The world of marketing seems like it’s always changing, and even if you were a savvy marketer a few years ago, you may be behind the times now. It seems like everyone else knows more than you, so how do you catch back up and improve your marketing skills so you can compete?
Don’t panic. There are plenty of things you can do to hone your skills and turn yourself into a better marketer. We’re here to help you get started.
Read on to learn our top advice for how to improve your marketing skills this year.
Take Marketing Classes
It’s obvious that the best way to improve your marketing skills is to take marketing classes. You’ll get to learn from working professionals, hone your skills in a safe school environment, and apply for internships that will let you get hands-on work with companies who understand that you’re still learning.
Ideally, you’ll take these classes in a university setting. A marketing degree is incredible for anyone who’s planning on going into marketing as a career, but even if you only want to market yourself or your own business, it can be a huge help. A 4-year marketing degree is a big investment that seriously pays off.
You could also get various certificates instead. Certificate programs tend to break marketing down into bite-sized chunks, so you’ll learn one specific thing at a time. This is great for current marketers or people who know they don’t want to be marketers but need help marketing their own services.
Some online marketing programs are free while others cost close to the same as “real” college courses. Choose what works for your budget. Even if you can’t get into a legitimate marketing program right away, you can start working your way up and learning new things.
Read or Watch Marketing Content from the Pros
If you don’t have the time or money to take a class, consider following industry experts and keeping up with what they have to say. You can learn a ton just by following blogs and LinkedIn pages. It’s not the same as taking a class, but it’s still helpful. The team of experts at Bizpedia.co also suggests searching for viral marketing and Instagram influencers. Moreover, learn about making a marketable YouTube channel from plenty of pros on YouTube, and learn about selling your own products and services from entrepreneurs on LinkedIn. There’s so much free and available information on the web for you to use.
Take notes and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Not everyone has time to get back to viewers and readers, but some creators are happy to clear things up if there’s any confusion. After all, they’re trying to provide a useful service.
Get Plenty of Personal Practice
Make sure you’re putting what you learn to good use. Even if you’re not currently working in marketing, you can try applying some of the things you’ve learned to your own marketing needs, even if you’re just doing mock marketing projects.
Let’s say you’re trying to learn social media marketing, but you don’t have any clients to market for. Why not market yourself instead? You can apply some of what you learned to your own personal social media profiles.
If you prefer to keep your personal social media profiles private, create a separate profile for something else, like your art, your outfits of the day (lovingly hashtagged #ootd), or even just quotes you like that you make graphics of on a site like Canva.
Apply some of your learned skills to your new profile and see how they work. You’ll learn far more by doing than by reading. By using your new skills for a personal project, you’re creating a low-stakes environment to practice for the “real thing” and you may even find that you love having a larger platform.
Offer Services to Small Businesses
If you’re still in the learning process and you know you’re not ready to get a “real” marketing job, consider offering your skills for a low cost (or free, if you have the time) to local small businesses that seem to be struggling.
You can offer them something small, like a few social media posts or blogs, or a quick analysis of their current marketing strategy.
Many small business owners will be grateful for your offer. Even if the pay is low (or nonexistent), you’ll be able to use your projects in your portfolio and show them off to future potential employers if you plan on going the professional marketing route.
You’ll also get to see how those skills work in practice for a real client.
Keep Up With New Changes
Especially in the world of digital marketing, things are changing all the time. If you’re not keeping up, you’re going to find your skills obsolete in a matter of years.
You should always be keeping up with current news about marketing trends. Look for new social media platforms, trending memes and songs, and the changes that happen often with SEO. You’d be shocked at how much good marketing advice from just a few years ago is no longer relevant because of how much the marketing world has changed.
Diversify Your Skills
Don’t just focus on one type of marketing or you’ll be limiting yourself. Diversify and you’ll be better at marketing yourself and better at working for clients. It’s also a lot of fun to learn new things, so why not give yourself that opportunity?
Keep learning new things and trying new projects and you’ll keep improving (and making yourself a more valuable job candidate).
It’s Time to Spruce Up Your Marketing Skills
When there’s so much information available at our fingertips (often for free), improving your marketing skills is easier than ever. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to turn into a serious marketing whiz.
Use these tips to turn yourself into the best marketer you can be.
Do you love learning all about how to improve your skills? Don’t forget to check out the rest of the site.