MARKETING SKILLS THAT MATTER MOST IN HIRING
After spending years outsourcing all areas of their marketing, branding, digital, lead generation, and social media marketing, companies are refocusing their efforts on building a strong internal marketing team. There is no one better suited to drive your organization’s marketing strategy than someone who knows your company and brand personally. Hiring a dedicated marketing expert ensures you stay in the forefront of this continually evolving profession.
Due to the rise of digital and growing demand for data-driven marketing, recruiting a successful marketing professional is especially challenging. “Research has shown that marketing has one of the most pronounced digital skills gap of any industry,” according to Joris Luijke, VP of People at Grovo. Hiring managers are faced with a significant gap between the number of applicants and the number of qualified applicants.
Here are the most important skills marketing skills companies are looking for in a successful hire.
Skill Set & Experience
You will not find a candidate with the exact skill set and experience you are looking for. Employers can avoid a hiring standstill by identifying the Hard Skills vs. the Soft Skills. “We’ve realized that we can occasionally overlook someone’s skills because we know we can teach a lot of things in-house…”, says Rob Ruffolo, CEO at IMPACT Branding & Design.
Soft skills
Traditionally, these are the skills that will help a new hire succeed within your organization. Answers to questions such as these will help make that clear.
- Does this person embody our core values?
- Is this person passionate about our mission?
- Will this person work well with our team?
Hard Skills
Skills an applicant must possess and demonstrate to be successful in their role, are Hard Skills. Successful marketing professionals are a hybrid of SEO, Social Media expertise, Google Analytics experience, and content marketing. These skills have a direct impact on compensation level.
Are you quick to recover when you encounter a problem?
Agility and Adaptability
Marketers who do not adopt an attitude of adaptability will not last long. Recruiters and hiring managers are searching their networks for marketing professionals who are “innovators, adapters, and implementers to technology and the latest marketing strategies.” They’re on the hunt for go-getters and problem solvers with initiative, who are able to take past mistakes and turn them into future success stories. Additionally, marketing teams are looking for leaders who are forward-thinkers who bring new ideas to the table, are quick to recover when they encounter a problem, and can successfully take a project from beginning to end. This is a hefty list of requirements, but all are equally important in a marketing role.
Commitment to Professional Development
Professionals who improve themselves, improve the organization. Across the board, leaders are looking for marketing candidates who continue to learn in order to stay on top of their industry and technological changes. “Candidates should have a verifiable curiosity to learn, and not just in business,” says Michelle Brammer, Marketing and PR Manager for eZanga. In a fast-paced industry like marketing, continued education and professional development are key ways to avoid being left behind or unemployable.
Communication Skills
Marketers who cannot effectively communicate or do not have a solid grasp of the language will fail. Marketers are storytellers. If the stories they tell are not executed in a clear and concise way, the value of the products and services they are marketing is diminished. Interesting and inventive content creation is paramount in generating effective marketing campaigns. In today’s market, successful marketing professionals have experience in all areas of communication – blogging, social media, and email campaigns.
