Nowadays, with the internet right at our fingertips, it’s easier to access information and knowledge than ever before. Thanks to this, it’s also easier than ever to become somewhat of an expert on anything. Whether you brush up on an intricate course or spend some hours diving into the depths of Wikipedia, you can set aside time to teach yourself about information both complicated and straightforward that you might not have heard of half a century ago.
In the field of marketing, there are many experts, and many of these people have notable skills outside of their field of expertise, too. If you’re looking to stand out as a professional in the marketing field, you should take the time to fine-tune your key skills across the marketing spectrum. Here are some of the best ways you can strengthen your marketing skills, all to stand out a little more clearly from the crowd.
An Ability to Understand Your Audience
If you’ve ever been in a room with a charismatic, responsive person, you know how nice it is to speak with them: They can read the tone of your conversation and respond both thoughtfully and considerately. Some people have this strength—to be able to understand an audience—and use it naturally, but others can learn it. Being able to understand what it is that people want to hear is important. If you can communicate with an audience with ease, or at least identify their tone and interests, you can help a company develop the way they interact with their customer base.
Create a Reliable, Interconnected Network
In the world of marketing, there is great worth in knowing many different people. Whether it’s fellow freelancers, public relations team members, or recruiters, there is never a shortage of good to come from networking. Networking can prove useful when attempting to get hired, whether it’s knowing someone on the inside of a business or being able to openly talk about other people you know from the marketing field.
Understand (Multiple) Social Media Platforms
Social media is becoming a preferred platform for businesses to reach their audiences. If you’re looking to fit in with a modern marketing team, you should be sure to understand the most popular social media platforms of the time. The last thing you want to do is seem like an old person when you sheepishly ask “What’s a Tik Tok?” Consider brushing up, at the least, if you don’t feel like joining yourself.
Having Affiliate Marketing Experience
Along with learning more about social media, you should also look into influencers—people who have large followings and committed audiences. They can be useful to marketing teams, particularly as brand promoters in an affiliate marketing strategy. If a marketing team is looking to spruce up their approach, you can recommend an affiliate marketing program, contracting affiliates to promote your business across social media. Not only will you impress the team with a fleshed-out idea, but you might help refresh the business’s marketing plan.
Identify Niche Audiences
Similar to identifying an audience’s tone, there is a benefit to locating a business’s and audience’s niche. A niche is the subgroup of a community, the area where the fine interests of a subgroup are defined from the larger community as a whole—e.g., Someone might be a football fan, but they’re foremost a Dolphins fan. When identifying the niche of a business’s audience, it comes down to considering the customer, what they want, what’s holding them back, and what can help ease their troubles. Think of it broken down in a few clear steps:
- Who is your customer—age, profession, basic interests, and beliefs?
- Who or what does your customer strive to be at their best?
- What is holding them back from achieving that dream?
- What does your business do that can help them achieve that dream?
Being able to identify these steps allows you to identify who your audience is. With this in mind, you can lead a marketing project by developing the language, branding, and materials that will surround all products and services marketed to these people.
Be Unafraid to Work Outside of the Box
Marketing isn’t as traditional as it once was. The marketing field has changed, and people who have been in the profession for a long time are having a hard time keeping up. With a changing field comes a change in approach—what once worked doesn’t work well anymore. You should be unafraid to think critically, able to approach a project with a large appetite, ready to overcome struggles as they appear. While traditional methods can still be utilized to push a product to market, it might take thinking outside of the box to really impress people.
Maybe that takes the form of creating a video that plays off of recent Twitter trends, or it may require relying on social media influencers to promote your brand; perhaps you can try out a new style when it comes to introducing a new product, or it might be better to simplify language and play with copywriting before it’s produced.
It Pays to Know
Marketing professionals might feel as though they need to meet every standard to impress a team of brand experts but, in reality, it just requires knowing what you’re doing. If you can handle a large workload under pressure, can navigate the marketing world, and only have to ask for clarifications here and there, you’re golden. To make life easier, it’s worthwhile to improve some of your marketing skills, vernacular, and knowledge. There’s never any harm in knowing too much, so you might as well make the most of your time and get comfortable with the field at large.
