Forget that content crown! How many hats do you wear?

If 2012 marketing conferences were all about proclaiming that CONTENT is KING, 2013 has been spent (so far) discussing MOBILE MARKETING. 

I have participated to countless discussions on both topics and offered my 2p on that old chestnut, SEO IS DEAD, but what I have realised, both as a marketing consultant (remote) and as a contractor (inhouse) is that the content crown has been replaced by a multitude of hats. This has created a kind of professional identity crisis: what am I now? 

By Marcus Hodges

To be honest, I'm not bothered, but it bothers other people, especially those who are very fond of pigeonholing. At a networking event, recently, I had to explain what I do to people who don't know what SEO is (they still exist, despite all the LinkedIn discussions, the DIY tweets - mine are called #TweetsforSEO and my moniker is @simonecas - and countless features in trade publications). 

At this business networking event, I started saying I do content marketing and SEO, then tried copywriting and website optimization, then went for "I rank websites on Google, I do social media, I monitor online reputation..." 

At some point I got asked if I was in marketing or PR. And to confuse the issue even further, I still do some editing and journalism work. Now, correct me if I am wrong but these used to be different 'fields' only a few years back:

Journalist: objective communicator
Editor: objective and subjective operator
Copywriter (ad copy): subjective
PR: subjective communicator (aka mouthpiece of brand)
Marketeer: mostly subjective but with some room for objectivity, for instance if raising awareness about an issue
SEO/social media bod: subjective (you bark for the client).

A few years back if you moved from journalism to marketing/PR you crossed the other side, as if a Darth Vader of commerce was lurking across an imaginary line, trying to seduce you to lose your objectivity. 

Are professional boundaries being blurred? You tell me.