What Are Some Marketing Skills That Will Make You Invaluable?

General
1

Trying to find a new job. I currently work at an agency that has nothing to offer in terms of growth and is falling apart slowly. Thankfully, they recently paid me to get my Meta Certification. But with the way the job market is and possibly will be in the future with AI, I am trying to find out what I can do at work and in my off time to increase my skill set and usefulness for another job.

I specialize in working with analytics for marketing and do lots of Meta ads for clients and some PPC. But I feel like more is needed.

2

Understanding data and analytics.

3

Elliot said:
Understanding data and analytics.

To add to this - Being able to visualize that data in an easy-to-understand way. If you can generate some visually snazzy reports that your boss can take to client meetings, it’ll be a huge bonus.

4

@Scout
Isn’t there going to be (or already is) an AI tool out there where you just feed the data and it’ll pop out insights and visual graphs for you? Would you still recommend ‘learning’ that skill??

5

Hollis said:
@Scout
Isn’t there going to be (or already is) an AI tool out there where you just feed the data and it’ll pop out insights and visual graphs for you? Would you still recommend ‘learning’ that skill??

There definitely will be in a few years.

6

Hollis said:
@Scout
Isn’t there going to be (or already is) an AI tool out there where you just feed the data and it’ll pop out insights and visual graphs for you? Would you still recommend ‘learning’ that skill??

That’s cool until the boss says “Can you make X more like Y” and you’re absolutely screwed.

7

Elliot said:
Understanding data and analytics.

Is this mainly done with experience at work or can I find a solid certification or class for this? Like I can get a Google Analytics cert but I feel like that’s normal to have.

8

@Taylor
Outside of competence in tools and platforms for data/insights, I think observing and listening is important. Pay attention to how others (peers, boss, even people on social media) talk about specific metrics and how they interpret their value and performance. Things can also be very industry and even company dependent. Some places live and die by their website leads and others couldn’t care less - knowing those subtle things about where you are is also important.

9

@Taylor
Honestly I had to learn through working with analytics teams. Tough to learn about customer/marketing analytics without being in the environment. Especially at an enterprise level.

10

Elliot said:
@Taylor
Honestly I had to learn through working with analytics teams. Tough to learn about customer/marketing analytics without being in the environment. Especially at an enterprise level.

I work as an analyst actually. But I feel like I hit a plateau and need new challenges.

11

@Taylor
Google’s Looker Studio or Power BI are what you use to create reports and dashboards.

12

Elliot said:
Understanding data and analytics.

Not just understanding data and analytics, but being able to take the knowledge and present it in a way that a complete baboon could understand it.

13

Elliot said:
Understanding data and analytics.

Put another way, I seamlessly transitioned from Marketing Director to Head of Insights and Analytics within my company. Take from that what you may.

14

@Wylie
What tools helped you stand out or is it just your ability with analytics?

15

Honestly? A referral from someone at the company. That’s it. That’s the only way to get interviews these days.

16

I find that marketers with good graphic design skills in addition to good marketing/copywriting and digital understanding are hard to come by.

Being able to plan a marketing campaign, write copy, and also execute the design is very valuable.

17

@Zem
That’s because copywriting, campaign strategy, and graphic design are 3 separate full-time jobs.

18

Quincy said:
@Zem
That’s because copywriting, campaign strategy, and graphic design are 3 separate full-time jobs.

Hey, so how do you think a new small business would/should try to navigate these areas? I’m starting with a small budget, but I feel like to achieve profit all of these are necessary, but maybe they aren’t?

19

@Rin
This is a fair question. SMBs often have a bootstrap mentality and need a marketer who mirrors their mentality.

These individuals will be expensive (but overall less expensive vs 3+ people) and may even be best utilized in a management/leading role. They also need excellent communication skills as they could be the only bridge between departments and need to generate alignment in project execution.

I run an agency supporting SMB and investor initiatives and this is absolutely the type of person I look for to support our clients.

Often, with SMB, our work comes down to helping clients set up their infrastructure and determine processes, support the hiring of 1-2 excellent people, and determine how to best implement AI to automate tasks that keep costs low.

20

@Noor
Maybe I’m not being clear. I’m sure they do need advice, but this thread isn’t about helping SMBs. This is r/marketing, on a discussion about OP acquiring marketing skills to get hired in our field.

Help me understand why marketers should tolerate strangers who ask for free professional marketing advice in inappropriate places.