Top Ten Traits of Tip-Top Marketers
Marketers are, by their nature, experts in all things. They need to be! How else could a person go from strategizing about how best to help an energy company make its mark one moment before switching gears to talk about social activations for, say, a local not-for-profit organization the next?
In addition to the need to be able to jump from industry to industry with chameleon-like adaptability, the best marketers are also able to tap into a robust series of skillsets and traits at will. No matter your role as a marketer – whether you’re a do-it-all freelancer or a discipline-specific gun-for-hire – having a clear knowledge and grasp of how the whole messaging machine functions is critical to understanding where each piece of work fits within the larger whole. Your success – and the success of your clients – depends on it.
What traits does a marketer need to possess in order to give off this air of expertise? Well, we’re happy you asked.
Ten Traits All the Best Marketers Have in Common
1. Creativity
The best marketers tend to be relentlessly creative in order to come up with the innovative ideas and solutions that help them (and their clients) stay competitive in the market.
2. Agility
Marketers need to be able to adapt to changes in both the market and client business objectives while also being more broadly flexible to accommodate ongoing nuanced shifts in campaigns, target audiences, and market trends.
3. Strategic Thinking
Marketers need to be strategic when developing strategies – a practice that typically requires thinking a few steps ahead. Situations and outcomes can change on a dime, so being able to strategically think your way through a campaign to optimize the outcome will be both your differentiator and the constant key to your success.
4. Writing Skills
Even if you’re not a copywriter or professional writer by trade, you will always end up in a situation or project that requires you to write. This means that by necessity, you’ll need to be able to clearly articulate your thoughts and deliver a compelling message to your target audience – whether that be via blog post, tagline, or anything in between. You may not be very best wordsmith in town, but you’ll need to have the ability to effectively craft compelling language in a pinch.
5. Boundless Curiosity
Ask questions. Learn new ways of doing things. Discover and explore. Marketing is about experimenting and testing theories until you get them right; then, it’s is a case of figuring out how to replicate or improve the original outcome. It’s kind of like being a scientist without all the chemistry – and singed eyebrows! 💥
6. Courage
Marketers need to be courageous in all things. No marketing campaign ever has a guaranteed outcome, after all, so having the fortitude to experiment, evaluate, and take a chance on your ideas is central to finding success.
7. Resiliency
You will not always find success in your marketing initiatives, so being able to pick yourself up and try again is of crucial importance. Staying down and out is not an option if you hope to provide stellar ideas and sky-high results!
8. Analytical Skills
Marketing is all about analyzing information to make educated decisions. A good marketer should be able to first analyze and then critically evaluate data before using it to make informed decisions about innovative marketing strategies.
9. Problem-Solving Ability
Marketing is a constantly-evolving area of a business – which means that you’ll often you run into challenges that require you to work your way out of corners and troubleshoot situations with numerous possible outcomes. Being able to navigate these situations and pitfalls is essential to being successful in your marketing role or initiative.
10. Customer-Centric Mindset
The most successful marketers focus on the needs and wants of their target audience, tailoring their tactics so that they can be sure they’re hitting them with the right message – in every asset, every word, and every brand line they put out there into the world at large.
There you have it – the ten traits you’ll need to find success as an innovative agent of change on your next marketing project or initiative. Bring these skillsets to the forefront and you’ll have a client list as long as your arm in no time (and you’ll be well-deserving of it, too!).
Want to work with an expert marketer who brings these ten traits to each and every marketing project she touches? Contact Amanda at The Marketing Girl and spark your next marketing project sky-high today!
