If you want to make it in the marketing world, you could be wondering which skillset can help you improve to a professional level. When it comes to marketing strategies, there are two main types of skills; soft skills and hard skills. We talked to the experts about which skills are vital for success in the marketing world, and here we have compiled their top suggestions;
Only 8% of all marketers on LinkedIn have storytelling listed as a skill on their profile. A good story is something that everyone enjoys. A marketer's job is to take data and analytics and turn them into true tales about a company's current state. This is something they frequently do with blog material, paid social, book marketing, and even eBooks. But it's not only about presenting what the company has accomplished.
Knowing how to present is extremely beneficial, especially in today's climate. This excellent essay from Lifesize on how to conduct a virtual presentation is really worth reading. Making them relatable and emotionally captivating is the key. What happens if the tale you're telling isn't very good? People are likely to tune out and lose interest in what you're selling.
Neil Shaw, Founder & CEO Lottery Sambad
To execute their assignments, they must collaborate not just within the marketing team but also across multiple teams. To get closer to the end product, they collaborate with employees from the sales, finance, customer service, and IT departments, to mention a few. Because when people work together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Being a team player is a crucial marketing talent because it is teamwork that distinguishes successful firms from great ones.
Lauren Cook-McKay, Director of Marketing & Content Divorce Answers
Wasted money and wasted time are the classic outcomes if your mindset is not stronger than emotions while managing marketing (information overload, too many channels, a set of techniques, “last minute offers”, etc.)
It is also important to understand the FUNDAMENTALS on what to build your marketing: it helps you gain clarity as soon as you understand basic principles where marketing lies inside everything else in your business. Clarity gives you a framework for controlled decision-making.
You most certainly need them for creating organized activities. You don't want to waste your time and money here! You can’t be all over the place; you have to be organized, focused, and consistent in marketing.
On top of the aforementioned pillars, you have to learn COMMUNICATION skills as it really helps you level up professionally. First, you should know how to communicate with others in a way they expect, not just the way you want to communicate with them. And also, it helps you to understand your target audience’s behaviors and motivates others to do the things you want them to do much more effectively.
Last but not the least, the thing you have to learn is LEADERSHIP skills. You want to create aligned empowerment with your teams and projects; you want your marketing to support your sales and vice versa. If you don’t know how to lead yourself and hold yourself and others accountable, and you can't manage your time properly, you can’t do successful marketing.
Mari-Liis Vaher, B2B Small Business Marketing Coach
Two major skills that a person must possess to excel in marketing are:
The market and its needs change with time. Therefore, one must always be ready to adapt and innovate their strategies.
Marketing involves collaboration and people management. The ability of a person to persuade people is what seals the deal. Hence, one must be very good at dealing with people through emails, cold calls, and client meetings in real life.
Gian Moore is a Partner and Marketing Director at Mellowpine
To our first competence for today's marketers, we could have included quantitative communication, but we felt it was critical to keep it distinct. Marketers that are successful will be nimble with analytical technologies like Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Hubspot, Pardot, Marketo, and Optimizely.
Today's marketers base their choices on data and relevant metrics that are tied to campaign objectives and KPIs. Campaign success may be tracked more easily with the use of marketing automation software and other analytics tools. This means that a marketer shouldn't have to break into a cold sweat while looking at an analytics dashboard.
Effective inbound marketing generates qualified sales leads by providing value to the customer and converting them into customers. People that are interested in learning more about a problem and finding a solution will find plenty of information and entertainment here. Outbound marketing, on the other hand, is disruptive and intrusive; as many prospects as possible will be exposed to the company's message under this disruption Marketing Strategy.
Gerrid Smith CEO & Founder of Property Tax Loan Pros
Successful marketing managers are expected to be well-dressed and have a direct demeanor. Although the words marketing and straightforward may not seem to go together, the truth is that customers prefer honest marketers to those that promise them unattainable goals. To put it another way, these are the essential abilities of a marketing manager. So that he is always on people's minds, the marketer should be strategic, convincing, and have a little bit of fun, I believe.
Julian Goldie CEO of Goldie Agency
Being successful at marketing is not too easy because you have to learn the top marketing skills. These skills are essential for any level of marketing, from entry-level jobs to management positions.
Here’s a list of skills:
This is the foundation of all marketing and helps you come up with new ideas and execute them. Without creativity, no company can grow past a certain point.
Marketing requires making decisions based on data and trends, so analytical thinking is key for success in this field. For example, marketers need to know how much money they should spend on a campaign to make it profitable or how many people they need to target with their advertising in order to reach their target audience.
Effective communication is essential for any marketer who wants to be successful. Apart from this, communication builds and increases trust and the culture of teamwork.
Menelaos Menelaou, Digital Marketing Expert of Digital SEOS
Selling is not about getting the sale and moving on to the next one. It's about creating a meaningful connection with your customer and creating value. As a business owner, you need to be good at selling because you will be selling yourself and your business consistently. It doesn't matter if you sell cars (like I did), houses, event tickets, or insurance, selling is selling, and it's important that you master this skill.
The best thing you can do for yourself is find out what works and stop doing what doesn't work. This is true for so many things, yet so many people don't do it. They think that if they continue to do what they've always done, it will magically work.
It doesn't have to be overly sophisticated, but you need to know where your business is going. Create an actual marketing calendar. I am not sure of the history behind this, but I believe it came out of GE. There are three buckets: (1) Must-Do (2) Should-Do (3) Nice-To-Do. These are like your triage priorities. Kevin McGuire, Founder & CEO Metro Precision Painting
