The overlooked advantage of hiring marketers from outside your industry

If you’ve ever said, “We need someone from our industry because they’ll hit the ground running,” this one’s for you.

On paper, it makes sense. You want someone who knows your market, your jargon, and your customers. Someone who doesn’t need a two-month onboarding just to understand what your business does and why customers choose you. The problem is, when everyone hires from the same small pool, you all end up sounding exactly the same. And, to quote Groove Armada, “if everybody looked the same, we’d get tired of looking at each other”.

Don’t miss the opportunity to get noticed

Hiring from within your sector feels reassuring. You get someone who already knows the landscape, the events, the competitors, maybe even the acronyms. They can slot right in, keep things ticking over, and give you that warm feeling that you’ve made a safe choice.

But comfort is the enemy of creativity. Those “safe hands” often come with well-worn habits and pre-baked assumptions about what works. And what worked for your competitor might not actually work for you.

Bringing new ideas or, most likely, ideas that worked well in different or adjacent sectors, gives YOU the advantage – they’re tried and tested, AND fresh to your audience. The perfect way to guarantee you’ll get noticed.

The echo chamber problem

When everyone moves around within the same industry, ideas and strategies just bounce around like an echo. You get the same campaigns, the same messaging, and the same half-hearted attempts to stand out which, ironically, all blend together.

I’ve seen it time and again in B2B sectors: five companies, all competing for the same customers, all saying exactly the same thing. Honestly, every B2B company in the automotive space has promised to ‘drive growth’, and help you ‘switch gears’ or ‘change lanes’, at some point! A sea of sameness where no one stands out, and customers stop paying attention.

Sharing secrets with your rivals

There’s another problem with everyone hiring from within the same circle - information leakage. If your marketing team’s last employer was one of your competitors, there’s a fair chance your next big idea might walk straight back out the door in a year’s time.

People naturally carry insight, processes, and even campaign ideas with them. So, while you think you’ve gained an advantage by hiring someone who knows the competition, in reality, you’re all just swapping notes.

Why hiring marketers from outside your industry is smarter

Hiring marketers from other sectors feels riskier, but it’s where the real opportunity lies.

People from other industries bring a fresh perspective. They’re not weighed down by “how things are done.” They’ll question assumptions, challenge norms, and, crucially, take the time to research your market and ideal customer personas properly instead of relying on memory. That curiosity often leads to better insights about your customers, ones that people inside the bubble simply don’t see anymore.

They’ll also import smart ideas from other sectors - approaches, technologies, and tactics that might be commonplace elsewhere but revolutionary in yours. That’s how genuine differentiation happens.

"I’ve never hired anyone from within sector. I’ve always valued expertise and attitude above industry experience, and people who can provide a new perspective."

The fresh-eyes effect

When you hire from within your own industry, you’re buying experience. When you hire from outside it, you’re buying perspective.

Someone new to your world will ask “why” a lot. Why do we market this way? Why do we sell to this audience? Why do we assume this is the problem customers need solving? Do we really improve their work-life? How?  Those questions might feel uncomfortable at first, but they’re often the spark for something better. And different!

So, what’s the right balance?

This isn’t a call to hire someone from an entirely unrelated field and expect instant results. Highly regulated sectors, for example, do require a certain amount of insider knowledge. But there’s a middle ground.

Mix the old with the new. Pair someone who knows the space with someone who doesn’t - a blend of experience and fresh thinking. That’s where real innovation happens.

Personally, I’ve never hired anyone from within sector. I’ve always valued expertise and attitude above industry experience, and people who can provide a new perspective. Everyone in your business can tell you what (they think) works in that sector – they all know it and work in it. Very few of them can share experiences from across multiple industries.

Final thought

If you want your marketing to truly stand out, stop looking in the same places as everyone else. Safe choices make for safe marketing. And safe marketing rarely grows a business.

So next time you’re hiring, ask yourself: do you want someone who can hit the ground running, or someone who’ll make you think differently, and ultimately help you run a different path to success than your competition.