Great leaders have –  and demonstrate – emotional intelligence (EQ). I’m not sure how much I was born with, but I do work on  building my emotional intelligence over time.     Daniel Goleman writes a ton on it, and suggests its importance may even be greater than IQ.

Are there unique ways in which EQ shows up in digital marketing?

One distinction in EQ within digital marketing  could be that we all communicate via our digital footprints – in many cases before we communicate real time, or instead of communicating real time. I think of the resumes I have received at Microsoft from job applicants with “gmail.com’ email addresses. Come on folks – we get that Gmail is pretty good. But would you open up your Toshiba when pitching Dell, or pick up your Ford prospect up in your Toyota?  Your choice of personal email address suggests a lack of empathy or at least lack of social awareness for the person/context  (especially given the facility with which a new webmail address can be obtained.)

Another example of an EQ misfire via a digital footprint:   when folks are not able to keep their digital stories straight. “No, I have not considered looking for a new role.”  Then why does your LinkedIn profile say that you are open to new job opportunities?

Why are digital footprints important in digital marketing? Not only should we keenly aware of them for the role their play in our industry - but we are in the business of MARKETING! If you can’t market yourself, what kind of relationship will you build with clients or consumers?

Second – depending on the size of your org – you are going to do a lot of communicating by email. So make sure you can write emails – not the most empathetic medium –  and demonstrate EQ at the same time.  Here I have an example where I know I screwed up on the EQ front via email. Before a long weekend, I sent a long-overdue email highlighting where we as a team missed  our obligations in ‘delighting customers.’   The message was the right one – I knew it needed to be delivered.  However, the timing (before a long weekend) and the medium (over email) was off.   The message could have waited, and an in-person delivery in an all-hands would have found a more receptive audience.  In a world where we send more and more emails, saying “no” to an email, even when every bone in your body is pulling you to write it, may be the best decision.

Lastly – digital marketing is all about numbers.  If you can’t do numbers, you can’t do digital marketing.  I don’t care if you are building a brand or slinging affiliate signups:  accountability and analytics are two cornerstones of this industry.   Leadership is all about bringing others along with you. So, in digital marketing, if you want to bring others along, you better have your data ready.  Recently, a colleague of mine – in another group – presented annual business targets. Those targets seemed “off.’  When asked to provide validation for the targets (baseline impressions, CPM mix, etc)  this colleague shrugged his shoulders (in this case, literally). By doing this, he lost a lot of trust and respect– with his partners, with his manager, with his colleagues.  Although EQ is commonly thought of as the “softer side” of business, if you don’t have a solid grasp on your numbers, you can’t lead from the front. And that’s what leadership is all about.

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