5 Skills Marketing Execs Need TodaySkills You Need To Succeed in Big Brand Marketing Roles Today
Maybe you yearn for the day when marketing and advertising was about the copy, the slogan and the ad buy. Or for when it was truly an art. But marketing is changing rapidly driven by massive changes in the way consumers divide their attention. People don’t just tune in to broadcast television at prime-time, or read the newspaper first thing in the morning. In the age of digital and social, attention and eyeballs are easy and cheap to buy, but engagement and recall is harder to obtain. So here are the 5 skills that companies are increasingly looking for in marketing executives:
1. A Deep Understanding of the Digital Advertising Marketplace
The newfronts matter as much as upfronts. The internet is eating the world. You need to understand display, video and mobile trends and strategies, and you need to keep up with the many changes in the market place. If you are a recent marketing graduate you need to understand both the vocabulary of digital marketing and it’s unique attributes. Video CPMs vs. click throughs vs. native. Increasingly junior marketing jobs are specifically focused on internet and mobile advertising campaigns and a deep understanding on the space, the jargon and the techniques to optimize ad dollars can go a long way as you are starting out.
2. Data science / analytics know-how
It started off as big data, ERP and data warehouses but in the age of ubiquitous information, its a critical skill set of all roles. But especially marketing. We are seeing a significant number of marketing science roles come through, as big brands look to data science to power their campaigns, amplify their targeted reach, and drive up their advertising ROI. Its almost impossible today to find a big brand marketing role that doesn’t require a strong grasp of analytics. We are especially shocked at the number of marketing jobs that are specifically looking for data science and programming skills like SQL, and Python.
3. Content Marketing / Social Media Marketing
In line with digital and social trends, it is more important than ever to help brands find a voice online and be a part of the dialogue. Big advertisers at the Superbowl, and at fight night are especially focused on how to drive social engagement and mind share during and immediately following the event to maximize the impact of their big ad buys. Its not surprise that when Linkedin did a study of the 25 hottest skills of 2014, SEO / SEM marketing was in the top 5. It’s not enough to just know how to create content, you need to understand how to deploy a content marketing strategy and measure performance and lift.
4. Marketing / Ad Technology
There has rarely been a field that is changing faster than marketing and advertising technology. This category didn’t even exist 5 years ago, but is now a critical skill. From RTB to programmatic on mobile, to native ad exchanges, this is a fast-growing and fast changing field and understanding this is a critical part of a modern marketers toolkit
5. Marketing Automation
Despite many efforts to kill it (remember Google Wave?), email is most definitely not dead. It is a critical tool to drive reach and engagement, and with modern tools and technologies, is more personalized, automated and engaging than ever. Understanding both the automation, the tools and the analytics is now just a part of the job requirements. But are you familiar with other marketing automation tools and platform from Hubspot to Marketo?
The world of marketing is changing rapidly with the advent of a whole new range of tools and consumer experiences. This makes it both a challenging career to succeed in but also an exciting one to make an impact.