Bob Van Rossum — March 10, 2018 — March 10, 2018
Technology has completely shaken up the world of marketing and impacted the way companies view their workforce structures. This shift further drives CMOs to re-strategize how they recruit talent and highlights the need to have superior teams in place to prepare for the future of digital marketing. This means they have higher expectations from their talent pool and won’t accept anything less than extraordinary.
Relevant Video: How to Future Proof Your Career
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Digital Marketing Recruiters Explain How to Prepare for the Future of Digital Marketing
As digital marketing recruiters, we’ve directly seen the effects of the shift in marketing with the emergence of new roles in response to the disruption of technology like the Chief Marketing Technologist.
The digital world won’t wait for anyone, and marketers will have to take a proactive part in staying relevant and navigating through the rise of technology. Marketing professionals must continue to learn, adapt and develop new skills to set themselves as a leading candidate.
So, what skills must marketers develop to stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving world? Here’s how to prepare for the future of digital marketing and craft yourself to be a valuable asset to any organization.
1. Commitment to Lifelong Learning
One pivotal skill digital marketing recruiters look for in candidates is the ability to constantly learn. This is undeniably important in the marketing space, where nothing is ever stagnant, and marketers must keep up to stay relevant.
It takes more than an impressive set of core marketing skills and extensive experience in your field to stand out. In today’s evolving marketing landscape, one must be able to adapt to changes in a dynamically-driven industry. Marketers must demonstrate that they’re staying abreast of trends through their own active learning.
While it’s quite impossible to possess all of the skills related to marketing, it’s important and very possible to prove that you embrace learning and have the capability to acquire new skills.
Employers don’t just want to hear that you possess the ability to learn, but expect you to prove it. Demonstrate that you’re intellectually curious and proactively keeping up by sharing any forward-thinking thought social media, blogs and communities you follow to stay on top of trends.
2. Become Digitally-Savvy
We are undoubtedly in the digital world, and leading marketers must be comfortable with technology and implementing it.
Key advancements like augmented reality, machine learning, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence (AI) are all critical innovations to be acquainted with. Marketers who are proficient in the languages of such applications are highly valuable and in high demand.
It’s incredibly important for marketing professionals to develop skills for the next wave of technology innovations. Technology allows marketers to optimize key processes and provide better insights and data on customers. To be a cutting-edge marketer, you must not only know how digital tools work, but how they can impact the bottom line of an organization.
Get familiar with powerful marketing technologies in order to stay sharp. Becoming digitally-savvy and technology-fluent is an invaluable skill that will prove itself to be necessary for the future of digital marketing.
3. Your Network Is a Significant Part of You
Digital marketing recruiters take candidates’ networks into consideration when gauging their value.
Having a strong network of invaluable connections can help support gaps you have in your skill set and be able to guide you in any challenges at work.
Knowledge sharing with those in your industry is a great way to discuss trends, share perspectives, and stay up-to-date. The support of skilled professionals in your industry is a great resource to leverage to demonstrate the value you can bring to an organization.
Invest time to nurture your network and engage with people who may be outside of your level in the organizational structure. If you’re a mid-level marketing professional, don’t be hesitant to engage with C-level executives. Networking with professionals across various verticals and seniorities will help you become more well-rounded and give you a competitive advantage.
4. Embrace and Thrive with Change
Change is inevitable in the marketing space and surfaces in almost every corner imaginable.
Employers seek marketers who aren’t only attentive to changes that occur, but those who embrace changes to heighten and leverage opportunities that come with them.
When you’re interviewing for a job, consider sharing a situation in your career where you had to quickly adjust to a sudden change in the middle of a project and how you dealt with it to produce results.
Did you have to completely start over in the middle of a project and create a new strategy from the ground up? Did you have to lead your team and be the driving force in initiating change? Demonstrate your ability to effectively adapt to change with measurable results. This is the best way to present yourself as someone who embraces and thrives in change.
5. Be Well Aware of Your Human Skills (and Leverage Them)
Technology has allowed marketers to become more efficient and powerful, but has one major flaw – a lack of human emotional intelligence. Technologies like artificial intelligence are incredibly sophisticated and sharp, but aren’t able to connect with human emotion – something that is incredibly important when understanding your human consumers.
We’re in a customer-centric world, and there’s no one that can understand the needs of a human at a complex level than another human. While marketing headhunters encourage marketers to develop highly technical skills, they must not abandon their natural unique human skills that no technology could possibly learn.
Possessing important business acumen and communication skills is a crucial skill marketers must master. Be aware of your soft skills and leverage them to further strengthen your technical capabilities. Don’t neglect any unique, creative skills you possess as a marketer. Your creativity and unique perspective is what truly sets you apart in a competitive job market.
Parting Words
Regardless of where you are in your career, the emergence of new skills and capabilities is a never-ending cycle in the marketing world.
Provide yourself with the best opportunity to succeed and be prepared to take initiative in expanding your skills. Developing insights and knowledge to become more proficient as a leading marketer will help you progress right alongside the evolution of digital. Power up your capabilities and learn to adapt in order to stay sharp and relevant in an increasingly digital world before it’s too late.
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