your marketing efforts, especially your email marketing lists, is an important step to take when growing your small business. While there are a number of common segments to consider, you can break up and target your efforts in many different ways including:

• Age;
• Seniority;
• Industry;
• Content topic or format; and
• Call-to-action clicks.

Every point of data you gather in a customer’s profile can be used to create an email segment. And use them you should – the more specific the segment, the more effective it will be.

Lead Scoring

Scoring your leads is an advanced form of segmentation, both for email marketing and beyond, that enables you to target the leads who are most likely to buy your products and services.

Many automated marketing systems include this feature which creates a lead score based on certain behaviors such as:

• Emails opened;
• Email links clicked;
• Site visited;
• Content viewed; and
• Products viewed, added to cart, and purchased.

Each time a behavior occurs, it demonstrates the engagement of the lead and, the lead’s score goes up.

6 Killer Ways to Use Automated Marketing for Your Small Business

From on-site targeting to personalization, and lead scoring, you can use automation to more effectively market your products and services to both leads and existing customers. This automation extends well beyond email marketing and is worth considering as your build your marketing arsenal.

Marketing Automation Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "6 Killer Ways to Use Automated Marketing for Your Small Business" was first published on Small Business Trends

Concord wants to become the Google Docs of contracts

 Concord wants to be your all-in-one solution for everything related to contracts. The startup just raised a $3.7 million Series A round from Alven Capital, with existing investors Streamlined Ventures, Bruno Deschamps and Thibault Poutrel also participating. Many departments rely on contracts to work with clients, suppliers, legal partners and more. But it’s still a tedious process as… Read More

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WordPress Releases “Candidate” for Version 4.8, Welcomes Last Minute Input

The WordPress.org development team has announced plans to release WordPress version 4.8 early next month. Version 4.8 is a candidate, meaning the development team thinks it is good but they are looking for people to go through it one last time and look for bugs.

WordPress 4.8 Release Candidate

The release candidate for WordPress 4.8 brings in three major enhancements:

• An improved visual editor experience, with a new TinyMCE that allows you to navigate more intuitively in and out of inline elements like links,
• A revamp of the dashboard news widget to bring in nearby and upcoming events including meetups and WordCamps,
• Several new media widgets covering images, audio, and video, and an enhancement to the text widget to support visual editing.

“Our goals are to make editing posts with links more intuitive, make widgets easier for new users and more convenient for existing ones, and get many more people aware of and attending our community events,” wrote Matt Mullenweg, developer and co-founder of WordPress, in a post announcing the release on the WordPress.org blog.

Test WordPress 4.8 Release Candidate

If you’d like to test WordPress 4.8, Mullenweg says you should try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip). To report a bug you suspect you’ve found, post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums.

WordPress is the most popular site builder for small businesses, powering 28.1 percent of all websites as per the latest Web Technology Surveys data. This represents a content management system market share of 59.1 percent. It is updates to its core such as this that enhance WordPress and offer small businesses a flexible, open source platform that can grow as their needs do.

Release date for WordPress 4.8 candidate is planned for June 1, and the final 4.8 release on June 8. That gives small business WordPress site owners and developers a small window to test for compatibility issues.

It should be noted, however, that release candidates and beta releases are under active development and may contain bugs. It is therefore unwise to upgrade your production site before the final release.

WordPress Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "WordPress Releases “Candidate” for Version 4.8, Welcomes Last Minute Input" was first published on Small Business Trends