Marketing is an exciting roller coaster. It’s a creative, challenging, frontier-one job. You will never be bored. Despite what everyone says, Marketing is not about ‘pushing’ and ‘overselling’, it’s about innovation, creativity & love for your brand.
So how do you create a perfect Marketing resume without any work experience? How do you catch an employer’s attention and impress them? Worry not – this article lists all the needed Marketing skills. I wish I knew them when I applied for my first Marketing job.
Copywriting
Copywriting is vital. Know how to create smart & fresh copy? Mention this on your resume. Eventually, you will write ad copy, social media posts & more for your company. Your task is to sell, with words.
You can dig deeper. Describe what you can write best. Press Releases? Email copy? Landing pages copy? Articles or how-tos? But you don’t have too much experience of writing yet – you can always practice.
The truth is – writing might not be your direct job requirement. But. Ability to create good copy will always be handy. For instance, without this skill you will not be able to tell good copy from the bad copy.
Positioning & Strategical Thinking
Think big. Before you start working on a product, define your audience, your product’s selling points and why your product makes people tick. You should always keep a bigger picture in mind.
Young marketers usually run chaotic ads without the bigger purpose. But it’s important to have a strategy or to create one. Learn everything about your product, every tiny detail about your audience and your niche.
Say, you have a product. What problem does it solve? Who is the perfect customer? What is the best way to sell it? How can you demonstrate its selling points? Define all this before you jump ahead into a new project.
Social Media Ads
Social media & Marketing go like peanut butter and jelly. Do you want to reach new audience, fast? Create a Facebook ad. Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook – they all run ads. Every social platform has its own specifics, your job is to know them.
It’s pretty easy, really. All social networks have tons of tutorials. Google them, learn them. The best scenario is when you can try social media ads yourself. Run a practice ad campaign , it’s a faster way to learn how things work.
Social media is a marketer’s best friend. Need extra traffic? Run an ad campaign and you get more eyeballs on your product.
Please remember, nowadays every marketer should know how the most popular ad tools work. This is a must. If you apply for the marketing job, make sure to put this on your CV.
Google Ads
Google is massive. Its reach is unbelievable. Google handles over 5 billion searches per day. Knowing Google Ads essentials is a must for any marketer. Many companies employ entire teams to work on Google Ads only.
Maybe you will never be an actual PPC specialist, but you must know the essentials. Lucky for you, it’s just easy. Google Academy offers amazing online courses on Google Ads. Earn yourself a certificate and put it on your resume.
Of course, it’s always better to try Google Ads yourself. So if you have your own personal blog or a website, try creating a test campaign. Sometimes, Google even runs promos, giving you a $50 bonus you can spend on ads.
Basic SEO knowledge
You don’t have to be an SEO whizz, but you should know the basics. SEO is increasingly important. More and more people search for products on Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo. Typically, organic search is the main source of traffic for most websites. SEO knowledge grants your business better visibility. It can make or break your company’s success.
Learn the basics of keywords research, on-page SEO, technical SEO – all information is free on the Internet. Link building is especially important here.
SEO is here to stay. It’s a very promising field, but you need to make sure that you know how to work with it.
Knowledge of the niche
Say, you want to work in the games industry. In this case – learn everything about it. Find out what are the biggest companies, the most successful products. How do they advertise their games?
Every little detail matters. Go on their websites, analyze the design, copy & message. Test the product. What do you like/dislike? This all will come in handy when you apply for the job. On your resume you can boldly state that you are passionate about this specific industry & know all the ins and outs.
PR & Communications
Marketing and PR are deeply connected. Like it or not, but sometimes you will be required to pitch your product to the press, create PR campaigns & more. Learn the best PR practices by reading books like ‘Pitch Perfect’ by Bill McGowan & Alisa Bowman. It’s not rocket science. Next thing you know – you got that amazing review on TechCrunch or Verge!
Ron Torossian used to say that “PR is a mix of journalism, psychology, and lawyering – it’s an ever-changing and always interesting landscape.” By itself, PR is an extremely interesting field. Learning it – would always be a plus for any marketer.
Google Analytics & Google Search Console
Google Analytics is the ultimate tool for analyzing traffic. It’s the goldmine for marketers. It shows you exactly where your readers come from, your top landing pages, most performing countries, average time spent on your site & so much more. If you know how to work with GA – it’s great for your resume & future workplace.
Once again, go on Google Academy. It’s the perfect place to learn how GA works for free & online (thus at the best convenient time). What’s more, there are courses with different level of difficulty (meaning you can start with basics, or even start an advanced course).
Are Soft Skills Important?
You bet! Soft skills are crucial. Being creative, sociable, hard-working will get you anywhere in Marketing. However, it’s not the best idea to stress them on the resume. Anyone can write that they are responsible, even if they are not. Even if their mom confirms this. 🙂
More importantly, list your achievements, your actual skills and knowledge. Even if you have zero work experience, good knowledge and practical skills, you can get an employer hooked.
Conclusion
Do you want your resume to stand out & immediately catch employer’s interest? It’s possible – even if you have zero work experience. In this article we included all the hottest Marketing skills required right now. I hope you will definitely learn and include them in your CV.
Your resume is extra important. It should reflect who you are as a professional. Even if you don’t have much Marketing experience, you can learn so much in such a little time. The truth is – we are living in an Internet era. This means you can acquire knowledge online, sitting on your couch.
So go ahead, work on your CV and good luck!
Bio: Marie Barnes is a Marketing Communication Manager at LinksManagement and a writer for Bestforacar. Marie enthusiastic blogger interested in writing about technology, social media, work, travel, lifestyle, and current affairs. She shares her insights through blogging. Follow her on Medium.
