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Everyone can study marketing, but not everyone can be a successful marketer. In today’s article, you’ll learn what makes a good marketer so you can tell if you’re cut out to be one.
Whether you’re a blogger aiming to monetize your blog or an eCommerce business owner, you’re probably learning about marketing and studying marketing techniques.
Being an effective marketer is more than knowing marketing theories and techniques. Grasping these practices and executing them should come hand in hand with having the qualities of a good marketer. Certain attributes can make the difference between being just another internet marketer in a sea of marketers and being an outstanding one.
Today’s blog post will attempt to describe what makes a good marketer so you can find out if you have what it takes to become one yourself.
A good marketer doesn’t merely accept information as it’s given; a good marketer asks “Why?”
Being inquisitive is key to find the root causes of anything you’re observing.
For example, if traffic to your site were decreasing despite your new initiatives, you can easily conclude that it’s the new initiative failed, but finding out why it failed is key to understanding what doesn’t work so you can find out what does.
Aside from the technical data, you should also be interested in your target audience. What do they like? Dislike? What are their problems? Can you help? How? Answering these questions gets you closer to understanding them, which in turn gives you the power to create marketing messages that they’ll pay attention to.
Modern marketers can’t simply declare that a marketing campaign was a success or a failure based on subjective criteria. They have solid, data-based reports to back it up.
A great marketer is accountable in that their marketing efforts are all based on numbers. Whether it results in greater or lesser profit, a marketing campaign by an effective marketer is based entirely on measurable data and not on vague metrics that are subject to misinterpretation.
You have to be able to take calculated risks if you want to be a good marketer.
Sometimes, there’ll be a new strategy or marketing campaign that you’ll want to try. You have to be able to be brave enough to challenge yourself and plunge in headfirst without second-guessing yourself.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should be cavalier with your business or with your relationship with your customers. Always stay within what’s allowed by law, and never jeopardize your customers’ trust in you and your brand.
Good marketers have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Marketing is all about conveying a message to your target audience that they’ll pay attention to. Not only that, it involves networking with other bloggers and eCommerce business owners for a variety of reasons.
Telling stories about you and your products in a way that your audience will pay attention to is critical to your success. So is introducing yourself, your brand, and your values to your peers and competitors. You have to be able to express yourself clearly to get the right message across to whomever you’re communicating with.
The truly successful marketers are able to respond to challenges and difficulties that arise through solving problems in new, innovative ways.
Solving customer problems is at the heart of any successful blog and eCommerce store. If you’re able to solve problems in innovative, creative ways, you’ll stand out from the crowd.
Challenges to your business are inevitable. Your blog might be under attack from spammy commenters. Your eCommerce store might be a target of shady reviewers. Overcoming these challenges would entail some resourcefulness and cunning.
The digital landscape shifts and moves every few months, it seems. At times, the movement seems to be measured in weeks. New technologies disrupt the status quo, and customers’ preferences can swing one way today and another day tomorrow.
An effective marketer is prepared for the unexpected. You need to embrace change as part of your daily agenda. Being flexible with your ideas and expectations will improve your ability to adjust to new situations and challenges as they arise.
Being a keen observer is another trait that sets you up for success as a marketer.
Asking your customers about their struggles is recommended, but if you’re observant, you should at least have an idea of their struggles even before they tell you about it. Paying attention to your customers also means that you are in tune with what they’re looking for in a product or in your content.
Being perceptive should also apply to your industry. Keeping your finger on the pulse of your niche and watching out for new trends enable you to anticipate what the next big thing is. Having this foresight empowers you to choose your next action: follow your current method, make some tweaks to it, or do a complete overhaul.
Aside from communication skills, being likable goes a long way in building relationships with your customers, as well as other bloggers and business owners.
If you have a warm, outgoing personality, it’s so much easier for you to exude that in your content and in your communications with others. People are more likely to trust people who are friendly and sympathetic to their struggles, and they’re more likely to buy from people they trust.
This trait goes hand in hand with amiability. Talking about yourself and your achievements nonstop is a quick way to alienate other people, especially your target audience.
A good marketer keeps their ego in check. What you’re doing is all about your target audience and potential customers. Being at the top of your game as a marketer should only be secondary to knowing your audience’s problems, studying these problems, and coming up with a solution to make their lives easier and better.
Truthful marketers are effective marketers.
Being sincere with your customers earns you their respect. If there’s going to be a dearth of blog posts for a while as you tackle a personal issue, or a delay in deliveries, or a problem with products you’re selling, tell your customers up front. Good marketers don’t promise what they can’t deliver.
Aside from being honest with customers, great marketers are honest with themselves. When it comes to your progress with your business, it’s easy to be hounded by self-denial: denying your success or denying your failure. But being true to oneself is much more liberating.
It frees you up to either celebrate your success or admit defeat and do something different. Perhaps a different marketing approach, or abandoning your current project and starting another one in a different niche.
Every so often, hurdles may throw you off-course.
But a good marketer has the will to steer themselves back on the right path. They’re aware that no one can help them and no one can force them to get their sh– stuff together. Good marketers spur themselves on and are their own cheerleaders.
The professionals who are the best in their field dedicate their own time to develop their career, and marketers are no exception.
Effective marketers keep an eye out for the upcoming trends in their niche, study the latest marketing techniques, and read about what their competitors are doing. They research and network and study some more because they know that there’s always room for improvement.
A good marketer keeps the big picture in mind while never losing sight of the details.
Every marketer should have a vision of what they want for their business in the future, as well as the smaller goals that need to be met to achieve this overall vision.
Successful marketers have a balanced perspective and are able to take care of the minor details while not neglecting their overall business goal.
Everything worth pursuing takes time.
Persevere through all of the challenges and problems thrown at you, and you’ll be left standing tall.
In fact, persistence applies to every aspect of internet marketing: from creating and promoting your content to building your links, to establishing your social media presence, to increasing your traffic, to promoting and selling your own or your affiliate products.
Internet marketing should be one of the tools in your arsenal, whether you’re a blogger or running an eCommerce website. However, no two internet marketers are created equal. One has to have certain characteristics to be successful and to be able to stand out from the crowd.
Let’s recap what makes a good marketer:
Just one final word before you get discouraged.
Not having all these qualities doesn’t automatically disqualify you from being an internet marketer.
These traits may not come naturally to you at first, but you can consciously train yourself to develop these traits if you’re willing to put in the time and effort.
Working on self-improvement and becoming a better person is an investment that pays you back in all aspects of your life, even in your career and business.
What other attributes make a good marketer? Do you agree with all the points I made here? Talk to me in the comments!
JoAnne is your average, everyday, sane stay-at-home mom who believes in the power of the internet to make dreams come true. She has an insatiable appetite for chocolate, as well as all things internet marketing. She keeps up with the latest trends in blogging, affiliate marketing, e-commerce, and more.
