By Carol Trehearn
Marketing is an essential aspect of every business in every industry. Without it, a target audience might never hear of a brand, its goods, and services. It is for this reason why many organizations of all sizes want to hire creative, passionate, and forward-thinking marketing professionals to help them cut out the noise and come of top of mind with customers.
If you are in a marketing role or are considering entering the field, you might be eager to advance your career and help a business to improve its brand recognition, reputation, and sales. If so, read this informative guide to a thriving career in a marketing career.
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Improve Your Knowledge with an Online MBA
Boost your job security, reputation, and earning potential by taking the time to advance your business knowledge. When you enroll in an accredited online MBA, you could improve your business competency, leadership, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, which could help you to make smarter marketing decisions for a business. Plus, you can specialize in a specific area on an online MBA program, such as marketing, which could help you to make decisions and create strategies that will drive the business forward.
Adopt a Revenue-Driven Mindset
Marketers will play a crucial role in a company's revenue and net profit. Every campaign you produce and customer you communicate with could influence a company's financial growth. If you want to thrive in your career and impress a CEO, you must adopt a revenue-driven mindset, which can help you to become an asset to a business.
If the financial side of an organization isn't your strength, you should take the time to learn more about how business functions by enrolling in an online MBA program. By gaining an online MBA, you could adopt a different approach to a marketing campaign, as you'll understand the various challenges a company might face. Plus, you will learn how to develop marketing strategies to help a business achieve its annual objectives.
Monitor the Latest Trends
Switching to the latest trends will help you grow. Pixabay
If your business isn't looking to the future, then it will fall behind its competitors. Don't allow a rival to secure customers who could have been yours by paying close attention to the latest marketing trends.
It doesn't matter if you are running a social media, email marketing, or SEO campaign, tactics will change, new technologies will emerge, and platforms will evolve. Monitoring the latest news and tactics could help a business to gain a competitive edge, and you must keep a close eye on your competitors to identify the marketing techniques that are working for their brand. Keep your finger on the pulse by reading marketing blogs, listening to industry podcasts, and following marketing experts online, such as Neil Patel and Seth Godin.
Become an Exceptional Storyteller
Customers don't want to work with stuffy businesses. They want to buy from brands that have a relatable image and tell a compelling story, which can humanize a company and make them appear more trustworthy. If you can tap into your target market's emotions and solve their problems, you will likely attract many customers and generate substantial additional revenue for the brand.
Test Every Marketing Tactic
It doesn't matter if you are writing web copy, integrating powerful calls to action, or launching a web design, you must test everything. A/B tests are a great testing method, as they allow you to compare data for two options to determine the most effective choice. It could, therefore, help you to launch the most compelling ad copy, call to action, graphic designs, offers, and more.
Make Bold Marketing Decisions
Successful marketers understand the importance of taking risks when developing an engaging marketing campaign. If you are following your competitors' tactics, then a brand will blend in with the crowd. Embarking on a unique ad or embracing a new social media strategy might be a little scary, but your risk could pay off if it boosts your brand recognition and annual revenue. While not every risk might work, you will learn from mistakes and successes, which could make you a more knowledgeable, well-rounded marketer.
Utilize Data to Make Smarter Decisions
Marketers will accumulate a substantial amount of data when executing various campaigns, which can provide them with greater insights into their target market. Rather than allowing the information to go to waste, you must gather and analyze the data to make smarter marketing decisions. For example, you could monitor your customers' online behavior to send targeted email newsletters to their inbox.
Gather and analyze the data to make smarter marketing decisions. Pixabay
If you are more interested in the data side of a business, you could specialize in business analytics over marketing when you enroll in an online MBA program. If this sounds ideal for your passion and career, you could gain detailed insights into the marketplace, customers, an organization, and the global marketplace when completing an online MBA at a respected university.
Learn About Various Marketing Technologies
Many companies are investing in different marketing tools to improve their productivity, maximize their online reach, and grow their revenue. If you want to become a business asset, you must be proficient in different marketing systems and applications. For instance, you should have a firm understanding of different CRMs, email marketing software, social media automation, marketing analytics, and more. If you don't, you could fail to secure a senior marketing position or could be overlooked for a promotion within the department.
Stick to a Strict Schedule
Most marketing campaigns will have launch dates and sales targets that marketers will need to adhere to each day. If you want to enjoy success in the field, you must develop a strict schedule for yourself when completing tasks and projects. Set priorities and times for tasks, which will ensure you don't miss a deadline and can help foster faster business growth.
Master Copywriting
You must not underestimate the importance of copywriting when developing a marketing campaign. After all, a brand's emails, landing pages, social media copy, and print ads must feature compelling, well-written content, which will reflect a company's professionalism and attention to detail.
If there are many spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or clunky sentences, your audience could doubt your brand's credibility. If you are not a confident writer, you must take the time to perfect your copywriting skills and learn how to use different tones of voice.
Create Unrivaled Customer Experiences
The customer experience can make or break a business. As there are many points of interaction between the brand and customers, you must aim to create smooth, hassle-free experiences that will impress your target demographic. This approach could result in a brand securing a more loyal customer base, greater annual sales, and a stronger reputation.
Understand Your Customers' Needs
Every marketer should have an in-depth knowledge of their customers' wants and needs. This will allow them to create creative, engaging campaigns that will deliver the best results for the business.
To learn about your customers, you must find answers to the following questions:
Who is your target demographic?
What are your customers' values?
What problems do they have that your brand can solve?
If you don't have a detailed understanding of the customer then you will fail to execute compelling marketing campaigns.
Listen to Others
Communication and listening skills are essential leadership skills. Pixabay
There will be many members of staff on the marketing team who will be filled with creative ideas and enthusiasm for a strategy. As a result, they might be eager to express their opinions in a brainstorming session.
Rather than ignoring them, take the time to listen to their thoughts, and genuinely consider their unique ideas, which will help you to make the best decisions for the business. If you listen to what others have to say, you could help a business to develop distinctive marketing campaigns that could provide a competitive advantage.
Communication and listening skills are essential leadership skills, which are imperative if you want to climb the career ladder. If you struggle with leadership, an online MBA could improve your management skills and place you next in line for a promotion.
Expand Your Social Media Knowledge
A rock-solid knowledge of social media is essential in marketing. It is reported that 37% of consumers will find shopping inspiration on a social media channel, and 97% of marketers will use Facebook to advertise to their target market.
If you want to flourish in a marketing role over the long term, you must make it your mission to learn as much about each popular social media platform as possible. If you don't know each platform like the back of your hand, you might struggle to develop campaigns that will increase a brand's exposure, web traffic, and sales.
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Take Control in a Crisis
While a marketing crisis is unlikely to be a daily occurrence, you will need to be proactive when one strikes. For example, your team might publish a poorly timed tweet, you might disappoint a digital marketing client, or you could struggle with many negative reviews online.
Again, an online MBA program could help you to take control of a crisis, which could protect a company's reputation and revenue. When studying for an online MBA, you'll develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which could help you to nip a problem in the bud as soon as possible.
Network with Other Marketers
While marketing articles and textbooks can provide you with a rock-solid foundation, excelling in your career requires learning from others. Reach your potential by networking with other marketing experts, as they might have stories, advice, and tips that could change your approach to a task or strategy.
Network with other marketers by:
Connecting with professionals on social media platforms, such as LinkedIn
Attending marketing events
Hosting a marketing event
Cold emailing marketers you admire
You also could boost your industry knowledge and mix with like-minded professionals by attending industry conferences, seminars, and workshops.
Stay Up-to-Date with SEO
Search Engine Optimization. Pixabay
You can't class yourself as a well-rounded marketer if you haven't mastered SEO. It doesn't matter if you're trying to improve a website's ranking in the search engines, increase an e-commerce store's visibility in Amazon, or secure more YouTube subscribers, you will need an in-depth knowledge of various search engine optimization tactics.
Anyone can stuff keywords into an article or video and call themselves an SEO expert. However, extensive knowledge on the subject will help you to thrive in your role and help a brand to become an industry leader. It is essential to note that SEO tactics are constantly changing, so you must keep your finger on the pulse to ensure you adopt the most effective techniques for a brand.
Work on Your Research Skills
Research and marketing go hand-in-hand. It's more than likely you'll need to research different marketing tools, strategy ideas, competitors, clients, and/or influencers at some point throughout the year.
You could improve your research skills by:
Learning how to identify reputable sources – ignore Wikipedia or unreliable organizations
Finding multiple sources on the same topic to extract accurate facts
Organizing your bookmarks – utilize tagging to store informative articles and videos to refer to at a later date
Using advanced search techniques
Final Thoughts
You will not become a successful, knowledgeable marketer overnight. It will take many years of hard work, passion, and dedication to helping a brand truly succeed. You will need to learn from every mistake you make, take calculated risks when producing campaigns, and turn your weaknesses into strengths.
You also must be willing to expand on your existing knowledge, which could vary from reading informative articles on a regular basis to enrolling in an accredited course, such as an online MBA program. It could help you to learn new tactics, avoid big marketing mistakes, and generate revenue-boosting campaigns for a business.
Climb the marketing ladder at a faster rate by aiming to become an expert in almost every marketing area, such as copywriting and SEO. Also, don't underestimate the importance of soft skills, as your management style, communication skills, and time management could secure your success or hold you back your career.