Simply put, a marketer’s job is to explain a company and its services or products to the public. A marketer should also be able to explain the needs and interests of the target market to the company. A successful marketer is one who can increase a company’s income by driving sales. Advertising is one branch of marketing, but there are others. Public relations, customer support, market research, and more are all part of the field.

There are many subtypes of marketing and many positions within each type, from entry-level jobs buying airtime or writing press releases to high-level brand management positions and other strategic administrative roles.

In the past, marketing often proceeded on the basis of intuition and personal experience, but today marketing frequently involves collecting, analyzing, and acting on huge amounts of data and also integrates the very latest in psychological research.

What are Marketing Skills?

Promoting any product, service, or idea encompasses many different marketing skills and personal qualities:

• The process begins with analyzing your audience and defining their perceptions of your product, service or idea.
• Identifying those features or aspects of what you are marketing that will be most appealing to your audience is essential.
• Verbal, writing and public speaking skills, when refined, will help you to convey your pitch clearly, and creativity will help you to capture the attention of your audience.

Types of Marketing Skills

Here are some of the most important marketing-skills clusters. Consider how you can incorporate more of these skills into your marketing efforts in order to enhance your value to an employer.

 © The Balance, 2018

Communication

Marketing is a form of professional communication since it consists of communicating to the public why they should buy or otherwise engage with whatever is being marketed. Often, this will take the form of writing, from crafting ad copy to creating scripts for TV spots or phone conversations. It might involve creating multimedia campaigns, understanding design, and having a general sense of who the end user is and what they want. 

Verbal communication is important as well, both for positions that involve speaking directly with potential buyers and those that do not. Since marketing is often a team effort, marketers must be able to communicate effectively within their own team and within their company.

• Collaborating with designers to create logos
• Composing concise promotional copy
• Composing marketing emails
• Composing direct marketing communications
• Constructing consumer surveys
• Developing rapport with clients
• Interviewing sales staff to gauge customer responses to brands
• Listening
• Proposing new products and services
• Sales
• Selecting and training brand ambassadors
• Soliciting feedback from customers
• Storytelling
• Writing reports
• Writing executive summaries
• Writing press releases

Public Speaking

When coming up with a new campaign or marketing initiative, you likely will need to pitch your ideas to your clients or colleagues by making a presentation at a meeting. Some forms of marketing also involve making presentations to large groups of potential buyers. You must be comfortable speaking in front of groups, and you should be able to handle questioning on-the-spot and to manage presentation software, such as PowerPoint or Prezi.

• Attention to detail
• Conducting focus groups
• Demonstrating products
• Educating sales staff regarding brand viability
• Facilitating focus groups
• Facilitating meetings and discussions
• Leadership
• Pitching marketing plans to group
• Presenting to groups

Analytical Thinking

Marketing requires a lot of research-based analysis to determine what the audience wants and needs, and a lot of careful strategy crafted around that analysis. Marketers often have to change course based on new information, and should be able to draw logical conclusions based on data and other information received.

• Analyzing consumer survey data
• Analyzing consumer demographics and preference
• Applying principles of differentiation to marketing plans
• Applying principle of segmentation to marketing cases
• Applying strategies for targeting to marketing projects 
• Calculating appropriate retail pricing for products
• Completing analyses of competitors / competitive analysis
• Conducting market research
• Conducting media research
• Conducting SWOT analyses
• Critical Thinking
• Defining target audiences
• Devising marketing plans
• Evaluating the validity of research
• Financial analysis
• Monitoring industry trends
• Planning promotional events
• Planning distribution of products
• Quantitative Skills
• Researching and selecting media outlets for advertising / promotion
• Retail site selection
• Solving marketing problems using qualitative analysis
• Statistical skills

Creativity

Marketers need to be able to think of new and exciting ideas to appeal to their clients and to the target demographic to keep from becoming stale. From having an eye for design to coming up with amusing concepts, the ability to think outside the box is crucial.

• Aesthetic sensibility
• Brainstorming themes for advertisements
• Developing concepts for new products
• Devising press releases
• Devising rewards and loyalty programs
• Evaluating product packaging options
• Event planning
• Writing advertising copy

Negotiation

Negotiation is an undervalued skill in marketing. From negotiating with clients on budgets, timelines, and expectations, to working with designers and vendors, the ability to drive a hard bargain is a big part of success as a professional marketer.

• Cutting costs
• Evaluating advertising proposals
• Evaluating the effectiveness of advertising campaigns
• Evaluating the performance of agencies and contractors
• Influencing others
• Managing budgets
• Negotiating rates and terms
• Results-oriented
• Setting prices to maximize profit and sales volume

Stress Management

Marketing is one of the most stressful career options you can choose; deadlines are demanding, and many things can go wrong at the last minute. To be a good marketer, you need to be able to handle stress without panicking.

• Conforming to deadlines
• Organizational skills
• Problem-solving
• Processing criticism about campaigns
• Resiliency
• Responding to threats to brands
• Time management

Technology

Finally, technology skills are essential for your success. From using project management software to track the progress of a key campaign to using analytic programs to measure the success of social media campaigns, comfort with complicated suites of varying programs is required. You'll also likely be required to use certain systems to create marketing campaigns, depending on how digital and/or mobile your marketing will be.

• Determining keywords for search engine optimization strategies
• Developing social media strategy
• Email marketing
• Facility with customer relations management software
• Manipulating statistical packages
• Microsoft Excel
• Reviewing websites for examples of promoting products / services
• Utilizing presentation software

More Marketing Skills

Here are more marketing skills for resumes, cover letters, job applications, and job interviews. Required skills will vary based on the job for which you're applying, so also review our list of skills listed by job and type of skill.

• Aesthetic sensibility
• Analyzing consumer survey data
• Collaborating with designers to create logos
• Completing analyses of competitors
• Composing concise promotional copy for Twitter
• Composing marketing emails
• Conducting focus groups
• Conforming to deadlines
• Constructing consumer surveys
• Creative
• Critical thinking
• Cutting costs
• Defining target audiences
• Demonstrating products
• Detail oriented
• Determining keywords for search engine optimization strategies
• Developing social media strategy
• Developing concepts for new products
• Devising press releases
• Devising rewards and loyalty programs
• Educating sales staff regarding brand viability
• Evaluating advertising proposals
• Evaluating the performance of agencies and contractors
• Evaluating product packaging options
• Facilitating meetings and discussions
• Facility with customer relations management software
• Financial analysis
• Influencing others
• Interviewing sales staff to gauge customer responses to brands
• Leadership
• Listening
• Managing budgets
• Manipulating statistical packages
• Microsoft Excel
• Monitoring industry trends
• Negotiating rates and terms
• Organizational
• Planning promotional events
• Planning distribution of products
• Problem Solving
• Processing criticism about campaigns
• Presenting to groups
• Quantitative
• Researching and Selecting media outlets for advertising/promotion
• Resiliency
• Responding to threats to brands
• Results oriented
• Retail site selection
• Reviewing website models for promoting products/services
• Sales
• Selecting and training brand ambassadors
• Setting prices to maximize profit and sales volume
• Soliciting feedback from customers
• Statistical
• Stress management
• SWOT analysis
• Storytelling
• Time management
• Utilizing presentation software
• Writing reports
• Writing advertising copy