6 Marketing skills in the new decade | How to stay relevant

Marketers must upskill and cross-skill in order to drive business value and remain relevant. Being a specialist is no longer enough. Companies that are facing a cash crunch will look to their teams to double down and perform multiple tasks in order to deliver an outcome. This is the time for marketers to invest in themselves and become full-stack marketers, as I refer to them. They will need six key marketing skills to accomplish this:

Storytelling

“Facts tell, but stories sell,” said Bryan Eisenberg, a marketing and user experience expert. Since prehistoric humans painted their adventures on cave walls, narratives have been the glue that holds human civilization together. A good story is unstoppable! According to experts, stories are 22 times more memorable than facts. Coca-Cola, Harley-Davidson, Nike, and Paperboat are all great examples of brand storytelling done right.

In an age of commoditization, marketers must be able to tell compelling stories that reflect consumer priorities, market sentiment, and their own brand message. Marketers must master the art of storytelling in order to create compelling, genuine, and credible messaging that expands and solidifies their clientele.

Data Analytics

Marketers will need to learn how to use data to quickly measure campaign effectiveness as marketing budgets are expected to shrink and focus more on value. Data-driven insights will also help marketers better understand their customers, make better decisions, and correct course when necessary.

Design

A picture is worth a thousand words, according to research. According to Krista Neher, a marketing industry influencer, the human brain can process images up to 60,000 times faster than words. Innovative design is also more likely to get a campaign the attention it deserves. However, due to resource constraints, marketing teams may be unable to support specialist design roles. Marketers must learn the fundamentals of design as well as the art of creating powerful visual storytelling. Many free, simple-to-use cloud-based tools, such as Canva and Adobe SparkPost, provide ready-made templates and make it simple for anyone to design creatively. Furthermore, Canva provides excellent tips and tutorials to help people learn the fundamentals of graphic design.

Technology

When it comes to planning, carrying out, and evaluating the success of marketing programmes, marketing technology is crucial. Today, technology plays a major role in marketing. Technology is all-pervasive and plays a crucial role in everything from process automation to redesigning the customer journey and experience to enabling new working methods and team collaboration within marketing departments. To maximise their marketing abilities and accomplish their goals, savvy marketers must be familiar with these tools and technologies.

Industry Knowledge

Today’s marketers are expected to be well-versed in their sector, company, product, and clientele. A technology marketer, for instance, needs to be able to create their own solution flyers. To be able to do this, marketers must concentrate on a variety of specialties and maintain a close relationship with the go-to-market plan and offering portfolio. Marketers ought to be able to define content and channel strategy based on that data in order to maximise return on investment. Subject matter experts, sales teams, and business executives are just a few examples of cross-functional teams whose members actively listen to and learn from one another.

Budgeting and Strategic Planning

Success in marketing depends on having a solid understanding of budgeting and strategic planning. You may spend time designing a fantastic campaign only to learn that you lack the resources to implement it. Learn some budgeting advice. Marketers must constantly improve their skills to stay relevant as the industry landscape changes constantly.