5 Marketing Abilities Your Business Needs to Invest In
We could write for days on the topic of what creating good content does for your business. But what other marketing skills should your business be investing in? With so many types of marketing and buzz words galore, it’s hard to determine where to start and which areas to prioritize for your needs.
We’ve rounded up the 5 marketing skills your business should focus on, inspired by Smart Insights.
Know What You Need
It’s important to note that these skills are best invested in when you know your business’s target audience, goals, and overall understanding of the business. This is important for your marketing team, whether it’s an in-house marketer or marketing agency, as it helps them decide on what content to make, which social platforms to choose, and what keywords are needed in SEO.
#1: Content Creation Skills
As discussed in our last blog, Content for Marketing Growth, content creation is a vital part of any marketing initiative.
The subject of your content isn’t as easy as you’d think though; you can’t just talk about how great your business is and hope that people will buy your products. Your messaging should follow the 80/20 rule, meaning 80% of your content should be about adding value to your audience’s life and the remaining 20% should be about your business.
It might sound counter intuitive to some, but you want to offer your audience something that builds their trust and appreciation for your brand by teaching them something new, giving them something to laugh about, or something they want to share with people.
Content creation should focus on educating, entertaining, and inspiring your audience while teaching them that your business is a useful and reliable source.
The world is full of talented content creators for hire. They can create blogs, infographics, reports, journals, videos, and more, which can then be turned into compelling social media posts.
#2: Social Media Marketing Skills
You know by now that you can’t avoid social media if you want to market your business. You may have a couple social media accounts and a general idea of what to post but understand that there is a lot to learn about social media marketing and it’s a skill worth your investment.
Here are three things you should consider:
Who is doing the work? Similar to a content creator, a social media marketer can be hired in-house, freelance, or with a marketing agency.
Which platforms will be used? Based on your target audience, you’ll need to determine which social media platforms you want to put your time and effort into.
What content are we posting? With a content creator or an agency overseeing the overall marketing plan you’ll likely have a clear expectation as to the content you’ll be seeing.
The expectations of a company’s social media presence are only continuing to grow; Social Media Marketing is a whole job and is a worthy investment if you want to see your business grow.
#3: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing Skills
Optimizing your business’s assets to show up properly and consistently on search engines is important for increasing brand awareness and brand trust.
This requires keyword research, link building, and website page SEO. Investing in this marketing skill helps your business become more visible online, meaning an increase in website traffic and leads that can turn into sales.
If that’s not enough to convince you, Search Engine Journal has 15 other reasons why you need to seriously consider SEO.
#4: Digital Advertising Skills
Like advertising, but in the digital space. At this point, we’re sure you recognize that advertising digitally is as important as traditional advertising; it’s as unavoidable as content creation, social media and SEO.
This is where paid ads come into play. You’ve been the target of other businesses’ digital advertising initiatives on platforms like Google and social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
It takes time to see what works for your business and it’s vital that you track your ad spend and the results gained from all campaigns to determine which ones are most effective. Digital advertising skills include being able to track and make sense of data to determine which paid ads to continue, change, and stop altogether.
Understanding your audience is especially important when deciding on digital advertising as you need to know who you’re targeting to ensure your ads’ effectiveness.
#5: Interpersonal Relationship
Interpersonal relationship skills are as important as they are obvious. Your team needs to be able to effectively communicate with each other as well as clients or potential leads.
Thorough onboarding sessions that highlight the importance of proper interpersonal relationship skills is one way to start building this skill from the beginning. Another option is hiring a specialist in interpersonal relationship skill building at your next conference or workshop.
These are the skills you want your in-house marketers or hired agency to be proficient in, thus understanding these top 5 marketing skills should help you know what to look for in a marketer.
In Good Company is the type of marketing agency that implements these skills, and more, with its consultation and expertise. Meet with us to discuss your business needs and determine if we’re the right fit.
Written by Morgan Law