Top 25 Essential Marketing Skills
for a Career Seeking Manager

See also: Marketing Skills

The last thing recruiters want to see in your resume is another generic skills section that features “Microsoft Word” and “Team Motivation”.

As a marketing manager, you need an attention-grabbing, relevant skill set to land the job of your dreams. More importantly, your resume has to be unique to stand out from the pack and help you jumpstart your career.

Let's Get Optimized, a SEO company in Toronto reveals 25 highly sought-after marketing skills to help you leap ahead of your competition.

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Top Technical Skills for Marketers

1- Marketing Strategy

It’s in your job title! To get hired, you must highlight your ability to draft effective marketing strategies for the company.

But...

Saying that you’re good at marketing strategy is a bald statement. It will barely help you stand out in a pool of hundreds of applicants making the same claim.

So, to leave a solid impression, you need to give real examples of how your strategizing skills helped your previous employers achieve fantastic results.

Example:  Moreover, undertaking additional studies is another way to separate yourself from the crowd and communicate to your employer that you have the skills to form effective business strategies. For example, a Master of Business Administration can always look favorable when demonstrating strategizing skills to an employer. You can learn more about studying for an MBA via UTS Online.

2- Paid Advertising

Paid advertising has been around for decades, and it’s still one of the most effective online marketing techniques today. It’s also a technical skill that’s always changing and evolving.

What worked years ago is no longer relevant today...

That’s what makes it a highly required skill that every marketer should have.

3- Content Creation

Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing is all about the consumer's freedom of choice.

For example, prospects are today no longer forced to watch unskippable TV commercials. Instead, they have all the choice to consume what they want, when they want it with the internet.

So, content creation is the answer to meeting those needs and helping customers solve their problems. This skill set includes everything from content research, formatting, writing, and publishing.

4- SEO

SEO in scrabble pieces.

SEO is an evergreen marketing strategy that fits businesses of all sizes in all industries. Companies understand that very well, which is why they're all in on boosting their rankings to attract more organic traffic.

But to get there, they need in-house SEO expertise to plan and execute their SEO strategy.

5- Email Marketing

Let’s be honest:

With open rates as high as 95%, email marketing used to work wonders two decades ago. But as it has been exhausted by marketers, it’s only getting complicated every day.

Still... That’s great news for you!

Email marketing getting harder only means that it has become an even more valuable skill in the job market. Organizations need professional email marketers to prepare and optimize their campaigns for maximum results.

6- Social Media

Social media marketing is relatively new compared to other marketing mediums. Yet, it has proven effective for businesses all around the world.

That explains why most job offers for marketing managers require social media marketing expertise. It has become a must-have skill for every marketer before getting hired.

7- Analytics

Analytics skills are important in marketing because they allow businesses to assess their progress and adapt their strategies accordingly.

If you want to stand out as a qualified candidate for the position, you need to showcase your analytics skills. For example, you could highlight your knowledge of popular analytics tools such as Google Analytics.

8- UI/UX Design

Whether it’s refining the company’s products, improving user experience, or designing a new sales page, UI and UX skills are indispensable. Corporations today are dying to hire a marketer who can bring design expertise to the table.

9- CRM Tools

CRM systems are seen as one of the most important tools for businesses in all industries. Because of that, having experience with CRM software is a must for all marketing managers who are serious about their career growth.

10- Video Production

You’re not expected to produce Hollywood quality movies as a marketing specialist. But being able to merge a few clips together and add a voice-over using a voice generator might come in handy in many situations.

Besides...

Having filmmaking expertise allows you to better supervise and manage any video production projects for your marketing campaigns.

Diagram illustrating A - B testing.

11- A/B Testing

No marketing campaign is ever perfect. There’s always something you can change to improve ROI.

Thanks to analytics and insights, that can be achieved easily! Companies can track their progress and make calculated changes to boost returns.

However... They need the talent to manage those processes.

12- Market Research

Marketers must prioritize market research to ensure that they're targeting the right audience. That also helps them minimize risks and keep a close eye on the competition.

Therefore, your resume must promote market research as one of your strongest points.

13- Coding Languages

That doesn’t mean being a software engineering expert or a coding legend. However, being able to fix simple HTML, CSS, PHP, or MYSQL codes can be a huge plus to the hiring company.

And sometimes... Such a skill can be the reason you’ll be picked for an interview.



Soft Skills Every Marketer Needs in 2021

1- Leadership

Skills Good Leaders Need. Strategic Thinking. Planning and Delivery. People Management. Change Management. Communication. Persuasion and Influence.

Successful marketing requires a mixture of talents and abilities. Which can only be put together with the help of a marketing leader.

A company needs a manager to supervise the progress of its campaigns and ensure positive results. They want someone who can keep everyone on track with the marketing objectives while ensuring compliance with the company’s aims.

2- Decision-Making

Marketing management is an authority role that takes a lot of reasoning and intuition. That makes decision-making skills critical for thriving in such a position.

Recruiters look for marketing managers who can make bold decisions and take responsibility for all actions and outcomes.

3- Communication

The way you describe your interpersonal skills will determine your chances of getting hired for the position.

Why?

Because communication is the heart of marketing management. Interpersonal skills are key to interacting with other employees, executives, stakeholders, and even clients.

4- Creativity

Marketing is an open field where the rules of the game are never clear. It takes a lot of openness to come up with unique marketing solutions and adapt to situational needs.

For that reason, creative thinking and innovation skills are so attractive to hiring specialists.

Drawing of a father figure reading stories to children.

5- Storytelling

Story-based marketing has stood the test of time as one of the most effective means of advertising. Today, recruiters are after marketing managers that can help the company reach its sales goals by breaking out of the norm and telling attention-grabbing stories.

6- Collaboration

Your role as a marketing manager is to accomplish goals by coordinating and supervising other’s duties. You’re expected to work with multi-skilled teams from different departments. That’s why you need strong collaboration skills to keep things running smoothly.

7- Adaptability

The landscape in marketing fields is shifting rapidly every couple of years. Consequently, hiring managers are forced to look for managers who can quickly acquire new skills and accommodate all changes.

8- Problem-solving

Your resume must illustrate your problem-solving skills through real-life examples of how you’ve overcome challenges before.

For example:

You could include in your past job achievements the marketing problems you faced, how you conquered them, and what your final results were.

9- Self-Direct Learning Skills

It takes strong motivation and lots of willingness to learn to stay informed with the latest trends in marketing. That’s why featuring self-directed learning skills is essential for demonstrating your fitness for the job.

10- Time Management

Effective time management allows you to stay on top of things and accomplish your tasks within deadlines.

Besides...

Marketing managers with excellent organizational skills are proven to have better track records. Such a quality is fundamental to keeping the business moving forward according to schedule.

11- Customer-Focus

Sales objectives are always clear to the employees. Yet, not everyone can understand what clients on the other end want and need.

Successful marketing strategies must balance between the needs of the company and those of its customers.

But to achieve that balance... Businesses need the help of a customer-oriented expert who can empathize with prospects and understand their pain.

12- Multitasking

Cartoon man multitasking.

A dynamic work environment cannot survive without the manager’s ability to wear multiple hats at once.

Recruiters look for a marketing manager who’s able to accomplish various tasks simultaneously. They prefer an applicant who can juggle many assignments while maintaining high levels of productivity.



Further Reading from Skills You Need


The Skills You Need Guide to Leadership

The Skills You Need Guide to Leadership eBooks

Learn more about the skills you need to be an effective leader.

Our eBooks are ideal for new and experienced leaders and are full of easy-to-follow practical information to help you to develop your leadership skills.


Before You Go…

You can feature these skills in your resume summary, experience section, skills section, or even in a separate achievements section if you want to go for a modern resume design.

HR experts often recommend listing between five to ten skills on a resume. So... you can't include all the examples from our list.

However:

You can tailor your resume to the company's needs by choosing the most relevant skills for each position you apply to. That's an excellent way to increase relevance and boost your application response rates.


About the Author


Trevor Stewart | Founder & CEO Let's Get Optimized

Prior to Google and starting LGO, Trevor owned and operated various small businesses. He started his digital journey back in 2004 while working for Google as an Ambassador and Google Small Business Advisor. Trevor went on to be Canada’s only Google Ad Top Contributor and Product Expert where he assisted in the creation of the well-known Google Partners Program. In late 2007 he decided to venture off on his own and open Let’s Get Optimized. Trevor is a visionary and a lifelong learner which serves him well in his role as LGO's CEO.

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