The state of Marketing is not getting simpler, every year the competition is getting increased and to become a pro marketer you require better marketing skills. As we all know marketing, platforms, technologies and tools are continuously changing. New trends and tools are coming to the market and the audience expects the best from you. Its a quite challenging for marketers out there, to truly excel in this field, marketers must possess a diverse set of skills that go beyond traditional marketing methods. In this blog post, we’ve got you covered with the top marketing skills every marketer needs to possess to become a pro.

Let’s explore them

• Master in Crafting Marketing Strategy

The primary skill of marketers is to craft a perfect marketing strategy to achieve the goals and objectives of their marketing project. As digital marketers, you should possess exceptional analytical and strategic thinking skills rather than merely focusing on developing tons of content and social media posts. Marketers should think twice, plan and execute the campaign. They should have a deep understanding of their audience’s behaviour, know how to reach them and measure and track the results.

Remember you can’t add all of your data into a marketing plan template and consider your work done. As a marketer, it’s vital to have an idea about the concepts, speak to your customers, get to know the ultimate goal of their project, create the right marketing mix and implement the right strategies that fit their needs.

Let’s take a real-time example of a Marketing strategy developed and used by GoPro. The well-known camera company crafted a strategy to market its products with UGC (User Generated Content). As a part of their strategy, they developed a video editing software that automatically integrates the brand logo into the video clip and GoPro shares the most captivating user-generated video across the social media channels. This encouraged GoPro users to edit their videos with this new video editing software and generate more UGC content for their brand. They also started announcing the prizes for best videos which led to an increase in customer loyalty.

• Content Creation and Story Telling

Content creation is a vital skill that every marketer should focus on. It will be hard to survive in this field if you don’t know how to create various content. As marketers you usually engage with diverse people from stakeholders to partners, so you need to be aware of how to write perfect content. A pro marketer possesses strong content creation skills and understands the art of storytelling. Whether it’s blog posts, web copy, press releases, social media updates, or video content, the ability to create compelling, relevant, and shareable content is paramount.

Storytelling is a powerful tool in marketing. It goes beyond merely presenting facts; it creates an emotional connection with the audience. A pro marketer knows how to tell a story that resonates with the target audience, making the brand memorable and relatable.

For example, an agency helped KFC in the UK to write an apology copy to its customer regarding the supply issues, the copy turned the negative into a positive and enhanced the brand’s reputation.

• Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is growing rapidly which can make your marketing strategy more productive and effective. It’s a software which helps marketers to automate repetitive tasks and allows them to focus on the most important task. How marketing automation can help the marketers;

• Assist marketers in managing customer data
• Create alerts and prepare reports on the campaign performance
• Automates social media marketing by facilitating timely posts and answers
• Personalise your email marketing campaigns; help you to set a user flow to reach your audience and also manage the cart abandonment email.
• Automate the sales and expedite the lead nurturing and followups

Having hands-on experience in marketing automation software guarantees a higher position in digital marketing and helps you to manage your email campaigns, schedule social media posts and personalize interactions with leads.

• Social Media and Community Management

Social Media is the most popular platform among businesses to promote their products and services, engage with their audience, respond to their queries etc. Social media has become an inevitable part of our lives and more people use social media for product recommendations. So a marketer must develop his or her social media skills to survive in this competitive industry.

Understanding how each platform functions, what strategies to employ, and how to navigate the platform’s algorithm is the first step towards improving your social media skills. As a social media marketer, you also need to be more creative and innovative, know how to write catchy captions and be proficient in content curation. After that, you have to put all your findings on one plate, create an effective social media strategy plan and execute the campaign successfully.

To become a social media expert you need to build your skills around community management. Most of the well-known brands have created communities for their brand on social media platforms. As a pro marketer, you need to learn how to reach the communities, how to communicate with them and build relationships across various social media platforms. 

• Data Literacy and Data Analytics

Data is everything in marketing.  Proficiency in digital marketing tools, and social media platforms, and the ability to interpret data analytics are essential skills. This includes mastering Google Analytics, understanding SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and staying abreast of the latest trends in digital marketing. 

Data analysis assists marketers in measuring their campaign performance and observing the gap that needs improvement. By analyzing the data they can plan, test, execute, and analyze campaigns. Successful marketers leverage data to make informed decisions, identify target audiences, and optimize campaigns. This requires not only the ability to gather data but also the skill to derive actionable insights. A pro marketer can turn raw data into a strategic advantage, allowing for more effective and targeted marketing efforts.

• AI and Machine Learning Expertise

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept, it’s rapidly growing and becoming an essential skill for marketers to thrive in the industry. Being an AI expert you can analyze huge data sets, personalize your marketing efforts, automate your repetitive tasks and boost the return on investment.

By integrating AI-powered tools like chatbot, predictive analytics, and content generation within your marketing campaigns, marketers can make data-driven decisions, optimize the customer journey and boost the marketing campaign performance. First, you have to understand how this works, and once you understand the flow, you can grow your skills by testing in various platforms to help you streamline your current marketing efforts.

Still, you’re not using AI within your marketing efforts, now is the perfect time to transform your marketing campaign to revolutionise your results.

• Expertise in Search Engine Optimization

Another important skill you should focus on as a marketer is Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the most popular tactic in Marketing. Search Engines like Google plays a crucial role in getting potential customers to purchase products or services. SEO helps business to improve their organic rankings on the search engine results page. 

So to master yourself in the SEO landscape you should possess SEO skills. SEO is not just about keyword optimization, it changes with the technology and nowadays it requires a deep understanding of user intent, embracing voice searches and focusing on AI-driven algorithms to ensure that you are visible at the top of the results page. 

As a pro marketer, you should master the following SEO skills

• In-depth understanding of keyword research
• Technical skills
• Analytical Skills
• Onpage and Technical SEO
• Utilizing AI tools
• Content design and editing

• Email Marketing Mastery

Email Marketing is an effective way to reach and engage with the target audience. As a pro marketer, you should understand the nuances of email marketing, from crafting a compelling subject to segmenting email lists for personalized content. They know how to use email automation to nurture leads and build lasting relationships with customers.

Email Marketing is not simply sending messages to your customers regarding your products or services, it’s about creating an awesome journey to your audience throughout the sales funnel from awareness to conversion.

So to be a pro at email marketing you are required to learn to be proficient in strategic thinking, email copywriting, developing, sending, building and managing email lists, and designing, measuring and optimizing email campaigns.

• Graphic Design Experience

A marketer doesn’t have to be an expert in designing visuals and UI/UX. Although as a marketer it will be beneficial to have an understanding of best design practices and how color, typography and layout work.

Being an expert in design will help you to make smart decisions by providing valuable feedback to the designers and marketing teams. You’ll be a part of the design team, collaborate better and generate better work.

Mastering this skill is vital for Social Media Marketers, Content Creators, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Wizards, and Growth Marketing Gurus.

Think you’ve dodged the bullet? So far we have covered the technical skills and it’s only half the story. To truly thrive in the marketing trenches, you need to sharpen your soft skills as well. 

Let’s delve into the important soft skills required by a marketer.

• Readiness to explore new things

As we discuss marketing is rapidly evolving. A new day starts with new tools, competitors and upgrades. So you can’t remain the same all the time. The strategy that worked and delivers results six months ago won’t work now. If you want to be in the race you should be able to embrace the changes and innovate new things.

A good instance is TikTok, still most marketers argue that TikTok is for teenagers and it’s not for my kind of target audience. However, TikTok has overtaken Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, with US users spending more time on the app than any other. 

According to a research study, 21.7% of TikTok users are between the age of 30 and 20.3% are in their 40s. Marketers who have the guts to step into this brand-new space are seeing amazing engagement and reach on the platform. So it’s a real-time example of embracing innovation, and creativity within your marketing efforts.

• Communication and Collaboration Skills

Marketing is not a one-man show; it requires effective communication and collaboration across teams. A marketer needs to convey ideas very clearly and persuasively to the audience in any kind of form it can be either written or verbal. Communication is an inevitable part of a marketing professional’s career since as a marketer you have to deliver compelling presentations, pitch ideas to stakeholders, report to your internal team or give a speech at a conference.

Strong communication skills also extend to engaging with the audience. Responding to customer inquiries, addressing concerns, and fostering a positive brand image through communication are vital components of a pro marketer’s skill set.

• Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving

Marketing not only requires creativity it also involves analytical thinking and problem solving. A skilled marketer can analyze the raw data, analyze the trends and optimize the marketing strategies through critical thinking.

Marketers need to be risk-takers, they should be able to approach problems and challenges systematically by implementing innovative solutions to reach the goals and objectives. Analytical skill is crucial for marketers when the campaign doesn’t perform as expected. Instead of viewing setbacks as failures, a marketer sees them as opportunities to learn and refine their approach, ensuring continuous improvement.

Take your Marketing Skills to the next level in 2024

Becoming a pro marketer in 2024 requires a combination of technical skills, soft skills, cutting-edge knowledge, and a passion for continuous learning. By dedicating yourself to developing the right skill set and adapting to the evolving landscape, you can position yourself for success and thrive in this dynamic and ever-changing field. Remember, the journey to becoming a pro marketer is a marathon, not a sprint. Stay focused, motivated, and constantly seek opportunities.

If you are looking for an experienced Digital Marketing Squad, Contact Us Today!