The new marketer skillset

You can still nominate your marketer of 2024 until September 15.

The rise of technology should be top of the list for marketers looking to prepare for the years ahead, according to many of the jurors for this year’s WFA Global Marketer of the Year.

“A robust understanding of technology – existing and emerging – is essential for marketers as they manage an increasingly diverse skill set required for success. With the continuing acceleration of technological advancements, it is increasingly vital for marketers to be able to distil through overhype to drive innovation and steer the organization toward impactful real-world applications for the long run, said Josephine Tan, Vice President, APAC Digital Hub at Diageo.

Balaji Sampath, Senior Vice President, Marketing at Infosys, said technical proficiency should be aligned with more flexible creativity and strategic thinking.

“Marketers will need to have digital literacy skills as they need to be comfortable with complex data sets, able to extract insights, and leverage these insights to drive effective marketing campaigns,” he said.

“The ability of marketers to remain agile and adapt to evolving trends leveraging new technology will certainly be required for marketers to remain relevant,” added Ademorayo A Apara, Senior MSE Brand Strategy, Budget Planning & Special Projects, First Bank of Nigeria.

Adrian Terron, Head, Corporate Brand & Marketing Strategy at TATA, cited data skills and the ability to combine these with more human insights generated by qualitative, consumer neuroscience and ethnography studies, while AI was also mentioned by many jurors.

Ian Malcolm, President & CEO at Lumency said: “As AI transforms the marketing function, becoming well-versed in AI tools is critical for career success. Future-fit marketers must blend organic thinking and emotional intelligence with AI capabilities to create business solutions that address challenges more efficiently and effectively.”

“AI is everywhere these days. In our professional lives, our personal lives, and of course also our function. Understanding your business, your clients’ needs, and where and how AI will be adding value to both is key. Anticipating and preempting what areas of marketing can be optimized through infusion of AI to gain competitive advantage and innovate. And it may seem futile but the art of prompting will make the difference between good and great when using conversational AI,” added Sandra Grieden, Director Communications Strategy at IBM.

Sherilyn Shackell, Founder & Global CEO of The Marketing Academy, said while AI, digital and data should be a priority, the key element was leadership.

“Being a CMO has never been easy, but to be truly ‘future fit’ it’s essential that they become exceptional at leading people into the future. They are already leading people doing jobs that the CMO knows very little about – this challenge will compound as the world and its citizens continue to change at pace, embracing new ideas, technologies, systems and processes,” she said.

Mikimasa Hamamatsu, Division General Manager, Global Brand Strategy & Marketing Engagement at Nissan, was another who said skill enhancement was more important than the need to find new skills.

“I feel that it’s actually not ‘new skills’ that a marketer of the future will require. But rather enhancing our ability to contextualize data, understand the insights and the ability to utilize various resources,” he said.

Another new-old skill cited by our jurors was empathy. “The most important “new” skill for marketers is empathy—the ability to see the world through the lens of others who are not like you. The world is not objective; it’s subjective. Therefore, if marketers are to connect with consumers, then they must learn to see the world the way others do. And that will require radical empathy,” said Marcus Collins, Professor and Author, University of Michigan.

Valeria Abadi, Global Senior Vice President Brand at Globant, cited adaptability as key.

“In a context of constant change and new technologies, the most important skill is ‘attitude'. First: humility to accept that we don't know everything, second: curiosity to learn constantly, third: no fear of failure to try, make mistakes, and adjust. Always in Beta is my motto,” she said.

And while the ability to change was vital, Traci Alford, Global CEO at Effie Worldwide, also pointed out that what mattered was that marketers didn’t lose sight of the basics.

“Effectiveness demands clarity and simplicity, starting with clear objectives and a strong brief: a shared understanding of the context, drivers and insights. Executing with excellence by fostering behaviours like curiosity, collaboration, critical thinking, and customer centricity. Success hinges on maintaining a sharp focus on delivering tangible results guided by clear metrics, as it is impossible to achieve success without defining it,” she said.

Others including Edmund Gemmell, Group Marketing Director at Kantar and Stephan Loerke, CEO of the WFA, cited the need to be able to listen to diverse sources and identify non-typical skill sets.

“The most important leadership skills that needs to be developed is the ability to identifying divergent/ non-typical skill sets/talent. Across the broader workforce we all now need an understanding of the intersection between human culture and technology,” said Edmund.

“To genuinely listen and learn from diverse sources. That can be our teams, colleagues, partners, consumers – but also by being open to a variety of cultures and backgrounds. There is still so much scope to improve in terms of ensuring different voices are heard and truly absorbed. Marketers that do this will enable their brands to engage a wider audience and drive growth. If we’re all using the same (AI) tools and we’re only listening to the same voices, then we won’t uncover new ideas and cannot expect to surprise and delight the people we want to convert or retain,” added Stephan.

This article has also been published by The Drum.