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🧪 Leverage: The Career Multiplier Most Marketers Miss

🧪 Leverage: The Career Multiplier Most Marketers Miss

Marketers Help Marketers

Mita Mandawker
April 20, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Hello hello 👋🏽,

Welcome to the 7th edition of Marketers Help Marketers.

Last week, I asked what you'd like to read next -

Most of you wanted to learn about building leverage in marketing careers.

Well, ask and you shall receive.

First things first—what is leverage in your career?

In simple terms:

Leverage = more output for the same (or less) input.

In physics, it’s what helps you lift heavy things without being superhuman.

❝

In marketing careers, it’s what helps you get seen, get trusted, and get picked—even if you’re not the “most talented person in the room.”

Let’s be honest: most of us are somewhere in the middle of the talent curve.

That’s not a bad thing.

It just means we have to be smart about how we grow.

Here’s a reality of working in marketing -

Marketing is competitive. Really, really competitive.

We often think success comes from working harder or being the smartest person in the room.

But the truth is, leverage often matters more than either of those things.

Some of the best marketers didn’t get ahead because they were the best.

They got ahead because they built leverage.

How to Build Leverage in Your Marketing Career

For early-career marketers: Start where you are

If you’re just starting out (0–5 years in), you might feel like you don’t have leverage yet.

But actually—you do.

Charity begins at home, so should your leverage-building work - with your role.

Cultivate a reputation before you need it

Trust is the ultimate form of leverage. Build it by:

Delivering what you promise
Taking initiative even on small tasks
Sharing credit generously
Helping others without expecting immediate returns

Your reputation starts with how you show up daily, not with your LinkedIn profile.

People remember how you made their life easier.

❝

Leverage often starts when someone remembers your name at the right moment.

Develop cross-functional fluency

Learn to speak the language of product, engineering, sales, and customer success.

When you can translate marketing concepts into terms other departments understand (and vice versa), you become invaluable.

Apart from building leverage, this will help you work so well with other teams.

Master the metrics that matter

Develop a deep understanding of which metrics drive business decisions at your company.

In meetings, become the person who can quickly connect marketing activities to business outcomes.

This creates immediate leverage with leadership.

Become the "just ask them" person

When colleagues consistently refer others to you with the phrase "just ask [your name], they'll know," you've built powerful internal leverage.

Pick 1-2 areas where you'll be the go-to resource, and invest deeply in mastering them.

Document your work (even if just for yourself)

This doesn't have to be public.

Keep a work journal of campaigns, outcomes, and lessons learned.

This creates internal leverage when discussing your value with managers and serves as a personal knowledge base.

Be the person who makes connections

Introduce people who should know each other.

Share helpful resources with teammates.

This positions you as a connector—someone who adds value beyond your job description.

Work in public (even just a little)

You don’t need a big personal brand. You just need proof of work.

Post a LinkedIn breakdown of a project.

Write about a failed campaign and what you learned.

Visibility builds trust -

especially when people aren’t in the room with you.

Put yourself in stretch rooms

Find marketing communities, join Slack groups, attend webinars, DM someone you admire.

This isn’t schmoozing—it’s about building proximity.

High-Leverage Moves for Mid-Career Marketers

Mid-career (5–10 years in) is this weird limbo where you're “senior” but still figuring out what’s next.

If you’re feeling stuck in the IC loop, not getting tapped for the juicy projects, or wondering how others seem to “get ahead” faster, here are some small (but mighty) ways to build real leverage at this stage.

Turn execution into thought leadership

You’ve shipped stuff.

You’ve learned things.

Now—talk about it.

Write about your decision-making process, what you’d do differently, how you prioritized tradeoffs.

This signals judgment, not just “I can do the work.”

Teach what you know

You know more than you think.

Mentor someone junior.

Guest speak at a bootcamp. Host a mini session in a Slack group.

Teaching builds credibility fast—and shows you’re a multiplier, not just a doer.

Invest in internal leverage

Be the person your boss brings up in leadership meetings.

→ Summarize projects with clarity

→ Share thoughtful POVs on what worked and why

→ Give credit generously

You’re making it easy for people to see your value.

Show your frameworks

Everyone says they’re “strategic” or “data-driven.”

Few show how.

→ Share your campaign brief template

→ Write about how you approach quarterly planning

→ Post a teardown of a recent test

This is how you become known for how you think.

Network without being weird

Skip the “can I pick your brain?” messages.

Instead:

→ Leave thoughtful comments on someone’s post

→ Reply to their story with a genuine reaction

→ DM a kind note after listening to their podcast

Remember, it’s not about volume, but staying top of mind.

Collaborate with peers

Leverage = not doing everything solo.

Partner with someone on a project—a shared post, a community event, a workshop.

You build reach and community at the same time.

Build leverage inside and outside

Yes, your current role matters.

But don’t forget to invest in visibility beyond your company.

Speak at events.

Join marketing collectives.

You want people saying, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of them.”

Most leverage is relational

Yes, skills matter.

But relationships multiply your skills.

The people who get invited to opportunities are usually the ones who are:

Top of mind
Easy to trust
Easy to recommend

That doesn’t mean you need to be a LinkedIn creator or full-time networker.

It just means you have to be thoughtful about relationship building like -

Checking in with peers regularly
Celebrating others' wins
Offering genuine help before asking for favors
Maintaining connections even when you don't need anything
Follow up on DMs
Say thanks when someone helps you

Very simple and easy things, when you think about it, but still, many people miss this.

People who talk about you positively when you're not in the room create incredible leverage.

In conclusion

The most powerful aspect of leverage is how it compounds over time.

Each relationship, skill, or visibility opportunity creates the foundation for the next.

The marketer who consistently builds leverage doesn't just progress linearly—they experience exponential career growth.

Consider two marketers with identical skills:

One focuses solely on execution, improving incrementally each year
The other builds leverage through relationships, knowledge sharing, and visibility

After five years, the second marketer will likely have more opportunities than the first marketer, despite having started with the same capabilities.

So, if you’re feeling stuck, underpaid, or invisible, it might not be a skill issue.

It might just be a leverage issue.

The good news is, you can build it slowly, intentionally, and authentically with consistency.

Remember, small moves → long-term momentum.

I hope this inspires you to make one small move this week that moves you a little further in building leverage.

Reply and tell me.

I will cheer you on.