5 Transferable Marketing Skills That Every Business Needs
In an ideal world, all employers would have marketing and communications teams stocked with niche experts for specific roles, but in reality, the skills-short nature of the modern employment market means this is unlikely. Instead, the fast pace of change in marketing means that most firms will be recruiting people with the right attributes and the capacity to adapt to a new position, but without necessarily the perfectly aligned experience.
But marketing is a broad discipline, and while skills requirements are diverse and vary from role-to-role and employer-to-employer, there are several top transferable marketing skills that all employers are, and indeed should, be seeking that can dictate whether an individual will successfully make a transition to a new role or not. But what are these competencies, and how can organisations identify those who can adapt to positions with new or less familiar responsibilities?
The Top Transferable Marketing Skills All Businesses Are Seeking
Resilience
Regardless of the specific discipline – and as we have outlined in a recent blog - all marketing roles will have challenging periods, and professionals will face stressful situations at times. That is partly why resilience is such a desirable skill. The modern employment market still favours candidates, and many individuals who don’t settle into a new role, or who find it overtly challenging, can quickly move on to another opportunity that they feel may be a better fit.
However, seeking resilient professionals who can recover from setbacks and maintain focus under pressure removes some of that risk. This isn’t always an easy trait to identify or gauge, but it can be highly valuable for organisations going through more challenging periods that need professionals who can hunker down and deliver. Equally, it’s also valuable because moving into a less familiar position or with a new employer will present challenges, and there won’t always be a smooth transition. Resilience allows marketers to not only recognise these difficulties but also know the techniques to best manage these and continue to perform at their best.
Project Management
No matter what role a business is seeking or even the seniority of the position, a level of project management abilities is a must. A Marketing Manager will be required to juggle multiple campaigns and potentially even globally disparate teams. Likewise, a Product Marketing Manager is unlikely to just focus on one new product launch at a time – they will need to keep multiple plates spinning to support business objectives. Every marketer will have multiple campaigns and stakeholders to manage, and deadlines to meet, so organisation and project management skills are pivotal for most positions. Proficiency here ensures that programmes are executed effectively, and that the individual will have the capacity and mental agility to manage the transition into a new role or specialism.
Analytical & Data Expertise
Marketing is becoming an increasingly data-led discipline, and almost every role across all different functions will require some element of data manipulation and analysis skills. Traditionally, this has not been the case, and in the past, businesses would largely seek more creative and communication-based competencies. However, the rise of technology has shifted demands, and employers are now also seeking more rounded professionals who can leverage data to their advantage. This ranges from being able to tap into consumer engagement trends to inform new product development through to analysing marketing metrics to identify where business strategies may need to pivot to new sectors or geographies. These attributes allow marketing specialists to identify opportunities that others may not be able to see, and can make an enormous difference in an ever-more crowded and congested marketplace.
Business Acumen
The ability to analyse data and feed this insight into wider corporate strategies brings us to another core transferable skill: business acumen. Today’s marketers need an understanding of how their marketing activities affect their organisation, as well as the wider macroeconomic factors that are influencing marketing trends, often at pace.
Possessing business acumen doesn’t just mean the ideal individual has management or leadership experience, though. Specialists should be able to demonstrate that they have the capacity to focus on aspects beyond brand awareness, and on other critical elements such as profitability, market positioning and supporting revenue growth. They will recognise how and when to invest budget for maximum impact, and how to alter and adjust their approach in response to external factors.
Marketers with these competencies will also be better positioned to collaborate with other parts of the organisation, and potentially translate complex concepts into ones that have real meaning for leaders in other departments. This supports the aforementioned data-driven approach that is becoming more commonplace, and means that decisions are based on more than just intuition, but on a broader understanding of market trends, consumer behaviour and business performance. This skill can be the difference in transforming campaigns into more strategic investments, which will, in turn, also help to secure further support in the future should it be needed.
Technological Understanding
Organisations should also seek technological expertise in all marketing hires, particularly for professionals who are transferring into a new specialism. These attributes are only becoming more valuable as AI and large language models such as ChatGPT, CoPilot, and DALL-E become more integrated and widely adopted. In addition, most readers would be hard pressed to find any aspect of modern marketing that doesn’t require a reliance in some way on different forms of technology.
Indeed, having the capacity to navigate and master a variety of platforms is now a prerequisite for most positions and can also help to ease the transition into unfamiliar surroundings or responsibilities. Crucially, it’s the mindset that matters; and sourcing professionals who are comfortable with new platforms, willing to explore features, and unafraid to test and iterate, will only benefit employers. Similarly, identifying professionals who know what questions to ask and technical applications or integrations to identify in specific platforms, when to use them and, importantly, when not to, is becoming increasingly pivotal.
While the demands for each marketing role will naturally vary, what is becoming increasingly important is targeting marketers with broad skill sets, who can adapt to a variety of different challenges and responsibilities. These are the professionals who thrive and pivot, collaborate, lead, and grow, regardless of their job titles and that make them invaluable in a rapidly evolving world of work.
If your business is seeking adaptable marketing professionals with the ability to flex and take on a variety of responsibilities, get in touch with our specialist team to find out more.
