According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S. Department of Labor), marketing professionals enjoy excellent career opportunities. Throughout the current decade, jobs in advertising, promotions, and marketing are projected to grow 10% annually.
And to replace people leaving the marketing profession or exiting the workforce, for example, retiring, the BLS expects approximately 31,100 new job openings each year throughout the same time period.
So given that, what essential must-have marketing skills do young marketers need to land their first job and jumpstart their marketing careers?
Self-Starter and Self-Learner (Self-Directed Marketing Skills Development)
Get good at learning new aspects of marketing, keeping up with changes and trends, and anticipating what's coming next.
Whatever in-demand marketing skills young marketers have at the outset of their careers will likely become less relevant as the years go by.
While you may be lucky and find the perfect mentor early on in your career, it's far more likely that you'll need to create your own "mentor" by
- attending relevant conferences (online and offline)
- participating in relevant communities
- listening to relevant podcasts, and
- reading relevant books
Also, new marketers should consider multi-tasking their workout time, commuting time, or travel time into professional development to level up their marketing skills.
For example, regardless of whether you work out on the elliptical, jog, walk, bike, or something different, you'd be amazed how much audio content can be consumed in 30-60 minutes/day, times 300+ days/year.
Superb Communicator
More than ever, content that differentiates, educates, and builds trust controls marketing engines -- and propels marketing careers.
Suppose you're a good speaker (in-person and on-camera/webcam), effective on audio (podcasting), and at least passable with written communications (copywriting). In that case, you'll set yourself up for great success as a marketer.
For any of these areas where you're not as strong, get good at hiring, collaborating, and managing those content creators that can help you and your team become superb communicators.
What marketing skills have you recently developed? What are you planning to learn next? Let me know in the comments.
And if you're looking to level up your marketing skills to support revenue growth, specifically go-to-market strategy, enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.
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