Digital marketing moves very quickly, and as a modern marketer, you’re probably gaining new skills by the handful. But what marketing skills capture an employer’s eyes in 2015? What sets their hearts a-thumping? What makes them say, “We need to hire this one!”
Today we’re sharing 14 enticing marketing skills to add to your resume in 2015!
1. Content Marketing
Content marketing is inescapable in today’s digital marketing landscape. It’s like what the Spice Girls was to the 90’s. Brands have realized that they need to be producing a steady stream of high-quality content in order to attract their audiences.
We’re in a pretty frightening content whirlwind; with many blogs pushing out several posts a day, there’s zero chance we will ever read most of what is published on the web. Still, you can capitalize on this mighty content race by marketing yourself as a content mastermind.
2. CMS Experience
Since nearly all businesses publish content with the help of a Content Management System (CMS), noting some CMS experience on your resume is always a smart move, especially if you’re applying for a content marketing job. WordPress and Drupal are two common examples of content management systems you may want to get you hands dirty with. Put this on your marketing skills list and you’ll be sure to get noticed.
3. CRM Skills
Businesses are also looking for experts in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, which serves as an essential tool for virtually any company. CRM software is used to organize and manage customers’ various interactions with a company. CRM software helps bridge the gap between sales, marketing, and customer service. Popular CRM software includes Salesforce and Oracle.
4. Mobile Marketing
Mobile is on the rise and no one is powerful enough to stop it. If mobile marketing were Godzilla, we’d be pretty screwed right about now.
It’s estimated that 60% of mobile consumers use their mobile phone as their primary (or only) device for accessing the internet, and over half of e-commerce traffic is driven by mobile devices! Understanding the mobile marketing landscape will make you a hero in the eyes of employers, so be sure to show this off on your resume.
5. Lead Nurturing
As companies say sayonara to hard sales tactics and cold calls, they increasingly look to lead nurturing as a better sales solution. In the B2B world, most customer relationships today begin with content offers, then continue on with lead nurturing through the sales funnel. Lead nurturing is in super high demand, so employees with experience in this area should be sure to note it on their resume’s marketing skills list and LinkedIn profiles.
Show that you understand the lead nurturing model and that you have some knowledge of how various types of content (from ebooks to webinars) can be crafted to serve specific audience needs.
6. Email Marketing
Email marketing isn’t new, but it’s still one of the most effective ways to market products and services. Newsletter signup boxes are commonplace on nearly all blogs, and brands are hungry for employees who can help them grow, retain, and delight email subscribers. They’re looking for employees who understand open rates, A/B testing, and email lead nurturing. If you can get practice with email marketing, wear these skills like badges of honor.
7. Mastery of a Full Marketing Arsenal of Tools
Businesses are looking for marketers who are masters of industry tools. You need to know which weapons will help you conquer any given space, making you as powerful as Robert Baratheon with his warhammer (give me a break, the new season is just a couple weeks away).
It’s hammertime! [Art by Alex Maxwell]
Brush up on your marketing weapon arsenal with tools like:
- Social Media Marketing Tools. Tools that can help manage your various social media accounts and measure your effectiveness. Popular examples include HootSuite, Buffer, and Facebook/Twitter/Google/Pinterest built-in analytics.
- Productivity Tools. A healthy knowledge of productivity tools shows that you’re motivated and strive to be efficient. Popular tools include: Evernote, IFTTT, and Google Alerts. For more, check out our list of awesome productivity tools.
- SEO Tools. Resources to help you target relevant keywords and measure your link-building efforts. Some popular tools include Google Keyword Planner, Open Site Explorer, Ahrefs, and of course our own keyword tools.
- Image and Design Tools. Apps and software that can help you create blog images and valuable visual content to capture the attention of your audience. Popular tools include Canva, Piktochart, SlideShare, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator.
- Email Tools. Programs that can help you manage email more effectively and measure open rates, clicks, and conversions for various email lists. One popular example would be MailChimp.
If you have experience with these tools (or tools that are similar), be sure to add it to your marketing skills resume. Employers want new hires who know how to use the tools they love.
8. Video Production
There has been a huge upsurge recently with video production. Brands are recognizing that video is a very engaging and compelling form of content that can be used to a company’s advantage.
Any experience in video production, editing, and even video animation is highly coveted. Best of all, you can brush up on some of these skills yourself if you’ve got a bit of spare time. Set up your own YouTube channel and get filming!
9. Paid Social Media Advertising
In an age when you can pay for likes and promote your Twitter posts, competition is heating up in the social arena, and businesses know that working with paid opportunities is the best (and quickest) way to get ahead. They need experts in paid social advertising – and their need is your opportunity!
How do you get these skills? Experiment with your own paid social media campaigns. If you have your own blog or website, use them as social advertising guinea pigs (although you’ll have to deal with the smell). You can start mini-campaigns for relatively cheap, and it will get you familiar with all the ins and outs of paid social advertising. This experience looks stellar on your marketing skills list.
10. UX Design
User experience design (UXD or UED) is another one of those fast-growing fields where employees are constantly in demand. Businesses know that their product needs to be smooth and streamlined, and they are chomping at the bit for skilled UX designers who can help create an intuitive, natural product experience for users.
Whether for apps, software, or site design, UX is X marks the spot on your search for prime marketing skills!
11. Data Science
Businesses are beginning to get freaked out by how much data they have at their disposal. From conversion tracking cookies, social media responses, and video views to GPS data and app activity, the sheer quantity of big data companies have access to is mind-boggling.
That’s where you come in – the data analysis expert who can help sort, organize, and, most importantly, extract meaning and actionable insights from these huge data landfills. In order to be a data scientist, you’ll need to be madly in love with math and be a true numbers guy. If you’ve got the goods, you can be sure businesses will be knocking at your door (or even breaking it down).
Scary, scary math – not for data scientists though!
12. Data Visualization
Going hand in hand with the statistical analysis crew, brands also want to be able to share some of their data insights with their key target audiences.
However, most of us don’t perk up at the thought of combing through spreadsheets for that eureka moment. That’s where data visualizers come in – they help reformat valuable, insightful data into visual graphs, charts, and graphics that make those numbers easier to digest. Data visualizers are utilized to create powerful, data-driven content that is appealing to users (infographics are a prime example). Data visualization mastery is in high demand, so be sure to detail your knowledge on your marketing skills resume.
Infographics from Visual.ly
13. HTML, CSS, and Other Coding Languages
Knowing some basic coding has always been valuable, but today you’ll get a big bonus as a marketer with a little coding skill. Engineers and coders are valuable commodities, and they won’t gladly be spared to fix the padding on your tables and align your text properly.
Proving you know at least some very basic HTML and CSS skills shows that you can self-correct your own hiccups with a bit of finagling. If you’re beyond the basics, even better!
14. Consumer Behaviorist
Brands realize that individuals make purchasing decisions based off of their feelings and emotional cues. It’s why advertisements like the Budweiser Super Bowl puppy ads are so successful.
As businesses seek to amp up the emotional storytelling and strengthen consumer bonds to brands, they want experts who understand consumer behavior and can help figure out what makes their key audiences tick.
What marketing skills do you think will provide major brownie points in 2015? If you’re an employer, what skills are you looking for in a new hire? Share your thoughts in the comments!
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 14 Marketing Skills to Add to Your Resume in 2015
More Sales & Marketing articles from Business 2 Community:
- Modern Marketing’s Next 5 Challenges In B2B
- Where is B2B Data-Driven Marketing Headed?
- Why You Should Be Embedding Buyer Personas In Everything You Do
- Content Marketing KPIs – Measuring Results And Tracking ROI
- 3 Ideas for Awesome Product Marketing Content
