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9 Marketing Skills Every Marketer Must Have!

We’re living in an evolving, attention-seeking, and easily distracted world. People are constantly bombarded with ads, messages, and more every second.

Therefore, if you want your marketing message to stand out, start a successful marketing career or hone your existing one, sharpening your marketing skills should be your utmost priority.

The reason? Marketing isn’t just about selling anymore! If you want to achieve your marketing goals, you need to stay on top of all the latest marketing skills.

Want to know a few marketing skills you should have to keep up with the current world? Let’s jump right into it!

Marketing Skill #1: Creativity

A designer creating marketing assets

As a marketer, you might have days when you will spend more time organizing schedules and planning budgets than actually creating something. However, that doesn’t change the fact that marketing is all about creativity.

See, people easily get bored with mundane communication, so you always need to think of concepts you’ve never thought of before. You always need to come up with fresh, original, and out-of-the-box ideas.

Your creativity can take your brand to a whole new level – both in terms of market share as well as in the eyes of your consumers. As you already know, the finest modern marketers are highly creative!

Note: Creativity in marketing involves taking risks, and it also involves trashing hundreds of ideas before you find ‘the one’. Keep brainstorming!

Read more: 4Ps of Marketing (Marketing Mix): The Complete Guide!

Marketing Skill #2: Teamwork

It goes without saying – marketers are not lone wolves. Their job involves collaborating with their own team, as well as across multiple teams to complete their projects.

Basically, a marketer works hand in hand with people from sales, finance, IT, customer service department, and many other teams to get close to their goals.

So, being a team player is a really crucial marketing skill because teamwork is what separates good companies from the best companies. 😎

Marketing Skill #3: Storytelling

A lady buying products in a shop

People don’t buy logic, they buy emotions. That means you need to make your marketing messages relatable and emotionally appealing. Everyone loves a good story, including your target audience!

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To put it simply, as a marketer, you should always strive to create content that appeals to the emotional side of your readers. Find a way to connect your customers’ lives to your product or service.

For example, your product may kill 99.9% of germs, but what’s going to help you sell the product is the fact that it will be able to keep someone’s family safe from a serious illness.

Once you start telling good stories, your audience is always going to come back for more, turning your leads into customers, and customers into loyal customers.

Marketing Skill #4: Cultivating Relationships

Fostering meaningful relationships with customers is the essence of marketing. Here are some tips from Digital Marketing Institute that you can implement to improve your social interactions, both online and offline.

  • Respond to social media complaints and grievances with empathy and kindness.
  • Study your customers’ online behavior to find out new revenue opportunities.
  • When replying to comments on social media, always sign off with your names.
  • Take the time to write a personal and authentic response.
  • While networking, read people’s cues and identify opportunities where you can help them.
  • Identify customer issues that are arising repeatedly and try to create permanent solutions.

Marketing Skill #5: Communication

As a marketer, you don’t just have to communicate with your target audience, but also with your co-workers and upper management.

You need to ask yourself: “Can I explain the project to my team and top management and answer the questions or concerns they will have?”

By keeping clear and consistent messaging within your marketing team, you can get more done and you would never have to worry about a team member running a project off the trails.

Always remember, this marketing skill is focused on how things are said and not just what has been said.

Read more: Build Brand Awareness With These 9 Quick Yet Effective Ways

Marketing Skill #6: Writing

Writing is the soul of marketing. Without strong writing skills, your communication would be weak and you probably won’t be able to convince anyone to buy your product/service.

So, if you want to be a superstar marketer, you need to have a thorough understanding of writing copies. You should be able to effectively communicate your message at all times.

Writing is the ultimate marketing skill, and these stats prove just that:

  • 91% of B2B marketers say they use content marketing in their overall strategy. (Source)
  • 23% of marketing departments identified content creation as their most desired skill. (Source)
  • 84% of people expect brands to produce content. (Source)

Tip: To make your copy much more engaging, first understand who you are writing for, your objectives, where your writing will be published, and what action do you want the audience to take after reading it.

Marketing Skill #7: Curiosity

A marketer trying to figure out locations for seeling his products

If you really want to grow in the marketing industry, you’ve to pick up new marketing skills and knowledge over time, and you can only do that if you’re genuinely curious about the industry.

As a marketer, you shouldn’t just focus on the task given to you. You’ve to venture outside your comfort zone, study all the trends, observe the competitors and come up with out-of-the-box ideas.

Marketers with an insatiable curiosity are always looking for new things to learn and new ways to improve, which makes them a valuable asset to any marketing team!

Marketing Skill #8: Crisis Management

There are two rules that every marketer should know:

  • Rule number 1: Don’t assume a crisis will never happen with you.
  • Rule number 2: Have a crisis plan.

See, the thing with a crisis is, it can strike anytime. Your client might decide to sue you, your team members might suddenly quit, or your brand’s products might create a health issue.

So, if you want to be a good marketer, crisis management skills are something that you must have. You need to be able to handle stress and crisis without panicking.

Marketing Skill #9: Decision Making

A confused marketer trying to figure out marketing startegy for selling products

As we already know, the marketing world is fast-paced. Making decisions and adhering to them is crucial because they have a direct impact on your marketing campaign and goals.

The best part? This marketing skill can be improved and fine-tuned with experience. As you start learning more about your audience and industry, you’ll get more perspective and it will be easier to make decisions.

Here’s something that you need to remember: don’t make decisions based on your gut instincts. Assume nothing and test everything – as simple as that!

Wrapping Up

Before we leave, there’s something we need to tell you: it’s natural to have strengths and weaknesses. You don’t need to master all the marketing skills we’ve listed above.

A solid marketing team isn’t made up of identical employees. In fact, the best marketing teams have individuals whose strengths and weaknesses mesh together perfectly well and form a strong unit.

Just never stop learning and educating yourself and you’ll soon become an elite marketer. Also, if you’ve got any questions or suggestions, tweet us @elink_io and we’d get back to you.

Further reads:

FOMO Marketing: Everything You Need to Know About It!

Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Content!

13 Marketing Trends You Can’t Afford To Miss In 2021

Drip Marketing: What is it & How to Do it?

Marketing Ethics: Meaning, Importance & Principles!

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