5 Critical Skills for Marketers, According to Our Innovators

With marketing seeing an elevated role in the industry, marketers have had to learn plenty of new hard skills to stand out in their field. But that does not mean they should lose focus of the soft skills that also make them great marketers. Throughout our Innovators series, we asked exemplary marketers from Stitch Fix, Twitch, Google, BARK, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, McDonald’s, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Public.com, Hulu, and Delta Air Lines what key skills are crucial for every marketer. Discover the top five skills our Innovators believe every marketer should have, and their importance. As Tatiana Holifield of Hulu puts it, “I can teach the foundational elements, but I can’t teach someone to be passionate about it.” Interpersonal Skills “People don’t share ads. People share things they value. Empathy is the only way you’ll truly understand what is valuable to your client, no matter how much you try to instill your brand values in your own messaging.” —Angelic Vendette, Vice President of Marketing at Alo Yoga “The ability to relate to someone from a different background and connect at a level that allows for creative collaboration. A heightened ability to engage with the layers and uniqueness of another person and understanding their motivations and decision-making process: that skill is priceless.” —Jotham Ndugga-Kabuye, Director and Head of Global Social Media at Twitch “Deep compassion and understanding for the different types of people who live in this world: from race to gender identities, to disabilities… Making content accessible and showing a more diverse representation of disability in the world is not nice to have, it’s a need to have. If people don’t see themselves and then the experience itself isn’t accessible, you leave so many people behind.” —KR Liu, Head of Brand Accessibility at Google Storytelling “In the world of content, you must provide value to your audience if you want them to pay attention. The value exchanges are simple: you make someone laugh, teach them something new, or compliment their dog. But you can’t scream from an Instagram hilltop, “BUY MY STUFF!” No one wants to hear that.” —Stacie Grissom, Head of Content at BARK “Storytelling and empathy. These skills are so crucial that the more we develop them, the better. Enhancing our ability to put ourselves into our consumers' shoes will never be too much and having the ability to translate our strategies and intentions into great stories will always be helpful to gather the troops internally and better communicate our brands and products to our audiences.” —Bruno Cardinali, Chief Marketing Officer of North America, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Why Everlane CMO Sophie Bambuck Picks People Over Jobs Understand the Consumer and Their Mindset “Meeting with your consumers. Marketers have so much complex and profound data, but it will never replace someone locking your eyes with theirs, telling you with a trembling voice that he’s coming here every morning for a coffee and an Egg McMuffin because it was his late wife’s order. That’s the soul of our brand.” —Guillaume Huin, Social Media Director of Brand Content and Engagement at McDonald’s “A consumer does not have the time to give their full attention to the brand that is trying to reach them–marketers often assume they do. We all encounter hundreds of distractions on any given day, and it takes focus to keep consumer understanding top of mind as you develop messages that can break through in a clear and engaging way.” —Eric Lempel, SVP and Head of Global Marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment Finding Inspiration From Untraditional Sources “There’s a lot of great information out there, but having an open mind when it comes to where and how you source ideas can unlock different ways of thinking that are more in touch with your customers. Creativity is cyclical; a lot of the best marketing ideas I’ve seen are building from outside ideas and inspiration.” —Katie Perry, Vice President of Marketing at Public.com Complement Strategies with Data “The primary skill that many marketers lack is a deeper understanding of insights, derived from data and analytics about their audiences. Marketers should have a clear understanding of the scientific methods and algorithms that extrapolate insights from data so that we can strategically make decisions about how to best market a brand/product to consumers.” —Tatiana Holifield, Head of Social Media, Brand at Hulu “Taking quantitative data and being able to blend it with qualitative can go a long way in building great experiences–just because a campaign or new feature shows a rise in a positive KPI doesn’t mean your consumers are enjoying it.” —Akhil Anumolu, General Manager of Digital at Delta Air Lines Getting Closer to Consumers Through In-House Data With Pepsi’s CMO

Innovators

5 Critical Skills All Marketers Should Develop, According to Our Innovators

Leaders from Google, Hulu and Delta Air Lines share the skill they think is currently underdeveloped in marketing

Julian Gamboa

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Julian Gamboa