A talented marketer is not one but many things in the digital era. While team members with well developed, specific skills (design, copywriting, etc.) allows a marketing department to function at peak performance, making sure your key marketing team members are well-rounded is the best way to ensure success. Today’s marketing campaigns are much more than just putting a great ad in a well-targeted paper and hoping to gain leads. Modern marketers develop material for all stages of the sales cycle, using data and an understanding of the customer to help companies close deals. In this post are just some of the descriptions that fit a well-rounded, modern marketer.
The Data Scientist
Successful marketing requires the ability to collect valuable data and incorporate the data into a digestible, actionable format. Usually this means having data converted into visuals including charts and graphs which are much more easily deciphered than a raw dataset. For their clients, the modern marketer must be capable of putting together reports which show return on investment. This can be quite labour-intensive, considering all of the platforms which exist today that we use to market goods and services (Facebook, Pinterest, Google, Amazon, landing pages, Twitter, the list goes on). Marketers can more quickly achieve success by using a marketing automation platform which will help compile this data.
On top of reports, however, the modern marketer must also know how to make smart decisions based on the data. For example, it is absolutely imperative to incorporate A/B testing in email marketing, using data to determine successful market segmentation and other strategies.
The Critic
While the modern marketer may not be a designer or an artist themselves, they must be a dutiful critic of all visual marketing materials, and be able to guide designers using data and logic to justify their opinions. The successful marketer will also be able to tell determine if typography and graphics are outdated or not ideal for a target audience (hint: avoid Times New Roman!). Today’s iconography and typography is flat, clear, and simple. But in two years, expect that to change. A good marketer stays on top of these trends, and understands the “art” as much as the science.
The Adaptable Copywriter
In my opinion, it is difficult to imagine a successful marketer that is not also a copywriter themselves. Writing good copy is, in its most basic form, the ability to sell using only words. This means knowing how to write for top, middle, and bottom of the funnel leads and a variety of audiences. Great copy is extremely important for developing landing pages, white papers, and other marketing materials. The successful marketer knows what information prospects need to know in order to buy.
The Closer
On top of developing marketing materials, the modern marketer should also be an adept salesman. This is important because marketing is about sales, and if your marketer couldn’t close a deal on his or her own, how can you know that he/she will be able to develop the best strategies and materials to lead to that all-important close?
At the same time, keep in mind that there are many types of salesmen, and not all of them have marketing finesse. Those that do will be geared more towards meeting the needs of the customer than bullying prospects into a sale. Both strategies may be effective, but only one of them is scaleable (Hint #2: meeting the needs of the customer).
This article was written by Corey McCarren from Business2Community and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.