When you first went into business, chances are you did it because you already had certain relevant skills at your disposal. Much in the same way that some of us are naturally creative, or other naturally good with numbers, there are individual skills that nearly all business people seem to harbor. These range from resilience to good public speaking abilities, and all of them work together to produce a confident and well-rounded business professional. But, like in any job, there is always room to build on any skills you already have, even if you think you are already pretty good in most areas. One such area is the sphere of marketing ? something that is integral to business success, even more so in the modern age. The rise of the internet has changed the way companies market themselves forever, and even the most low-level marketing professional now needs to have a diverse and reliable skill set to rely on. Read on to find out what makes a good marketing executive, and how you can improve your skills to come out at the top of your game.
Education
Marketing IS one of those things you can learn on the job ? but only to a certain extent. Realistically, very few companies have the time to train marketing staff from scratch, especially if they are dealing with a complete novice. Instead, you would benefit from undertaking an education in marketing or public relations, such as a university degree. If that doesn?t take your fancy, however, or if you have already attended university, you may want to consider doing an mba in online marketing instead. Many of these qualifications don?t require you to attend classes in person ? you can do it all online ? making it easy to run alongside your job, or any other responsibilities you may have.
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People skills
In your role as a marketing manager or executive, you will spend much of your time dealing with other people ? be it through email, over the phone or in person. Often, you will have to negotiate deals with advertising agencies, hire creative staff to help you put together your campaign and work closely with a sales team to tie it all together. Remember, in business, everyone is looking out for themselves, so you need to be calm and tactful to get the best results for your company. Plus, being a friendly and active person makes your working life a lot easier!
Analytical skills
Regrettably, the hard work doesn?t stop when the marketing campaign is over. In fact, it?s often only just begun. Marketing trends move at an astonishing rate, so you need to make sure that you know exactly how well your last campaign worked. Analytical skills are, therefore, integral to making sure you can thoroughly examine what went well, and what didn?t go so well, in the last project you were involved in. Only by doing this will you be able to progress in the work you do in the future.
