Those who decide to connect their professional activities to marketing wonder how suitable they are for this role. The answer isn’t always obvious. In many sources, the personal qualities of a marketing professional are defined so broadly that it seems that it is easier to list only those that are not really necessary.
The reason for this is that, in addition to professional growth, the key skills of a marketer depend on their specialization. In order not to entrap you completely, we will consider only those professional skills that are a MUST for a successful marketing specialist.
The must-have skills for a modern marketing specialist
The best way to gain attention in an endless stream of resumes is to become a versatile fighter. To do this, you need to regularly improve your skills, learn new tools and try on unusual roles. The formula is simple: the more skills you have in marketing and related fields, the higher your employer values you.
So, what skills should you upgrade first? Here are the top marketing skills to learn!
Data analysis
Marketing that is not data-driven is just a waste of money, especially in a greatly competitive global economy.
Whether you’re working with content creation, leveling up social media marketing, or lead generation, you need to be able to analyze campaigns launched using a huge amount of data.
Modern marketers cannot do without the ability to be well versed in tools and indicators that can be used to analyze marketing activities. By the way, digital marketers should learn basic coding skills to reduce analysis time and let the algorithms facilitate their work.
SEO
Modern users, and therefore potential customers, do most of their business online. Thus, SEO is an integral part of nearly every digital marketing initiative.
SEO is no longer a field for one or more team members – all marketers need to have a basic knowledge of SEO best practices to ensure better search engine rankings.
Creation of any kind of content
Content marketing is a fundamental part of any marketing campaign. Today, content is not king, but a whole kingdom, as renowned marketer Lee Odden said.
While not all marketing positions are directly related to content creation, you still need to know the basics of writing. Even if you don’t post on a blog, it’s likely that your responsibilities include email marketing or customer correspondence. Therefore, regardless of the position, modern marketing specialists must be able to effectively communicate their ideas and suggestions.
The ability to work in graphic editors and video marketing software will not be superfluous. Often, designers are busy urgently making a visual for an article or a compelling advertising campaign, so you need to be able to take a picture from the stock and adapt it, making it unique. By the way, this also applies to video. You may not need to create full-fledged videos on YouTube, but knowing how to crop a clip, work with different video formats, change MOV to MP4 or apply an effect to a video will definitely come in handy.
Tech proficiency
Technology keeps transforming the day-to-day work of marketers. It’s crucial for the modern professional to be able to use at least a basic tech stack: the tools of web analytics, email marketing platforms, social media management, and more.
As a rule, when applying for a job, the employer will ask what tools you’ve mastered. You can’t fail.
Here are the top soft skills you must perfect:
Intuition
There are situations when marketing specialists have no data they need to make a decision. In such cases, developed intuition can come in handy. Those who know when to trust their gut are valuable assets for any team.
Good news – intuition can be developed. To do this, you need to constantly study the target audience to create a robust marketing strategy based on inner guidance.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is determined by a person’s ability to recognize, understand and control their emotions, as well as their ability to sense and influence the emotions of others. This is one of the most important skills an employee can possess.
Emotional intelligence can help marketing staff recognize what drives a customer, what makes them happy or disappointing, and ultimately what drives them to make a purchase.
Creative thinking or rich visual experience
Despite the increasingly analytical career of a marketing specialist, marketing is still the ideal field for anyone looking for something creative. Many marketing professionals are highly creative people who like to think outside the box and come up with new, fresh ideas that stand out from the crowd. Since the competition in business is higher than ever, the ability to come up with something catchy is extremely important.
Creativity can be developed by observation. To do this, pay more attention to advertising campaigns, study engaging video content types, immerse yourself in the best practices of industry experts, and of course, hang out on Pinterest.
Cooperation
A strong marketing team doesn’t consist of a group of people with independent goals. Its success depends on members working collaboratively to achieve shared goals and overall business growth.
Successful marketing specialist has strong professional relationships with their peers: they observe colleagues’ working methods, share ideas, ask for feedback, and offer help in difficult situations.
All in all, strong cooperation skills can help to be successful in any career.
Curiosity
Curiosity is an equally important quality that is often missed. For sustainable growth, you must acquire new marketing skills and information, and this is possible only if you are truly interested in learning about the industry.
Curious marketers don’t focus on the task at hand. They go outside their comfort zone, study industry trends, observe competitors, and often come up with the freshest or unique ideas to build up a successful digital marketing career. This makes them a valuable asset for any marketing team.
