I was recently asked by a marketing executive how it feels to work in a marketing and public relations agency where you do not need to defend your job and work everyday. To put this in perspective, we were discussing the need in corporate marketing to always justify and quantify your importance.

I was taken aback by this question because there is no difference between a corporation and an agency when it comes to defending the need for quality marketing. Professionals in the marketing industry need to have a strong strategy to back everything we do up. A corporate marketing professional needs to defend the decisions they make to show they are within budget and creating the best results for the company.

Similarly, my goal everyday is provide clients with the best marketing and public relations results within budget. Some days that means working as a team to develop a cohesive and strong strategy, and other days that means putting my head in the computer to write amazing copy. Regardless, I find myself day in and day out making sure I have a good defense for my choices, recommendations and my actions. If not internally during brainstorms or when my team is reviewing my work, then to the client to show that everything we are doing is for a purpose and is worth the expense.

This isn’t a bad thing though. Without people questioning us, as marketers, we might not think through why we are making one recommendation versus another, or we might not consider an alternative action that could provide better results.

So what does this mean? It means that no matter where you work – if you are in a small company or a large corporation, a small agency or a large agency – you must strive to provide your client/company with the best results possible and always take the time to understand the reason why you are doing what you’re doing.