Does Your Marketing Team Have These Essential 7 Skills?

by Liz Alton

Today’s best marketing teams are tech-savvy, multitalented, and capable of producing measurable results. Businesses that have been slow to invest in their marketing teams may not realize it, but the battle for top marketing talent is on among creative agencies, publishers, corporations, and media companies.

Data AnalysisTalented marketing teams are able to deliver services across marketing disciplines—with a particular focus in fast-growing areas like digital marketing and analytics. They are flexible and adept at advanced marketing strategies that it takes to thrive in today’s complex business world. Here’s a closer look at the seven skills every company needs on their marketing team.

There is a growing need to demonstrate marketing return on investment (ROI). Marketers must have strong analytical skills, be able to interpret data, and communicate results to executives through techniques such as segmentation and data visualization. The deluge of data at marketers’ fingertips gives them the ability to uncover actionable intelligence that can improve strategies, better target messaging, and drive bottom-line growth.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are indicators for measuring how well a company performs. KPI implementation and monitoring through performance or management dashboards are essential tools for decision making and managing the present and future success of the business. Applied to the monitoring and control of the digital marketing plan, KPIs enable the ROI of marketing activities to be measured, developed, and optimized. In other words, KPIs are real tools for progress. Indeed—and this is essential—without measurement, there can be no active management.
This best practice report, 5 ways to increase conversion and adoption rates, provides a way for customer-centric companies to utilize their website optimization tools to create visibility, to gain insights about customer behavior, and most importantly, to find the right answers that enable them to provide more rapid value to their online customers. Download here!

Social Intelligence

Talented marketers are not just social media savvy; they are socially intelligent. Good marketers understand that leveraging social media involves much more than simply sharing your content and increasing reach. Look for social media savvy marketing talent that can:
  • Build strong connections among employees, colleagues, and peers.
  • Connect with existing customers in a personal way.
  • Nurture leads as part of the sales cycle.
  • Develop strong personal brands for employees and leaders.
  • Engage with influencers through social networks.
  • Fill the job candidate pipeline with qualified professionals.
  • Generate leads.
  • Monitor mentions about the organization, leaders, and competitors.
  • Share original content, including blog posts, e-books, case studies, and videos.
  • Raise the brand’s profile within the industry.
  • Stay on top of industry trends and news.

Content Creation

Content creation and the ability to write persuasive copy for all marketing channels is possibly the most important fundamental modern-marketing skill. You cannot talk about digital marketing without simultaneously talking about content. Today, we live in a digital landscape where content is everywhere. Brands without a clear content strategy will struggle with visibility and other related issues. Content in its myriad forms is the currency that digital marketers use to engage, interact, and influence their customers.

Content is one of the few marketing channels that allows marketers to contact their potential customers along all phases of the customer cycle during research, purchase, and review. Content marketing bridges the gap between the fleeting nature of social media and the long-term impact of transactional copywriting. Blogging, briefings, presentations, videos, webinars—expert marketers should demonstrate mastery of a variety of content types.
To jump-start your customer experience efforts, IBM, the leader in online Customer Behavior Analytics software, is recommending five best practicesthat you can implement today to establish an online customer experience competency within your organization. Download, 5 ways to increase conversion and adoption rates, today to learn more!

Design Sensibility

Visual storytelling is critical, and strong graphic design skills are key to enhancing the value and shareability of your content marketing assets. From images to infographics to presentations, the popularity and unprecedented usage of visuals have resulted in a social media era that rewards creativity. A picture may still be worth a thousand words, but memes, quotes, cartoons, and animated GIFs can breathe new life and context into a photo’s storytelling capabilities. Infographics have risen as a valuable tool to communicate data and the results of research studies. Presentations cater to the majority of visual learners and are proven to captivate attention when delving deeper into a given topic.

These four skills will help ensure that you have the strong marketing skills needed to achieve your most important business goals.

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