Developing and maintaining a business, not to mention making this endeavor as successful as Apple or Amazon, requires every team member on board. Simply put, everybody relies on everybody when it comes to building your business idea.
One of the departments that seem to be overlooked is marketing. The role of the marketer can be seen as an art, where they must determine through which medium to deliver the information to the customer base.
Not only is marketing an essential factor in business management and commerce, but this field can extend to other professions. Originally, marketing was viewed as an important component only for positions in the creative arts, such as product design, advertising, and brand management.
Now, marketing is perceived as a science, as seen with the field’s strong involvement in social sciences, mathematics, neuroscience, and other specializations, not to mention the plenty of MSc programs offered in universities all across the globe.
Although you can earn a marketing degree in a university, some can rely on other resources to receive knowledge, awareness, and education in this field. Perhaps the top advantage that sways these people is the low cost compared to a college degree.
Here are five inexpensive ways you can learn more about marketing.
1. Books
Reading brings power, and power is knowledge. While this may be a more traditional and old-fashioned option in comparison to this highly technological world, it is still effective and cost-efficient.
This Cool Things Chicago list of marketing books has some great recommendations. Whether you’re a beginner or senior marketing professional looking for a new angle, these books will provide insight for all.
Some of the books include Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, Emanuel Rosen’s The Anatomy of Buzz and Seth Godin’s All Marketers are Liars. Stock up on a couple of books to get an in-depth experience with how to tackle marketing the right way.
2. Online Courses
Some people decide to pass on the marketing college degree because you are most likely required to take more than just marketing classes. Online courses, on the other hand, allow for more specialization and focus on topics of your choice. Moreover, your skillset will be focused less on theory and more on application.
Some online schools offer completely free marketing courses, such as the site Coursera.org. More specialized classes can be found on Skillshare, General Assembly, and Lynda. Not only are you going to learn a great deal about the world of marketing, but you are also saving thousands of dollars.
3. Conferences
What better way to learn about marketing than listening to professionals of the field sharing their experiences? Conferences are completely worth their money, as you will leave nourished with new insight about marketing and its various specializations.
Although the year 2020 has been plagued with a pandemic, there are still promising and interesting marketing conferences offered all around the world. For example, the Forbes CMO Summit invites top operators in marketing today that work in successful corporations such as Chipotle and Adobe.
Another great marketing conference is Content Marketing World hosted in Cleveland, Ohio this year. For their tenth anniversary, this conference will deliver on amazing guests as before, including Dell and Microsoft.
Meeting and conversing with people in marketing positions that have gathered enough experience to pass down some advice is vital in shaping your expertise in this field.
4. Learn SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is very important in the marketing industry. Becoming familiar, if not proficient, in SEO tools can quite literally save your business. Since the world has become dependent on technology, every business must maintain an online presence, which leads to the partnership between marketing and SEO.
Google provides great SEO tools that you can learn, including Webmaster Tools and Pagespeed Insights. Hubspot and Screaming Frog have also developed SEO tools that are also worthy to look at. Out of all the marketing specializations, SEO tools must be a developed skill for a successful career in this industry.
5. Personability and Story-telling
Many marketers and esteemed individuals would argue that marketing heavily relies on great social skills and authenticity. You need to learn how to craft a narrative, engage with your customers, and effectively build relationships with. When grabbing the users’ attention, be it, customers or investors, you need to grab their attention and drive the message of your brand home.
This is perhaps the least expensive way of elevating your marketing skills because all you need is a journal and a pen. Simply composing or telling stories is productive enough to get closer to becoming a true marketer.
Besides, empathy is a much bigger player in excelling in marketing. Marketers should be able to put themselves into their customers’ shoes and then provide a strategic marketing campaign.
While these skills seem to be completely outside the confines of the marketing world, they will be extremely impactful on your marketing skills, not to mention your overall outlook on this particular field.
Marketing has been brushed off even though it is crucial in business management, let alone in the overall success of a business endeavor. After learning as much about marketing through the methods listed above, you can branch-off to different and specific sectors of this field.
Social media marketing and SEO are perhaps the most popular due to the power of technology. Print marketing is still as effective as it always has been, and video marketing has become a new source of power with the invention of video streaming.
While many believe that marketing is a simple feat to tackle, it seems to be quite the opposite. The marketing industry is layered not only in the number of opportunities but also in the amount of knowledge and various types of skills necessary to become a marketer.
From technical skills to personability, a marketer must cover this entire range to excel in this industry. Although it may seem intimidating, the best part is that you can learn all of this easily while saving a large sum of money.
Bottom Line
We hope the list above persuades you to brush up on your marketing skills so that you can keep up to date with this continuously evolving field.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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