Latest / The Marketing Career Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Jobs, Skills, and Career Growth / How Marketers Use a Career Side Project for Strategic Impact
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to talk about something that a lot of mid-career marketers tell me they keep meaning to do but never quite start: a career side project. Luna: Yeah, the side project. It's one of those things that sounds great in theory but in practice feels like one more thing on top of an already full plate. Lucas: Exactly. And I think part of the problem is how we frame it. A lot of people hear 'side project' and they think of something you do in your spare time, maybe a blog about a hobby. But the most effective career side projects are actually strategic. They're not just busywork—they're deliberately chosen to build a specific skill, increase your visibility, or open a new path. Luna: So you're saying the side project should have a clear career return. Can you give me a concrete example of someone who did this well? Lucas: Sure. A senior brand manager at Procter & Gamble—let's call her Sarah. She was working on a major laundry detergent brand, but she was increasingly interested in direct to consumer analytics. That wasn't really part of her day job, which was mostly about mass retail. So she started a weekly newsletter called 'D2C Metrics.' Each issue broke down one metric—customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, cohort retention—using publicly available data from D2C brands she admired like Hims and Warby Parker. Luna: And she did this while working full-time at P&G? Lucas: Yes, on Sunday mornings, for about two hours. She didn't aim to build a media empire. She just wanted to develop a vocabulary and a point of view on D2C analytics. After about six months, she had 800 subscribers, mostly other marketers. She also started getting invited to speak at small industry events. Then, about a year in, an internal role opened up in P&G's new D2C unit, and she got it. She told me the newsletter was the single biggest factor in her promotion. Luna: So the side project wasn't just a nice to have—it was a credential that her employer recognized as real expertise. That's powerful. But I think a lot of marketers get stuck on the 'what.' They don't know where to start. Lucas: Right. So let's break it into three parts. First, pick a specific audience. Not 'everyone in marketing'—that's too broad. Sarah picked marketers who wanted to understand D2C analytics. That's a real, identifiable group with a specific knowledge gap. Second, solve a real problem for that audience. For Sarah, the problem was that most marketing analytics resources are either too academic or too focused on paid media. She filled a niche. Third—and this is the part most people skip—document the process publicly. Share what you're learning as you learn it. Luna: That third one can feel vulnerable. You're essentially saying 'I don't know this yet, but I'm figuring it out.' Not everyone is comfortable with that. Lucas: No, and it's a legitimate concern. But the upside of building in public is that you attract people who are also learning, and they become your audience and your network. Sarah's first few newsletters were very basic—she literally wrote 'I'm still learning cohort analysis, here's what I've figured out so far.' And people appreciated the honesty. The key is to add value even as you're learning. You don't have to be an expert on day one. Luna: I think that's a really important point. So let's talk about time. How does someone with a full-time marketing job, maybe a family, maybe a commute, find two hours a week for a side project? Lucas: The honest answer is that you can't create time, you can only reprioritize it. The marketers who actually do this are the ones who trade something else—usually an hour of Netflix or scrolling social media. Sarah's Sunday morning slot worked because it was consistent and she treated it as non-negotiable. Also, she started very small: the first issue was just five bullet points. It didn't need to be perfect. Perfection is the enemy of starting. Luna: Yeah, I think a lot of marketers overestimate what a side project needs to be. It doesn't need to be a newsletter. It could be a LinkedIn series, a YouTube channel, a small database you build, a portfolio of case studies. The format matters less than the consistency and the focus. Lucas: Exactly. And I'd add that the best side projects are often ones that solve a problem you have in your own job. If you're a content marketer struggling to measure ROI, start a side project that experiments with different attribution models. You'll learn something useful for your day job, and you'll have a concrete example to point to. That's a double win. Luna: That reminds me of something I read recently: a B2B marketing manager who was frustrated that her team's webinars were getting low attendance. So she started a side project—a personal newsletter where she tested different subject lines and send times, and she shared the results. She basically reverse-engineered what worked for her own audience, then applied those learnings to her day job. Her webinar attendance went up 40 percent in three months. Lucas: That's a perfect example. And notice she didn't just do the experiment in her head. She documented it publicly, and that documentation became part of her portfolio when she later interviewed for a senior role. The side project served as a credential, a learning tool, and a visibility builder all at once. Luna: I think there's also a psychological benefit. When you're stuck in a career plateau, a side project gives you a sense of agency. You're not just waiting for your manager to give you a stretch assignment—you're creating your own. Lucas: That's exactly right. And it's especially powerful for mid-career marketers who feel like they've hit a ceiling. A side project can be a way to test whether you want to pivot into a new area without leaving your current job. You can try on a new role, a new skill, a new industry, in a low-stakes way. Luna: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used—whether it's starting a side project or just thinking differently about your career—we'd love it if you'd consider supporting the show. listener support is what keeps this podcast ad-free and focused on practical, honest advice. You can do that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: And we really mean it when we say every bit helps. It's what lets us keep having these conversations without worrying about sponsors. So if you've gotten value, that's the place. And now, back to side projects—I want to talk about one more angle: the side project as a career pivot tool. Luna: Yeah, let's dig into that. Because I think that's where side projects really shine. Lucas: So imagine you're a brand marketer at a CPG company, but you're increasingly interested in product marketing at a tech company. You don't have direct experience. A side project can be your portfolio. You could analyze a tech product's go to market strategy, write a critique, and share it on LinkedIn. Or you could create a mock product launch plan for a hypothetical product. That becomes something you can point to in interviews. Luna: I've actually seen someone do that. A friend of mine was in traditional retail marketing and wanted to move into SaaS. She spent three months building a 'product marketing audit' of a popular project management tool. She analyzed their pricing page, their onboarding flow, their customer testimonials. She published it as a LinkedIn article. It got a lot of traction, and she eventually got hired by that very company as a product marketing manager. Lucas: That's the dream scenario. But even if it doesn't lead directly to a job offer, you've built a tangible artifact that demonstrates your thinking. And in interviews, you can talk about it with confidence because you actually did the work. Luna: There's a risk, though. Some marketers might worry that their employer will see the side project and think they're not fully committed. Or that it's a conflict of interest. Lucas: That's a real concern. And it's why I always recommend checking your employment contract and having a conversation with your manager if you're unsure. Most companies are fine with side projects as long as you're not using company time or resources, and as long as it's not competing with your employer. But transparency goes a long way. In Sarah's case, she told her manager about the newsletter after a few months, and her manager became her biggest advocate. Luna: So the side project can actually strengthen your relationship with your manager if it's aligned with your career goals and the company's needs. Lucas: Exactly. And I think that's the key takeaway: a career side project is not a distraction. It's a strategic investment in your own growth. But it has to be intentional. You don't just start a blog because someone told you to. You start a blog because you have a specific audience in mind, a specific problem you want to solve, and a specific outcome you're aiming for. Luna: So if someone listening right now wants to start a side project this week, what's the first step? Lucas: The first step is to answer one question: what skill do I want to develop or what problem do I want to solve? Not what platform should I use, not what format. Just the core intent. Write it down in one sentence. Then, the second step is to commit to a tiny, repeatable output. One LinkedIn post per week. One five-bullet newsletter. One short video. Something that takes less than two hours. And do it for eight weeks before you evaluate whether to continue or change. Luna: I love that. No overthinking, no overplanning. Just start and iterate. Lucas: And if you don't know what skill to develop, look at job postings for roles you'd want in two years. What skills show up repeatedly that you don't have? That's your side project brief. For example, if you see 'data-driven marketing' in every senior role, then a side project where you analyze a dataset and present insights would be directly relevant. Luna: That's a very practical filter. So to sum up: pick a specific audience, solve a real problem, document publicly, start small, and tie it to your career goals. That's the formula. Lucas: I'd add one more thing: be patient. Sarah's newsletter didn't pay off for a year. The friend who did the product audit didn't get the job for six months. Side projects are a long game. But they compound—each piece of content, each connection, each learning builds on the last. And at some point, you look up and realize you've built something that genuinely changes your career trajectory. Luna: And that's a pretty good return on a couple of hours a week. Lucas: Absolutely. So, here's my challenge to listeners: pick one thing from this conversation, and do it this week. Write down that one-sentence intent. Or publish one LinkedIn post. Or subscribe to one industry newsletter you've been meaning to read. Just take one step. The side project starts with that first action. Luna: And we'd love to hear about it. Tag us or send us a note. We're always inspired by what our listeners are building. Lucas: Alright, that's our show for today. Until next time, keep building, keep learning, and keep marketing.