What skills do you need to be a marketing consultant?

Answer 1

Each job needs particular skills. Some skills are needed in virtually every job:

problem solving communication literacy and numeracy team work organisational ability IT skills people skills

Other skills vary according to the job. For instance the some of the skills you need to be a hairdresser are different to those needed by a physiotherapist (but others are similar).

You can make yourself more employable by gaining those skills that are common to nearly all jobs as well as those required by the career you have in mind.

Each job needs particular skills. Some skills are needed in virtually every job:

You may have seen advertisements online or in the newspapers for vacant positions for market research analysts. You may have wondered what exactly is involved in marketing research. If you are thinking about becoming a market research analyst this article is for you. I will try to clarify what a market research analyst does and what is involved in market research.

Marketing research involves determining the potential of a product or a service in the market. Through the collection and analysis of data, a market research analyst can find out whether or not a company's products or services will be successful in the market. This is very important especially when a company intends to launch a new product or service. The development and launching of new products and services takes a lot of time and money. No company would like to make a loss when their new project fails to take off. Companies avoid this by enlisting the services of a market research analyst.

Answer 2

To be successful as a marketing consultant, where you're advising clients on business and marketing strategies, and then managing the tactical aspects of the solution through to completion, you really need to have mastered the fundamentals of both marketing and sales.

And there are three broad areas of expertise that you need to achieve success.

Strategic Marketing Skills

It is important that you possess strategic marketing skills, so you are able to understand, and communicate to your client how a proposed marketing project fits into the overall strategic picture for a company.

To me this means not just understanding the 4 P's (Product, Place, Price, and Promotion), but also RSPT (Research, Segmentation, Positioning, and Targeting), and understanding how marketing impacts sales and operations and the client's relationship with their customers, which is really key to driving the value of an organization.

Because it's your client's customers, and ultimately your ability to help build a better relationship with them that determines whether your efforts are a success or a failure.

You gain understanding of the strategic picture by working and paying your dues in the trenches. It helps if you have a core expertise in one or more discipline(s) of advertising and marketing (the more the better).

Whether you came to marketing as a graphic designer, a marketing strategist/account executive, a copywriter, or a web developer... you need a body of work that shows you've mastered the discipline, and can be trusted to make sound recommendations and manage a project through to completion.

Communication/Writing Skills

You need to be able to communicate well on many levels.

You're selling to people. You're selling your client's product or service to people. If the project's big enough you're working with people to get the job done.

You need communication skills to put your ideas in to words, and to actively listen to others (your client, their customers, your associates, your suppliers) to sell a project and then manage it successfully to completion.

It is important that you master the art of persuasion, so you can disagree with your client if necessary and steer them towards an alternative solution that you may be proposing that will be in your client's best interest.

To persuade successfully you must earn a high-level of trust with your clients. This is usually achieved over time, and by creating a documented history of sound business judgment and testimonials from other happy clients who have benefited from your services.

Consultative Selling Skills

If selling is an art, consultative selling is an art and a science. You must be well-grounded in consultative selling because when you're presenting your proposal for the engagement, you're not selling a product, you're selling an intangible, a solution that's developed and recommended by you based on your client's situation and their objectives.

"Where's your client now? What are they doing right? What could they do better? Where do they want to be next year? Where do they want to be in 5 years?"

You need to be able to understand and walk through the consultative selling process without even thinking about it: (1) establishing rapport with all the key players from the Boardroom to the Mailroom (2) gathering background information (3) identifying the main problems and objectives (4) presenting several potential solutions, and (5) your recommending the best one.

Strategic Marketing, Communication/Writing, and Consultative Selling are the fundamental skills required to be a Marketing Consultant, and to help a client successfully align their budget with the achievement of their strategic objectives.

It's not something most people can do straight out of college because it requires skills and expertise acquired by a career in marketing and sales.

Answer 3

There are a great many different general skills in marketing. These skills include being able to make something look attractive enough for people to buy it.

Answer 4

People skills are a positive trait that marketing people should have. People should also be well versed in social media.

Answer 5

Communication Skills

Presentation Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Management Skills

Persuasion Skills