If you’re reading this, I assume you’re searching for advice on how to market your products or services successfully in 2017. Perhaps you’re even wondering what specific skills you should develop in order to land that lucrative contract or order for that new product.

Whether you’re just beginning your career or you’re well into it, you’ll need to master five marketing skills in order to stand out from the crowd. If you want to land that lucrative contract or order for that new product, you need to develop and utilize these skills effectively.

The Art of Storytelling

You can’t beat a good story. It really is the best way to connect with audiences, isn’t it? And since customers have to live with your products or services, you’ll want to ensure that they have as good an experience as possible. To achieve this, you’ll need to put yourself in their shoes, empathize with their problems, and then offer a potential solution. In other words, you’ll need to create compelling and engaging stories that will stick in your audience’s minds. To do this, you’ll need to utilize your skills and knowledge of marketing.

Marketing is about creating and delivering messages to define, shape, and influence consumer behavior. From a brand’s perspective, marketing is the process of communicating a brand’s values, vision, and goals to guide product, pricing, and strategy decisions. This process can be broken down into four distinct steps: brand research, market analysis, market segmentation, and marketing plan development.

In the brand research step, you will define your target audience and discover the characteristics of your ideal customer. By understanding these qualities, you will be able to tailor your approach and content to appeal to as many people as possible. In the market analysis step, you will determine the size of your market and the main competitors in your industry. From here, you can build a clear picture of your business and formulate a sound strategy for growth.

The marketing plan will consist of a series of steps that lay out the plan of action for you to follow. This will include things like the type of content you’ll produce and how you’ll distribute this content to reach your target audience. It will also include a plan for social media where you’ll connect with your audience and grow your following. You’ll need to follow through on all these steps to see the results you wanted from your marketing efforts.

Creative Thinking

If you’re looking for a tangible way to stand out from the crowd, creative thinking will get you there. Essentially, this is the ability to generate ideas and solve problems in new and innovative ways. It’s a skill that will prove invaluable to your career as a marketer and that will help you find better solutions to everyday problems. While there are many ways you can develop this skill, perhaps the simplest way is by taking up new hobbies or exploring the world around you. You’ll need to constantly be looking for new ways to better understand your market, but you’ll also need to keep your eyes open for new ideas and ways to solve problems.

Writing

If you’ve ever taken a writing course or studied English as a second language, then you already know the value of good writing. However, you may not realize that your writing skills can be used in marketing. Essentially, you’ll be called upon to write various texts for different platforms and purposes. For example, you’ll be asked to write a flier to introduce yourself to new customers, create an online content plan for your website, or draft a formal business letter. When writing for different purposes, you’ll need to adjust your language, structure, and presentation to match the specific needs of the task at hand.

In addition to being valuable on its own, writing can also be used as a tool to analyse and improve other forms of communication. For example, you may be asked to critique an ad campaign or pitch, or comment on an article or blog post. In these instances, you’ll need to approach the task with a critical eye, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the content and offering suggestions for improvement.

Editing

Editing is another valuable skill that will prove invaluable in your career as a marketer. Essentially, this is the ability to remove errors from a piece of content and adjust it to make it sound better. Whether you’re an experienced academic or a fast-talking news junkie, you’ll need to be able to take a hasty speech and polish it into a coherent and compelling piece of writing. You’ll also need to check for spelling errors, fix them where you find them, and add some creative flair where necessary. With so much content flying around the internet, having the ability to edit content to make it better is a skill that will prove indispensable to your career as a marketer.

Communication

Finally, we arrive at the end of the alphabet. Communication is the final and perhaps most valuable of the skills you’ll need to develop as a marketer. Essentially, this is the ability to effectively disseminate your ideas and information to the right audience. You’ll need to be able to communicate with your clients, bosses, and team members to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that your business is pursuing the right objectives and strategies. Being able to communicate is also a key requirement for any job in marketing, and so many businesses are choosing to hire marketers with a background in communication.

With just these five skills, you’ll be able to successfully market your products or services in any industry. And since so many businesses are now choosing to outsource their marketing efforts to freelancers, it’s an ideal opportunity for those looking for a change. Maybe you’re passionate about marketing and want to become an expert in this area. Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to try your hand at freelancing and want to be able to offer marketing services to businesses.

No matter what stage you’re at in your career, you’ll need to develop these five skills if you want to succeed as a marketer.