Recently we looked at two important roles in the marketing world:
With the Marketing Manager we specifically looked at what the profile is a food marketing manager. Mostly the job requires someone that really understands people. You really how to know what motivates people to do what they do. I don’t think it’s easy, but if you can figure it out you’ll be able to get the most out of them.
In this post I’d like to dive a little deeper into the idea of marketing skills for the various team members in your company. These will be essential for those on your marketing staff, but I feel marketing permeates throughout a company so it’s important to keep these things in mind for all your hires.
Essential Marketing Skills for the Modern Marketer
The first thing I think all successful people have is a trait that makes them do something without a promise of getting something in return. I’ve run into a few people that seem to struggle finding jobs. Yet when you mention to those people that maybe they could work on a project for free or perhaps they could do some guest blogging to build their skills and get exposure they scoff.
To these people, doing something without the promise of a return isn’t part of the plan. It’s almost like they feel they’re owed something for everything they do. That’s not how things work.
For the most you get what you give in life.
That’s been my experience.
Task and Deadline Driven
The modern work world seems to be changing. It could take some time, but there are businesses (like GBW) that are task and deadline driven instead of time driven. What that means is that we work to fulfill work instead of working to fill the eight work hours in each day.
Modern works and modern marketers are flexible. It’s truly a global business world. Sometimes that means getting up at 4 AM to take Skype calls with a client overseas.
It’s a skill to be flexible in this way. You end up working the same number of hours, but they might not be from 9 to 5. I think it makes people more efficient. They can work when they do their best work.
And if they fail to deliver you simply move on to the next candidate.
Curiosity for Learning New Things
This one is really difficult to find. I think by our nature people are driven to find comfort and complacency. It you find someone that loves learning new things then latch on to them.
It seems like with age we fall into this trap. I understand it and I’m sure it will happen to me, but with the way things change these days in the marketing world and the business world you need to stay on top of everything.
Proper Email Etiquette
So much communication today is done via email and online messaging. Yes, it’s important to understand how to speak with people face-to-face and on the phone, but you need to understand proper email etiquette.
This means making emails efficient, easy to read and you need to know how to get people to take action with your messages.
Web Design
I would guess that most businesses are involved in online marketing in some way. Without good Web design or without a good understanding of what good Web design is you’ll fall behind. Having someone on your team that knows what looks good on the Web will allow them to work with designers and get the best results for your marketing campaigns.
Web Coding & Programming
I understand some HTML and I’m working on learning more about coding because I think it’s going to be a vital skill for marketers and really for everyone in the future.
I think back 15 years ago when I was in typing class in school. It was tough, but I don’t know where I would be without that skill. I think in 10 years or even less we’ll all have to understand Web and software coding.
Writing
I put this one toward the end so I didn’t come across as being biased, but I think it’s really important that a modern marketer has the skill to write a blog post, press release, ebook, landing page, etc.
You need to know how to get action from writing. That includes blogging.
I love when people have their own blog. It shows they’re passionate about something. They’re willing to write when they’re not getting paid. That’s been a good indicator for me that they will be a good worker.
Profit
This is the most important thing on this list even though it’s at the end.
I remember when I started at a job right out of college I learned fast that marketing was all about profit. It’s a basic function of business, but it can be easy to overlook sometimes.
It’s especially easy to forget when you’re talking about KPIs and Google Analytics and all that jazz. I remember going into the office of the boss to discuss traffic or conversions and he would ask for profit. After a few times of walking right back out I learned to go in prepared with the profit numbers.
It’s really all that matters in all aspects of business.
Conclusion
These are the marketing skills I see being essential for modern marketers. They could probably be applied across your entire business. If you’re doing some hiring and are growing in the coming years then look for these marketing skills in your interviewees.
This should help you get the best of the best.
Image Credit: DVIDSHUB