When we discuss digital marketing skills, you’ll hear all the acronyms thrown around; CRO, SEO, LTV, CAC, etc. Even with softer skills, it’s often hogwash like ‘has strong communications skills‘, ‘works well in a team‘ and similar nonsense.
Something I’ve come to appreciate is the simple ability to focus on what matters, and how this can be applied to marketing at all levels.
Focus on the bigger picture
It took me about 8 years of work in marketing roles of varying experiences, sectors, and disciplines before I finally ‘got it’ and saw much clearer the bigger picture of how marketing sits with relation to ‘the board’, the wider impact it has across a business, and the huge ramifications across sales it can and should deliver.
I now recognise the ability to focus on what matters as an important skill of my own, and one I look for in hires, and in any switched-on marketer. Can they take a step back, even with limited knowledge and look at a business, identify what’s gonna deliver the most impact, and well, just do it?
Test yourself regularly. Can you look at a business, and succinctly come up with as much as a single sentence marketing strategy that you know will move the needle? Being able to do that is a killer skill that 90% of marketing professionals I’ve met just don’t seem to have. And for me, it boils down to the focus and prioritisation that comes from an organised approach. Disorganised people rarely make good marketing decisions.
A successful marketing strategist is able to focus on the things that drive the business on the most. This might be nailing the proposition, making sure that promotions are attractive, or as simple as knowing when to drop a campaign that just isn’t worth their time.
Focus on budget
It’s part of the same conversion above, but as a digital marketer in 2020, where you spend your budget is make or break. Being able to take a step back and confidently know that (for example) ‘SHORT TERM, PPC IS GONNA MAKE US £££’ is a skill that you develop, but it can’t be overstated.
Spending that £20k on an exhibition stand because your competitors are doing it, and your MD follows competitor X’s interests more than their own? Yeah, good luck…
Being able to focus your budget in the right areas gets you senior level buy in, and eventually, the results will speak for themselves. If it’s not delivering ROI, why are we doing it?
Focus on people
Know that you have to pick your battles. Does this decision really need three senior people involved? Can you push it through and deal with it later, if it means the job gets done? And know who to invest your time in. If you’ve been coaching a junior member of staff who just isn’t interested in hearing about your through-the-roof engagement levels, someone else will be. Work with an A-team, never a B, C, or Z-team.
Always have the customer at the heart of everything. Be able to focus on what they want, and what will make them feel good. Know when it’s Definitely Not About making the MD feel good. One will follow the other.
Focus on channel
How many times have I head small business owners say ‘we need to do SEO’. Do you really? Do you understand why? Or did Dave down the pub tell you that?
Part of being successful in marketing for me, means being able to at a glance, understand which channels will drive revenue for a business. And which ones — for competition, cost, or whatever reason — are simply not worth pursuing. It’s big decisions, made at a micro-level, and it’s incredibly important. Don’t just do social ‘for the hell of it’.
Understanding the most appropriate channels to use for the quickest marketing wins is a distinct skill and one you should dig deep into when hiring in order to get the best out of your marketing team or agency. Just why is your agency recommending ‘testing Twitter Ads’?
Focus on product/category
In a data-led world, I recently heard of a business owner who gauged success by looking out his window and mentally recording how many full delivery trucks were leaving the depot.
🤯
Yep. Having full knowledge — across the company — about your best selling and crucially — most profitable — products or categories will pay dividends. You either focus on these, or pick up the slack with the others. But be informed in everything you do.
A good marketer should be able to calculate whether to go ‘all-in’ on these products, or focussing on improving the weaker performing categories is the best course for the business.
This is especially prevalent in search marketing. Look, for your £1000 retainer, we physically can’t optimise every category. But we can pick a handful, and smash those.
Summary
Now, more-so than ever, there are an absolute plethora of marketing channels available to anyone.
Some senior level staff will receive one of those ‘We FouND YouR WebSIte SeO iS BrokEN’ cold emails and fall hook, line and sinker. Conversely, a more junior colleague might want to test TikTok ads, because duh. Even an experienced marketer might read Neil Patel’s latest ‘6 Step Guaranteed Success Plan!’ and (wrongly) often just copy/pastes it to their service.
It’s important to cut through the crap and focus on the who/what/why/when works best for your market and your product. Everything else is distraction.
Being able to develop this skill has made me a much stronger marketing professional, and it’s one I recommend you hone in on too. Know what matters, and the rest will be easy easier…