Skills Required to Build a Marketing Organisation of the Future

To enable businesses to be the successful marketing organisations of the future, CMOs need six key skills.

Are you ready?

Skill 1 – Leadership

Inbound marketing is undoubtedly the future of the industry. Therefore, today’s marketing executives need a set of specialised skills to enable them to get the best from their businesses. Leadership skills are essential in order to:

• Take an authoritative stance on the direction needed to grow a brand
• Deliver the strategies needed to create demand
• Organise and lead a team to deliver on strategies 
• Recognise how these key skills impact the overall business objectives

Skill 2 – Commercial and business acumen

Marketers need to be business savvy to:

• Recognise how to engage and influence prospects at the right level – this is where lead nurturing is key
• Align all marketing messages with prospects’ business pains
• Understand how marketing can grow revenue and then implement these skills
• Build credibility and respect for the marketing function

Skill 3 – Data analysis and interpretation

In the ‘Big Data’ world of today, marketers need to:

• Understand KPIs and how to utilise them effectively
• Establish the metrics and measurements needed to drive improvements for marketing programmes
• Use data to get strategic buy-in for projects and recommendations
• Recognise data patterns revealed across the different stages of the customer journey

Skill 4 – Providing the right content

Content is king now that everything has moved online. To create success with content marketing, you need:

• Excellent writing skills to deliver compelling content that makes prospects take action
• The ability to recognise the best content-sharing platforms as well as creating a social media marketing strategy that demonstrates these skills
• A clear content strategy that delivers the right messages at the right time
• A strong network of relevant advocates to share and recommend content

Skill 5 – Understanding technology

Marketing automation solutions are the key to success in the future so marketers need to be capable of:

• Identifying the solutions that best meet the needs of your organisation
• Understanding how these tools can be used to deliver value and improve marketing performance
• Recognising their limitations and where processes need to be embedded to support them
• Driving the cultural change needed to embed their use across the organisation

Skill 6 – Creativity and experimentation

Even though marketing automation will manage the delivery, marketers need creativity and the willingness to experiment:

• Read, research and identify different routes to achieve goals
• Cultivate a team ethos that recognises experimentation is needed to continually improve processes and results
• Keep up-to-date with the latest thinking and understand how to apply it creatively
• Try out the latest digital tools to deliver content in new ways and places

For more hints and tips on getting online marketing right in the digital world, read our eGuide ‘CEO’s guide: Building shareholder value through an opt-in community’.

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The Author
	Alistair Norman | Marketing Director Alistair is responsible for the strategy, design and implementation of our Inbound and Content Marketing, with a focus on developing B2B and B2C markets.