As a Digital Marketing Talent Accelerator and Incubator, we deeply understand the importance of mentorship and having the right mentor to help you with your personal and professional development. In our talks with Elnaz Gerami, Director — Creative Marketing at Cineplex, and Billy Bambao, Digital Marketing Strategist & Program Owner at Uhuru Network, we explored what a mentor is, what makes a good mentor and how to find one, as well as the steps you should take to get the right mentor for you.
Let’s dive in.
What is a Mentor?
A mentor is someone who is successful and has extensive experience in their industry. According to Billy Bambao, a mentor is someone whom you can pose questions to and gain (the right) answers from, who can provide you with insights regarding your personal and professional development, and who can periodically check in with you and have you explore new perspectives to further your development.
Mentor vs. Coach: What’s the Difference?
A mentor should not be confused with a coach, although there may be some overlapping qualities and characteristics between these two.
There are two types of people that can impact you: there’s mentors and then there’s coaches. I think it’s important that you have both and understand the difference between both.
Billy Bambao, Digital Marketing Strategist & Program Owner, Uhuru Network
Billy Bambao mentioned that a coach is someone that’s watching over your shoulder and giving you feedback on what you’re doing as well as suggestions for next steps. Coaches focus on helping you tackle specific challenges, be it tactical or strategic. Unlike mentors who can provide insights to those not working in the same industry as them, coaches are brought in according to the industry expertise they possess.
A mentor-mentee relationship can be less formal and more long-lasting than a coaching relationship. A coaching relationship is more contractual—once the challenge is resolved, both parties may end their relationship and move on. However, there are cases when coaches can become mentors, and a short-term relationship becomes a long-term one.
This blog will focus on discussing mentorship only. If you are starting out in digital marketing and looking for a coach to assist you with your job search and skillsets, check out our Digital Mentorship Circle.
Benefits of Mentorship to Mentors and Mentees
Mentorship is a relationship where both parties receive values from connecting, teaching and learning from each other.
Why Mentorship is Important to Mentees
It is pretty clear how a more experienced person can help you in navigating your career path:
Mentorship helps save time
Let’s say you’re applying to a job and are looking to connect with someone from the company. Your mentor can either help connect with that particular person, or connect you with someone who knows somebody who works there. This saves you the trouble of reaching out and waiting for days on end for them to get back to you.
A mentor can provide more help than just widen your network. They can guide you to learn specific skills and knowledge required to succeed in your industry, or they can help you perfect your transferable skills. Most of the time, they possess knowledge and experience particular to the industry you’re planning to explore, and instead of wasting time navigating advice through advice on the Internet, just reaching out and asking your mentor is a lot easier.
Mentorship provides professional guidance
This is something most people look for in a mentor-mentee relationship: professional assistance. It could be industry connections. It could be job referrals. It could be specific advice such as what hiring managers look for when they see your portfolio, or what questions you should ask during an interview, or how should you proceed when you’re not progressing in your career. Having extensive experience, a mentor has been through enough successes and failures to give you the advice you need.
Mentorship can become a personal connection
A mentor doesn’t have to be someone you rely on just for professional growth. More often than not, a mentor can become your best friend who you confide in. They can also provide you advice regarding your personal challenges, your insecurities, or simply just be there for you when you need someone.
The whole idea of the mentorship program is just to make sure that they feel that they belong. And it’s just reminding them of their worth, reminding of their talent and just giving them that extra love. Kindness is key. I’m going to keep saying it. It’s the number one thing that keeps the world moving.
Elnaz Gerami, Director Creative Marketing, Cineplex
Why Mentorship is Important to Mentors
A mentor-mentee relationship is a two-way street.
Mentoring someone helps you develop your leadership and management skills. You learn how to apply what you know in a different case, another person’s life. You learn how to really listen and read between the lines. Just as how a mentee learns industry insights from you, you learn, from your talks with your mentees, new ideas and unorthodox perspectives that you did not know because your mentee might not be as limited by industry knowledge as you are.
Mentees can become an important connection in your life too. They can just be there for you in tough times, the same way you’re there for them.
What Makes a Good Mentor?
Of course, you should look for someone who is successful and is (a lot) more experienced than you. Most of the time, you’re looking for someone within the same industry. But that’s not necessarily the case — you can gain advice from people and relationships management from a Human Resources leader even though you’re, say, a software developer.
However, make no mistake: not everyone with extensive experience can become a good mentor.
A clear characteristic that sets mentors apart is that they love to teach—Elnaz Gerami and Billy Bambao both agreed on this. You want someone who WANTS to teach you, who can spare parts of their day or week to help you with what you need. You want someone who really listens and cares about your problems, while at the same time respects confidentiality.
If you have that boss who says “Hey, hit me up whenever you need,” it makes a world of difference. Especially when you’re starting out. There isn’t a worse feeling than when knowing that you’re stuck and that you have questions, there’s no one that you can go to.
Elnaz Gerami, Director Creative Marketing, Cineplex
Your managers can also be your mentors, and if that applies to you, you want to find a manager who can provide you with opportunities for professional growth. A good mentor should not be limiting your chances to prove your worth. If you’re not yet qualified, ask them to teach you or just learn more yourself and ask for their feedback. Make sure your mentor does not sugar-coat their feedback: you need to know what your strengths and weaknesses are in order to really grow.
How to Find the Right Mentor (with Action Items)
Mentorship is a long-term relationship and just like every other long-term relationship, you want to find someone who is right for you.
From what Billy Bambao and Elnaz Gerami shared with us, here are the five key items you should consider in order to find the right mentor for you:
#1 – Map out your ideal average day
What would your ideal average day be? Would it be working a 9-to-5 job that you love, surrounded by the professionals you love? Would it be freelancing, as it allows more flexibility and lets you be with your family more? What does it look like when you wake up in the morning and when you finish working in the afternoon?
Compare it to your current day-to-day activities and think of how a mentor can help you change that picture.
#2 – Map out your ideal end game
What do you really want, 50 years down the road? Many people want to become well-known and respected internationally for their expertise. Others prefer leading a more quiet life, with a small group of people they are really close to.
Think of your end game and how your decisions today can affect that scenario.
#3 – List your values and beliefs
Your ideal mentor should be someone whose values and beliefs align with yours. You don’t want a long-lasting relationship with a person that disregards your values—it wouldn’t even be long-lasting in the first place. So ask yourself what you believe in, and make a list of that.
#4 – List the goals you want to achieve in this mentor-mentee relationship
And make them SMART! You may not have a mentor yet, but it’s always useful to know what you want them to help with. It’s easier for your mentor to create a roadmap for you too. Make sure you build these goals based on what you have from #1 to #3.
#5 – Look for people who have what you’re looking for based on #1 to #4, and start reaching out
Now it’s time to look for people and reach out to them. You want someone whose values and beliefs align with yours. You want someone who is willing and is available to help you in your path to have your ideal day and ideal job. Consider all the aforementioned characteristics of a good mentor too. Once you have your criteria in mind, start reaching out.
How to Get their Attention—Ways to Connect with Your Future Mentors (with Action Items)
But how should you reach out to people and what should you do to get their attention? Here are some suggestions with two clear actions for you to get started right away.
#1 – Do your research and think of what value you can give them
Look up your potential mentors. What do they like? What do they dislike? Do they have a personal site? If they do, read, watch or listen to the content they’ve produced to understand more about them. Have they done some huge campaigns? Do some research on that too. These should help you with some topics you can use to reach out to them.
Once you have that done, think: what value can I give them? Remember, relationships are all about give-and-take. Mentors can be more willing to teach you if you can provide value to them first.
And value can come in all shapes and sizes—don’t get too serious about it. You can just comment on their article and outline how it has helped you in your career. You can suggest some new ideas they can implement in their future podcasts or videos. Anything that is genuine should do.
#2 – Ask
That seems simple enough, but asking can be a huge hurdle to some people. But people won’t know about you unless you show up and you speak up.
You can reach out to your current network and ask them to help you connect with your potential mentors. You can also email your mentors or just send them a direct message on LinkedIn. You can also find chances to meet them in person, especially when the pandemic eases. The most important thing is to show that you can provide value to them, which should be a no brainer after you’ve done step #1. Asking comes easier after that—once you’re done giving something, it doesn’t feel as bad asking for something back.
We hope this article has been helpful to you in your search for the right mentor. Remember: the best time to take action is now. If you have someone you’ve been meaning to reach out to, do it. If you have talked to someone and have learned a lot from them, follow up with them. Be genuine and kind in your message and people will get back to you. Just as Elnaz Gerami said, “(Kindness) is the number one thing that keeps the world moving.”
Elnaz Gerami and Billy Bambao are also guest speakers for our March 4 event: Working in Marketing — Agency vs. In-house. If you’re still debating whether agency or in-house is your true calling, here’s the chance to find out. Register now.