Three essential marketing skills this 2020

agree also i will add , it will be like in moral way ,that all of us need to never stop if already start the way to make it for real ,i mean work what he/she doing and of course never never give up . Dream.Create.Make it real!

Was trying to avoid have to learn any programming at all.
But as you say...i will familiarize myself with the basics.
Thanks

The ability to NOT believe everything you tell yourself.
Challenge your own thinking.

You need to learn Marketing . You could outsors the others .

I feel storytelling works in marketing. As you relate people's emotions to pitch your brand/business story will create an impact on your audience. Also, Email Marketing is necessary to spread awareness or information about your business.

I think the understanding of web design and designing is in itself a necessity, because those working on conversions really need to have an idea about how their landing page(s) should look and feel like. Secondly, data reading is just as important as the former and it only allows marketers cut-down the unnecessary activities from marketing and double-down on the performing activities. Also, it'd be great if one starts working on enhancing the conversion then they really need the web design sense + data reading in their bag.

Good features, I will put them into practice in my company

Hi Enzo,

I think this is a relevant topic for discussion, and as a long time professional marketer I will chime in with some of my own viewpoints.



It seems to me that you are conflating the term "Web Design" with "Web Development", those are distinctly different skill sets. I have found that most talented "web designers" are not "web developers". And indeed, the personalty traits of an excellent web developer/programmer tends to be the opposite of a designer.

I do agree with your premise that you do not need programming skill or knowledge to be a web designer. I would also assert that you do not need to have any web design skill to be a successful marketer.

I chuckled just a bit when I read the phrase "WYSIWG website builders". Again this seems to be a conflation of terms that only an industry outsider (i.e. article writer) would use.

There are "website builder" tools, typically provided by all-in-one web hosting and domain name sellers (i.e. GoDaddy, Wix, and Squarespace).. And then there are "Page builders" more commonly used by real marketers that are serious about their marketing. And for clarity the, the Term "WYSIWYG" (correct spelling) is typically used for a type of HTML editor that creates the underlying code as you design your layout.

Website Builders are typically used by amateurs that are just trying to get their first website launched. Website builder tools typically only allow the selection of a pre-built design template with a few editable fields to swap out your own relevant headings, text and images. No designing, nor development skills needed.

HTML/Code Editors are typically used by web developer/programmers that prefer to create their web pages from scratch, or need to develop custom scripting from scratch or via a library. Most programmers do not use, nor consider using a WYSIWYG editor, that is mostly a tool of the early web. Not to discount the WYSIWYG like feature of the latest and best Page Builder tools that are popular with web marketers.

I would not consider web design, nor web development as "essential marketing skills in 2020". The latest page builders and page building platforms have eliminated the need for either of those skills. having said that, they are still handy skills to have as a marketer, just no longer "essential." For proof,just look at how many successful marketers there are using Leadpages, Clickfunnels, and other page building platforms.

In fact, many of those pre-built templates lack some of the most basic design practices of proper UI/UX and yet serve adequately for many marketers, proving that great design skill is not "essential" for marketing.

If you are a marketing agency, that's a different story. As an agency working for clients, you may be called upon to solve marketing challenges across a broad spectrum of technologies and platforms. You should definitely posses staff and/or resources in both web design, and web development skills and assets. Of course you do not need to have any of that as in-house staff, it can be outsourced on an as needed basis, you just need access to those resources.


I wouldn't say that data analysis "is as simple as using data analytics tools like Google Analytics".

Marketing vs. Selling

I would say data analysis is a core concept of marketing. You are not truly "marketing" anything if you are not gathering and analyzing data. Without data analysis you are merely "selling" and a far cry from actually marketing.

The difference between "Selling" and "Marketing" is measuring.

I have seen many people that are promoting or "selling" online that have installed Google Analytics, and some even look at the data and agonize over aspects of it. I see people looking at metrics like a high bounce rate, or lack of visitors, yet they have no true understanding of what the data actually means or how to use it in actual real marketing process.

Data analysis is an essential tool set used in marketing, however simply possessing a tool like Google Analytics and looking at the data gathered may not lead to effective data analysis or even cross the threshold of what I would consider to be actual marketing.

It's not the possession of a tool that makes you a marketer, nor a mechanic, nor a plumber or carpenter. It's your knowledge and skill in applying that, and other tools, in a process that makes you a marketer, or practitioner of whatever discipline you are employing said tool within.

Normally, I would not nitpick such distinctions, however this is (or used to be) a forum about marketing, so it is a topic that deserves slightly more precision in this context.

I agree, Marketing Automation is fast becoming an essential discipline within the marketing environment of 2020. We saw the introduction of chat bots into a number of Marketing Automation platforms during 2019, and excited to see how other marketers integrate these bots into their automations and overall Marketing Automation strategies.

I'm still suprised to see how many people involved in marketing have yet to implement Marketing Automation platforms into their tool set. In the past these platforms were very pricy which discouraged smaller businesses from implementing. For the past several years we have seen low priced Automation Platforms enter the market and any serious marketer can likely afford to implement a Marketing Automation platform of some type.

Perhaps 2020 will be the year that Marketing Automation becomes an essential skill and tool set for marketers to compete, even in smaller niche markets.

As other online marketers embrace more sophisticated marketing strategies I think that online sellers will be pushed, by competition, into the world of "true marketing" and be forced to embrace the "science" of marketing, with all the accompanying software platforms and skill sets. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. Will there finally be some industry consolidations? Or will it remain the "wild west" of mavericks and outlaws?

Don Burk

Do their best at copywriting. It's important to understand that you have just a few seconds to grab someone's attention. If you fail at that then you will fail in a long run.

I am not a big fan of WYSIWYG website creators. Most (if not all) of them create a messy code. The websites end up being slow to load, heavy on resources.

Marketing is a game of chance. Just try anything that comes by. You never know which goose will lay the golden egg.

Patience
It may not be a marketing skill as such but it is vital for success. Instant gratification for your efforts so rarely happens with marketing. It is so important to develop that work ethic that you are not going to get instant feedback for your efforts most of the time.

Social Network Marketing
Learning strategies for all the main social networks is incredibly important for promotion in all forms.

Working
Good old fashioned hard graft but targeted at the right stuff that gets results. It is a skill to recognise what is actually work and what isn't.