These are interesting times for the marketing profession. Whether it’s through traditional word of mouth or advertising via social media campaigns, marketers have a plethora of communication vehicles at their disposal to drive sales for the businesses for which they work.
To be truly effective at their craft, marketing professionals must master the subtle art of persuasion to earn loyalty from customers and trust from their employers that targeted marketing strategies will pay off. It’s a tall task, but one that successful marketing professionals rise to on a daily basis.
If you’re already in this line of work or you seek to enter it upon graduation from university, here are some of the marketing skills that every professional should know. Not surprisingly, all of them are soft skills, which employers rely on more today to help move product and deliver true customer satisfaction.
1. Creativity
If there’s any soft skill that marketing professionals must have, creativity may top them all. Whether it’s the medium through which a product is advertised or the message conveyed, marketers are tasked with discovering new and unique ways to resonate with target audiences. Creativity is of course a skill to have in any line of work, but it’s particularly important in marketing, as consumer tastes are in a near-constant state of flux. The most effective marketing teams employ creativity to enhance customer engagement.
2. Communication
Face-to-face conversations. E-mails. Phone calls. Text messages. Video chat. Banners. Billboards. Radio. Communication vehicles are wide-ranging in today’s day and age. Based on data collected by Deloitte, 71% of occupations cited good communication as a key employability attribute for job seekers. Indeed, in the marketing industry specifically, communication was the most in-demand soft skill. Depending on the audience companies seek to reach, certain channels resonate more than others. Deciphering which ones move the needle the most is something that marketing professionals must discover, whether by performing their own research or, in other cases, the process of elimination.
3. Leadership
Leadership – or the lack thereof – can make or break the success of a business. Some individuals are born leaders, while for others, it’s a learned skill. In either case, marketing professionals must exercise the fortitude, tenacity, steadfastness and influence that marketing teams count on for reassurance and a sense of direction. Approximately 42% of all businesses point to leadership development as a core soft skill they desire in new or long-tenured hires, Deloitte found.
4. Emotional judgement or intelligence
By nature, people are emotional beings, and emotion is linked with virtually every soft skill. It’s ultimately what stirs a sense of belonging, comfort, familiarity or desirability. Emotional intelligence, in the marketing sense, involves recognising and seizing the sensibilities of others to push a product and turn leads into sales. How effectively marketing professionals tap into consumers’ emotions can influence how much buyers are willing to spend.
5. Understanding
What drives people to make their purchase decisions? Whether it’s choosing between two seemingly indistinguishable soft drinks or buying a high-priced sofa instead of a more affordable model, consumer choices are peppered with quirks and peculiarities. Consumer research, observation and trend data analysis allows marketing professionals to solve what makes their target demographic tick. As a packaged-goods CEO told McKinsey & Company, “The greatest value of a chief marketing officer is their fundamental understanding of the consumer. You must stay close to them to drive growth.”
6. Time management
In today’s fast-paced, highly competitive society, tasks don’t need to be done today or tomorrow – but yesterday. Deadlines are established to instill a sense of immediacy and urgency to these time-sensitive goals. With obligations and responsibilities stretching professionals every which way, time management is a core marketing skill that businesses prioritise. Indeed, as the Deloitte study discovered in a survey of over 450 business managers operating in West Sydney, 97% of companies cited time management as a must-have soft skill for eligible applicants.
Furthermore, because this profession offers a lot of flexibility in terms of work hours, time management is pivotal to developing or maintaining the self-starter attitude that drives results, particularly in the digital marketing arena.
7. Digital literacy
Xennials – a hybrid term for Generation X and Millennials – are described as such because they grew up in an analogue environment and a digital one in their post-pubescent years. Today, it’s safe to say the developed world has gone almost entirely digital, evidenced by the ubiquity of automated intelligence, broadband internet access and mobile devices. In 2018 alone, 360 million people logged on for the first time, according to data published by We Are Social and Hootsuite. Twitter, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn are consistently the most- trafficked websites, with 297 million additional mobile social media users in 2018, a 10% increase from 2017.
Bottom line
Soft skills are in high demand and can round out marketing resumes. Because more workers are citing them, you need to be able to back up your stated proficiencies. Deakin University provides this opportunity through Professional Practice credentials. Industry-relevant and globally recognised, credentials serve as the backbone to your body of qualifications, providing assurances to businesses that you’re not only experienced but also good at what you do. For more information on what makes credentials so indispensable, please contact us.