Marketing Skills for Success - Essay Example

Marketing skills Marketing is a business process through which products move from a seller to a consumer. A company product can be either tangible goods or services. The aim of marketing is to increase sales through product awareness and customer satisfaction, innovations and proper use of marketing strategies. Marketing focuses its efforts on discovering customer needs, creating the need and making it known by the customer, and then satisfying it. Marketing creates a demand in customers for a certain product and works towards fulfilling it. For effective and efficient marketing, the four markets elements need to be coordinated well (Zhang, Song, & Qu, 2011:43-54). This means the company should identify, select, and develop the right product to satisfy customer needs. With the help of marketers, a company should set the right product to make sure that it does not exploit customers and earn its profits. It is the work of marketers to give advice on distribution channels to suite the customers. Marketers are of great importance when it comes to promotional strategies as they advise on the best promotional media to communicate with customers and prospect new ones. When one is marketing a service, the delivery process to meet customer satisfaction matters since it should be the shortest and most efficient one (Bennett, 2011: 8-27). The people skills on offering the service are of high importance because the marketer ought to be professional and effective. The physical ambiance of the premise or environment is critical, since customers will evaluate the product based on the physical appearance of the environment; for example, a hotel needs to have a very clean and neat environment, as customers will associate it with healthy eating. Because of good environment, customers tend to be repetitive and bring more business. If the environment is unpleasant, customers may never come back, and worst of all, may spread bad reputation to other customers. My passion and ambitions for marketing are driving me to the desire of becoming a competitive marketing manager. My academic studies are continuously improving and equipping me with the necessary skills and techniques required for a successful marketer. I have a wide network of professional marketers who continuously applause marketing exercises. This is a source of motivation. Marketing skills A marketer needs several marketing skills for success. These skills help a marketer go along with people well, execute tasks with ease, and operate within strict deadlines. Employers expect from marketers, just like any other employee, to observe work ethics and objectives. Therefore, these skills should correspond to the company work ethic (Žabkar and Hosta, 2009: 43-54). The essential skills for marketers are as follows: Strong communication and interpersonal skills Marketers communicate with customers and other stakeholders on a daily basis. It is very important for marketers to have effective and efficient communication skills to get to understand their needs and feedback. Strong interpersonal skills help a marketer to derive required information, persuade customers, and even deliver information or a product as required. A marketer who does well with other people, stands a chance of meeting targets and seizing any opportunity available in the market since one is approachable for referrals and advice. Good relationships with people make communication fluent and easy because there are no obstacles (Bennett, 2011: 8-27). To relate with others comfortably and the marketing environment at large, a marketer should be able to interact cordially and posses an element of humour. Analytical and problem solving skills A marketer should be able to analyze the market situation, understand the problem, and come up with options on how to correct the problem best. One should be able to device means of solving disagreements with customers, colleagues and the management. Therefore, innovations are essential to solve market problems, especially with falling product or launching new products since the situations vary and the solutions may be diverse. When a marketer is solving problems, they should have respect to the other part. For example, when handling disagreement with bosses, one should show respect as this would prove him professional and classy; it differentiates a professional from a group of workers. When solving issues, one should consider the company code of conduct, goals, and the solutions’ impact on those elements (Building C-suite Skills, 2011:35). Project management and presentation skills More often than not, marketers are assigned projects to run in the market to get the profitability. Many of the projects aim at increasing market share and market growth. Therefore, it is important for marketers to have the necessary skills on how to utilize the available resources well, complete tasks within the set time, and develop a work schedule. Therefore, a marketer should make sure that the project operation is on schedule and avoid delays. One should enhance teams’ awareness of deadlines and the required output. During the execution of projects, the marketer may require to present the progress and proposals for the project. This makes it important for marketers to possess the ability of creating Power Point short notes and presentations, and be able to present with ease. This will make it easy and more interesting for the employer and colleagues to understand. A neat presentation makes people pay attention and creates interests. Planning skills are important on course of marketers’ duty since one has to accomplish assigned work. An individual needs to plan for daily route or tasks to make sure that every task is done as planned. Planning also plays a big part in beating targets and deadlines. Planning on the available resources makes sure that there is the resource maximization optimum therefore, keeping operations under the set budget. This cuts unnecessary and additional costs that may emerge from unplanned operations. Team and leadership skills One should be able to work well with others and minimize conflicts as possible. Colleagues usually come from diverse orientations in terms of culture, family background, education level, religion, and believe; hence, it is important for one to understand these differences and respect each other. Meetings with management and other workers are common in the marketing field hence it is important for a marketer to impress all the involved parties with professionalism and ideas on teamwork. Teamwork ensures common mindset and the team moves in one direction, if all understand what other colleagues and company require ( Žabkar and Hosta, 2009: 43-54). An individual should be in a position to lead a team, delegate duties, set boundaries, and invent a way of rewarding performing members as well as punishing disobedient ones. Technological skills A marketer needs to possess technological skills since the current business world embraces technology in all aspects of operations. A marketer should have understanding on tools and applications that may help translate ideas into reality. Technology shortens the business process, especially when used correctly. Technology enhances one’s creative thinking and reaction to situations. When a marketer possesses good knowledge of technology, implementation of ideas is quick and one is able to identify present opportunities and seize them within the fastest time. For example, marketers use the Internet for advertisement purpose, communication through emails, social networks are the prime base of communicating with customers and other stakeholders (Trainor, 2012:317-331). Mobile phones have enhanced communication in business operations as one can give orders and directives where necessary. Advanced computer skills on Microsoft Office, Power Point, Excel and Word may help one with report compilation, presentations, and data analysis. The inadequacy of one in these skills will create a difficult time. Oral and written skills A good marketer should be able to write well with good and commendable vocabulary. Good writing grabs readers’ attention and gives them a desire to read more. Since the work of a marketer entails making employers products and services penetrate the market, one should communicate well, either in oral or written form. Understanding what is grammatically wrong and correct helps one handle sophisticated market and, to a great extent, portrays one’s marketing ability. When dealing with corporate client, both writing and speaking skills are very essential, since this is a market niche with many expectations and it aims only to the finest marketer. Possessing these skills gives a marketer a growth opportunity in career, either by promotions or landing green pastures while on duty. Good oral skills make presentations easy for a marketer if one is fluent, articulate, and listens to other peoples’ opinions. Conclusion The success of a marketer depends on one’s ability to possess the essential skills and techniques. One needs constant improvement on the skills as the world-marketing environment is constantly changing due to completion though many market players, advancement in technology, diverse customer demands, and diversity. If a marketer is not keen on improvement of the key marketing skills, is likely to stagnate in position or with time become obsolete. Therefore, a combination of all the above skills will give an individual a competitive advantage when competing for positions in interviews and other appointments (Bennett, 2011: 8-27). These skills are very important for a marketers’ success in one’s career as it is very easy for one to climb the career ladder. Employers look for the above particular skills in candidates during an interview, and the one with the best combination scoops the opportunity. References Baker, M. J. "Personal professional development." Marketing Review 9, no. 2 (Summer2009): 99-113. Bennett, R. 2011, What makes a marketer? 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