3 Vital Skills for the Modern Marketer

One of the most overused clichés I’ve heard used in small businesses and startups everywhere is, “We’re small so everyone is going to have to wear multiple hats,” or some version of it.  That’s basically the boss’s way of telling you to start learning because there are a lot of things that need to get done and not a lot of people to do them.

This applies to everyone on the team, but it never really stops applying to the person in charge of marketing. This has created new expectations for modern marketers across the board to know about and how to do anything and everything that falls under the hopelessly broad term of “marketing.”

Unfortunately for the masses, there have been several of us who have thrived with these demanding expectations, and that means there’s no going back.  That being said, I thought it would be wise to put together a list of the most valued skills in the modern marketing space.

Disclaimer: The space is constantly changing so by the time you read this post there could be one or a dozen new skills to learn. These just tend to be some of the more timeless talents.

1. Design – Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign

I’m not saying that you need to be a well-studied graphic designer with knowledge of advanced design principles and theories. I’m saying that you need to know how to use these programs to get a job done. You’re not always going to have the budget to hire someone else to do the work so having the ability to edit photos, design documents, and even create mock-ups or logos will go a long way.

You’ll also notice that understanding these programs makes you more efficient when it comes to communicating projects to the designers you do hire. This helps you personally by making you more valuable to any company, and it helps your company by giving them the option to spend your time instead of cash.

I’m a big fan of the Creative Cloud and there are tons of free tutorials once you sign up.

2. Copywriting – Traditional and Digital

Writing in general is a huge plus, but this takes it a step further. Copywriting is the art of using words to inspire action, and it’s a skill that transfers over to any medium.  The copy on your website will determine whether or not the visitors actually buy from you or enter into your sales funnel. The copy you use for your email with help to persuade the reader whether or not they’re going to take you seriously and move forward. The list goes on.

This is a skill that needs to be practiced more than learned, but I recommend picking up a copy of “The Wizard of Ads” to get you headed in the right direction.

3. Organization and Prioritization

You would think that this is a blatantly obvious “skill” to have on the list, but you’d be wrong. Using a planner doesn’t make you capable of effectively managing hundreds of tasks on a daily basis. Organized people can create processes and tools to make sure that things get done the way they’re supposed to get done. This also helps to ensure scalability as the company grows.

I use Evernote for personal organization and Google Drive/Docs for collaborative organization.  I’m also trying out a daily to-do list app called CARROT, which is good if you’re on the go.

If you can get those three skills working together, you’ll be able to handle just about anything. Of course, those aren’t going to cover everything you’ll need to do, but everything you need to do will require one or more of those skills.

If you're serious about stepping up your game here's a list of some of the books that made the most positive impact on my work.