A “marketer” is a broad job title. From inbound advertisers to social media strategists, there are many different kinds of marketers. Regardless of the type of position they’re in, these professionals usually have a variety of duties.
As an employer, you expect candidates to be versatile and adapt to your company’s needs. Certain skills will make them more qualified for just about any marketing job. In this article, we’ll be going over the ones that you should keep an eye out for when hiring.
Content Creation
Of course, you’re probably aware of the importance of content creation. You need material that will keep your audience engaged and get them to take action. Content creation is also important because it will boost a website’s SEO ranking.
A marketer must be good at content creation. This is a broad term that encompasses different materials. They should be comfortable writing long-form copy in addition to shorter pieces (such as those for social media captions). Content creation even extends to pictures, graphics, advertisements, and videos.
Graphic Design
This skill is more related to marketing than you might think. Many agencies actually require applicants to have at least some knowledge of it.
Ideally, you want applicants to have some knowledge of graphic design. For starters, they should be have a solid foundation of graphic design theory. Understanding principles such as color and balance will go a long way when it comes to good marketing. These techniques will allow them to know what layouts look good and design effective documents.
Applicants should also be familiar with the tools your company uses. For instance, if your office primarily works with Adobe Creative Cloud, working knowledge of Photoshop and InDesign is a huge plus. This will allow them to make tweaks to projects and effectively communicate with the main graphic designers.
It’s important to keep in mind that your marketers don’t need to be experts in graphic design. After all, they’ll have plenty of other main duties to focus on. You should have an in-house professional or even hire out agencies for more complicated tasks such as 3D rendering or animation.
Don’t Forget About the Soft Skills
It’s easy to discuss hard skills because they are more measurable. Soft skills, however, are just as important. They are something that you should actively look for in marketing professionals. Some of the most beneficial soft skills to showcase include:
– High emotional IQ. In order to effectively communicate, you have to have a high emotional IQ. This allows one to understand your audience and figure out the best way to deliver your message to them.
– Time management. Marketers have a lot on their plate. They have to be able to schedule accordingly and jump from project to project.
– Flexibility. One must be willing to adapt to new trends and techniques to stay relevant in the industry.
Coding
We’ll conclude with a final bonus skill. Knowing how to code definitely isn’t a must on resumes. However, it can be a desirable skill especially if it’s one your company regularly uses.
Don’t think they need to become on par with software engineers. As a marketer, learning the basics is all they really need to get by. This is will allow them to understand what they’re looking at when working on websites and make minor fixes themselves.
In short, when looking to hire a marketer, it’s important to look for a diverse skill set. Those that are flexible and willing to learn are much more suited for helping your company succeed.