What Makes an Exceptional Marketer?
WHAT MAKES AN EXCEPTIONAL MARKETER?
HEIDI BRYANT - JULY 29, 2020
The marketer of 2020 needs to have so many skills and a wealth of knowledge...

THE MARKETER OF 2020 NEEDS TO HAVE SO MANY SKILLS, A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE IN WHAT THEY DO TO BE A GREAT MARKETER. BUT, WHAT MAKES AN EXCEPTIONAL MARKETER?

I'm hoping that this article is going to spark some debate and commentary to show just how much work, effort and time goes into being an exceptional marketer and what successful companies expect of their marketers nowadays.

Twenty-six years ago, when I first started marketing, the skills and experience were centred an awful lot around creativity; delivering stunning, intriguing, memorable campaigns that would reach the target audience, delight the senior leadership and sales teams and would demonstrate the brand values, products and services of the particular company. Marketers of 25 years ago were very often seen as the 'colouring in club'. Businesses knew that they needed marketing, but they didn't ask marketers to drive new leads into the business, demonstrate which campaigns or communications channel were performing the best or expect their marketers to be analytical to the extent that they do now.

I have listed just a few of the skills and knowledge that the modern day marketer needs to have to be truly exceptional. So, here goes;

Raw and Soft Skills: Creativity. Determination. Language Skills. Editing. Proofreading. Project Management. Budgeting. Forecasting. Writing. Leadership. Brand Development. Advertising. Localisation. Communication. Flexibility. Patience. Resilience. Adaptability. Presentation. Speaking. Teamwork. Empathy. Passion. Mentoring. Influencing. Personable. Organised. Multi-tasking. Management. Commercial Acumen.

Knowledge: Online and Offline Communications Channels. Traditional vs Digital Marketing. Marketing Strategy. Omni-channel marketing. PR and Crisis Management.. CRM. GDPR. PPC. SEO. SEM. Social, digital, multi-media, influencer and affiliate marketing. Media buying. Measuring, analysing and presenting Data. KPIs. Branding. Messaging.

Understanding of the following channels, how to use them, how to engage with prospects and customers, how to measure the effectiveness of said channels: Facebook. Instagram. Pinterest. LinkedIn. Twitter. Whats app. YouTube. Tik Tok. WeChat. Messenger. Google Adwords. Print Advertising. Trade Press. Out of Home. Display. Programmatic. TV. Podcasts. Webinars. Platforms. Web. Email. Video. APIs. HTML.

Experience in: Developing customer personas. Sector. Product. Business Development. International, National and Regional Marketing. Campaign development. Sales and Marketing Alignment. Marketing Research; qualitative and quantitative. Corporate and Internal Communications. Customer Journeys. User Experience. Lead Generation. Business Transformation. Client retention and acquisition. ROI Reporting. Developing relevant KPIs. Competitor Analysis. Training and developing marketers who are working their way up the ladder. Inspire future marketers. Developing business plans. Marketing Automation. Social Listening. Deep exposure and understanding of the region, country, sector, product. Regulatory and Compliance Issues depending on the sector.

Software and Technology: Word. Excel. PowerPoint. Publisher. Adobe. Marketo. Eloqua. Pardot. Hubspot. Photoshop. Stoneshot. Brighttalk. Eventbrite. Mailchimp. Sharpspring. Silverpop. Vocus. YesWare. Wordstream. Seismic. Tableau.

Ability to: Work to tight deadlines. Change direction at a moment's notice. Deliver results with skeleton staff and budgets. Perform minor miracles. Challenge and work collaboratively with sales people. Understand and translate complex information and distil it into a compelling piece of content. Be highly resilient. Have an exceptional eye for detail. Work under extreme pressure.

In many organisations the role of marketing has changed beyond all recognition. We know that consumers engage with a huge amount of marketing content before even considering making a buying decision. Consider the process of buying a car for instance; 25 years ago you would physically visit the various car showrooms, sit down with the sales manager and ask her/him to talk to you about their cars, features, carry out test drives, etc etc. Then repeat at another showroom until you found the perfect car. A 'sales led' process.

Nowadays, and for several years, people walk into the specific showroom of choice, tell the sales manager, which car they want, the trim, the additional options they want, test drive the car to make sure and then purchase. A 'marketing led' process. All the work to raise awareness of the car, it's features, optional extras have all been delivered through content that the marketing team has built and delivered to the customer before they even set foot in a showroom.

With the pandemic of 2020, marketing is even more important now, but are marketers being given the recognition they really deserve? Face to face sales meetings, physical events have been replaced by webinars, online events, marketing communications.

Exceptional marketers are the ones who very often exceptionally adaptable and resilient to change and evolve in crisis situations. They can, and have been able to for years, change direction, think on their toes, deliver new and innovative ways to communicate to customers and prospects.

I guess my point is here, that exceptional marketers should not be underestimated and when the s*** hits the fan, an exceptional marketer can get up, brush themselves off and still deliver something amazing.

Please feel free to contact me, add skills, experience to the list above, challenge the content of this article, share or connect with me or to discuss this and other topics.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Website design by Ipsum Agency Ltd. © 2020 Ipsum Agency Ltd. All rights reserved. Click to view our Privacy Policy.
Registered Address: Ipsum Agency Ltd. Kemp House, 160 City Road, London. EC1V 2NX.
Share by: