The marketing manager is a critical component to any company’s success. They’re the ones responsible for using creative, cunning, and savvy interpersonal skills to make the company’s product or service known. A company might sell a groundbreaking, innovating product, but it won’t matter much if no one knows about it.
Marketing directors can take a business struggling to make ends meet and jump-start its growth. However, marketing isn’t for everybody, and it requires a unique set of abilities and experience. Successful marketing managers usually share these six traits.
Editing Skills
A successful marketing manager is a master of language; he or she can tell a compelling story in any medium. The most effective way to deliver a message in the field of marketing is through clear, concise language. Marketing managers know how to highlight the most impressive and appealing elements of a product or service and weave those details into a captivating piece of rhetoric. They know how to eliminate extraneous language and present a compelling pitch in a few words — an increasingly valuable trait, considering the growing prevalence of social media.
Social Media Savvy
Like the invention of newspapers, radio, and television, social media opened up a massive canvas for marketing efforts worldwide. Sites like Facebook and Twitter gave companies the unique ability to weave their message directly with potential customers’ social lives — a veritable Holy Grail for the marketing world. A smart marketing manager knows this and uses social media at every opportunity. They know the next generation of consumers is using social media every day and use that fact to increase a company’s Internet presence and brand awareness.
A Solid Education
A college education provides would-be marketing managers with an intellectual foundation for the future. This is especially true of MBA programs in which graduates gain valuable insight into the inner workings of businesses and corporations. Not only that, but MBA programs help aspiring marketing managers develop networking and relationship-building skills. For individuals with a passion for lifelong education and a future in marketing, MBAs are the first step toward a new career.
Interpersonal Finesse
Marketing managers work with a variety of people, both inside and outside their own company. In the marketing department, they come in frequent contact with nearly every part of the creative team and often the executive staff, as well. A good marketing manager has a certain charisma that can bring a team together even during high-stress, deadline-driven projects. Good communication skills will also work wonders during industry conferences and other events when networking is key. Strong interpersonal skills are a mark of a true marketing manager — after all, it’s their role to grab an audience’s attention.
An Organized Mind
Marketing is a fast-paced craft that requires a certain degree of mental discipline and organization skills. Marketing managers regularly have to juggle multiple projects at once and plan how to tackle competing priorities. As with any office profession, the ability to pick out a single document from an endless archive of files is invaluable in an industry rife with fierce competition. Likewise, an organized mind can crunch complex research and data into easily digestible information marketing teams can use.
An Appreciation for Emerging Trends
The world of marketing is constantly evolving. A forward-thinking marketing manager knows new technologies and programs emerge nearly every day. Much of marketing also relies on emerging social trends. A knowledge of what’s happening in the world can help a marketing manager direct the voice and brand of a company, keeping it afloat amid changing cultural currents. It also helps to follow news that caters directly to a company’s target demographic. A quality marketing manager knows that what was once popular today could be “so yesterday” as early as tomorrow.
When searching for your next marketing manager, keep these attributes in mind. When you find a charismatic and innovative forward-thinking team player, you know you’re on the right track.
Teddy Hunt is a freelance content writer with a focus on technology. When not behind a computer, Teddy spends the majority of his free time outdoors and resides in Tampa, Florida. Follow Teddy on Twitter: @tedhunt9.
Image via Flickr by Nic McPhee
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