As competition increases for today's businesses, marketing becomes even more important to a company's success. In fact, hiring the right marketing manager could mean the difference between making a profit and closing your doors.
With so much riding on this decision, you need to know you have hired the right person for the job.
Decide Between Hiring and Outsourcing
Some portions of marketing have regularly been outsourced for years. In fact, creating TV and radio ads is the most common activity to be outsourced.
Forty percent of small businesses outsource this part of their marketing. Search engine optimization tasks are also commonly outsourced with 35% looking outside of the company for their SEO needs.
Even when companies outsource certain aspects of their marketing, they often hire a manager to oversee the projects.
However, that is also changing as more marketing managers are looking to work independently and companies are seeing the cost benefits of outsourcing to experts.
Qualities to Look for
Regardless of whether you choose to hire an in-house manager or outsource, certain qualities are important in the person you select.
These include the following 5 high demand career predictions for qualifications in the future:
• Initiative - your manager should be able to come up with ideas on his own and implement them
• Creativity - a marketing manager should lead the trends rather than follow them
• Analytical - a marketing manager should be able to follow the numbers and know their importance
• A legal mind - while you aren't hiring an attorney, the person you select should be aware of issues with advertising, especially in the area of privacy
• Social media savvy - with the move towards inbound marketing and social networks, a manager should be on top of these trends and have some expert knowledge
For the Manager Looking for the Dream Job
If you happen to be the person looking for that dream job as marketing manager, you have to know that the competition is fierce. If you want to stand out, you need to have all of the above qualifications.
In addition, you need to have a proven track record. Even if this is your first job in the field, you should be able to prove your worth.
For instance, you can set up a personal social media account and track how many followers you get and what level of engagement you have with those fans. Keep track of how many people retweet your messages and share your posts and provide this information as part of your resume.
You also have to prove that you are knowledgeable about the current state of the industry and that you have predictions backed by data about where marketing is headed.
The key to finding and landing the perfect job is to know how to position you as the person the company needs.
Becoming a marketing manager begins with knowing how to market yourself. After all, once you prove that you know how to sell yourself, the rest is easy.