10 Skills Marketing Professionals Need Right Now

E-commerce | Communication | Technical Marketing | Data Analysis | Strategic Planning | Graphic Design | Product Management | Project Management | Behavioral Science | Foreign Language

Traditional marketing roles are getting harder to find. Today, companies look for marketers with specific skill sets in business-to-business marketing and e-commerce, where most of the higher-paying jobs are. Some of these marketing careers include the following:

While many marketing skills specific to today’s complex digital environment can be learned on the job, some can be strengthened and refined while pursuing your marketing degree. Taking elective courses, minoring in a subject, double majoring, earning a certificate or certification, or completing an internship can help you develop these skills and enhance your career prospects upon graduation.

Marketing communication jobs are in high demand in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Marketing communication requires a specific and sought-after skill set that includes writing, editing, social media management, influencer marketing, content development, and event marketing.

Communication skills are essential across all types of marketing positions, and job applicants with communication experience may have an advantage over other candidates.

College courses in writing, editing, journalism, communication, psychology, and social media can help you acquire these skills.

Just about every position in marketing involves data analysis. Marketers use data to research and identify trends, develop strategies, analyze purchasing behavior and buying patterns, measure campaign performance, forecast sales, and optimize campaign performance.

Knowing how to study, manipulate, and interpret data using a variety of analytics tools and software is one of the keys to launching a successful marketing career.

You can learn data analysis skills through courses in data analysis, business analytics, statistics, economics, marketing research, behavioral science, and closely related areas of study. Enrolling in a digital marketing certificate program or earning a digital marketing certification can also help you develop your data analysis skills.

Marketers often design marketing and promotional materials themselves or oversee the work of designers to make sure the materials align with campaign branding, style, and tone. It helps to have a good eye for design if you want to go into marketing.

Most colleges offer courses in graphic design, and you can also find online courses and tutorials. Gaining experience in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, or similar design software is also a good way to build these skills.

To effectively carry out a marketing campaign, marketers need a good understanding of the project management cycle, which includes project planning, execution, and review. Defining project goals, communicating with key stakeholders, and identifying intermediate steps and deadlines in a project are all essential for the day to day work of a marketer.

Business schools often offer courses related to project management as part of their core curriculum. A variety of project management certificate and certification programs are available online as well.

College students who enter the workplace able to communicate in a second language often have a significant advantage over other job candidates. This can be especially true in the field of marketing, where many multinational corporations seek candidates with conversational foreign language skills.

Whether you’re marketing to businesses or directly to consumers, being conversant in a language such as Mandarin, Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, Japanese, Russian, Hindi, and other popular international business languages will grant you access to more jobs.

All colleges and universities offer foreign language courses. Many marketing students choose to minor or double major in a foreign language. Additionally, a variety of foreign language courses, certificate programs, and other language learning tools are available online.

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