It may appear impossible at first, but many people have found jobs in marketing without having put in the three or four years needed for an MBA or other degree. Universities often don’t even teach the skills needed for marketing employment; on the other hand, there are many great new ways in which you may obtain the skills that you need. Bootcamps, certifications and massive, open online courses are some of the ways in which to come by the knowledge needed to find a job. Taking a look at a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) resume guide, you’ll learn about the skills that you need.
Table of Contents
The skills that you need for a marketing career
Skills in communication and writing
It’s important for marketers to be able to communicate effectively, especially in writing. It’s a core skill. If you possess it, it can help you get to the top of your field. Marketers who can communicate well in writing are often in demand to write for clients, to reach out to specific target audiences, to write in different voices, to successfully tell a story and so on.
To excel at this skill, it’s important to practice a storytelling ability, to write about marketing, to write about an area of specialization, and learn writing etiquette.
Skills in data analytics
A recent study found that 9 out of 10 businesses required that employees in marketing possessed experience in digital marketing and analysis. If you are able to analyze marketing data and produce insights that can form the basis of an advertising campaign, you will have no problem getting to the top at any organization. When you have these skills, it won’t matter if you don’t have a degree. Executives see data-driven decisions as critical. In any organization, marketers are required to justify all campaign plans with data-backed proof. A foundation in Google Analytics can help with this skill.
Skills in marketing technologies
More than ever before, technology is used to power campaigns and automate them. Google and Hubspot offer certifications in the use of their platforms, and it’s important to gain them. There are also many freemium marketing technologies available. It’s important to gain competence in WordPress, SurveyMonkey and DataBox, among others.
Objective and analytical thinking
About one in two employers hiring marketing workers list critical thinking as an important skill. Such analytical thinking is important as campaign managers require the ability to objectively and critically think about advantages or disadvantages of the different parts of campaigns. Practicing critical thinking skills is an important way to come by employment in the marketing field.
How do you go about finding a marketing job?
Start by building your own website
It isn’t necessary that you work for a company in order to gain experience. You can start by building a website for yourself, and marketing yourself online as a brand. You can promote the website with SEO, or on a social media channel. All of this can gain the attention of human resource managers.
Study for certifications
You may not have a degree, but you can still gain skills, and sign up for certifications to back them up with. Certifications can quickly tell hiring managers that you are serious, and give them an idea of how you may fit in their team.
Learn the marketing language
Marketing is a field so deep that it comes with its own involved language. It’s important that you are able to tell inbound marketing apart from outbound marketing, and SEO from SEM. You don’t need formal education in the lingo; all you need is to read blogs on all kinds of marketing websites, and do research to gain an understanding of the specialized vocabulary. Once you understand what these words mean, it’s important also to gain expertise in the concepts that these words represent.
Learn how to network
Networking is something marketers do all the time. You can start even before you get a job by attending events and meetups intended for marketers. Not only are you likely to benefit from the contacts you may make, but you may actually get closer to finding employment. You only need to practice your communication skills and make sure that you make a great case for yourself as you present yourself to your potential contacts.
Write a great resume
Resumes, especially ones written by marketing candidates, simply cannot have grammar mistakes. If you have employment gaps, a functional resume is a best choice for you to make. It’s important to make sure that your resume is perfectly error-free. You should also revise your resume from time to time in order to keep it up-to-date. It’s always important with marketing resumes to point to actual results. If you have your own website and social media channel, you should be able to point to something real that you can take credit for.
Marketing jobs are result-oriented. If you are able to believably promise results, a job isn’t usually hard to come by.
