7 Key Traits of Marketing Professionals Who Deliver

Pursuing your company's marketing and growth goals is much more efficient with a results-focused expert on the team: key characteristics to look for.

Key Takeaways

• A data-driven mindset is essential.
• You must be experimental and innovative but collaborative and self-aware.

To stay competitive and meet growth goals, a business needs an effective marketing program, of course, but the ways we reach and connect with prospective clients and customers have radically changed over the last few years. Today's marketing needs are exponentially more nuanced and complex than yesterday's focus on simply creating attention-grabbing logos and other branding elements.

Of course, aesthetics are still important. However, if you're looking for a true game-changing strategy, it's never been more vital to select a results-focused marketer — someone who understands that success is about creating observable, measurable outcomes that move an organization to meet revenue, sales and other goals.

Finding the right person means searching for a few key qualities.

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1. A data-driven mindset

Marketing experts today know that any company's success story is told by the numbers. That's why they focus on measurable data that delivers meaningful, actionable insights that help you reach more prospects who are ready to buy.

Results-focused marketing professionals are fluent in the numerical language that shows a truly full picture, including key performance indicators (KPIs) and how to best select, measure and analyze them. After all, anyone can look at a rising bounce rate for a website and know there's a problem, but the right marketer can figure out exactly why a site's visitors are leaving so quickly and then devise deft ways of remedying the situation.

Metrics such as time-on-site, conversion rates, customer lifetime value, ad spend versus revenue and other critical, measurable data points serve as a road map for expert marketers focused on delivering concrete results. Tracking, analyzing and optimizing these metrics allow for course correction and help ensure that every dollar of a budget is invested in the right strategies and tactics.

2. Experimental and innovative

Marketing driven by a commitment to producing results requires a willingness to experiment, and to occasionally embrace the unknown. Such professionals are not afraid to try something new and even fail, because they understand that there's no such thing as failure — only the continued pursuit of what works. The only way to do that is to try different approaches, measure responses and results, and revise strategy.

This process is often referred to as optimization. For your business, it could mean split-testing email subject lines, trying out creative approaches to the latest social media platform or devising a fresh approach to loyalty programs. A high comfort level with uncertainty is key to an in-demand marketer's success in all these tactics.

3. Collaborative and self-aware

Results-focused marketers know that their field has become increasingly complex, and so requires unique and fast-evolving abilities. An effective marketing pro also needs a healthy dose of self-awareness, as well as collaboration skills. The best professionals know the full scope and boundaries of their expertise, as well as when a specific segment of a plan might be beyond it — areas where they might need additional support from skilled copywriters, perhaps, graphic designers or others. They have a firm grasp of how crucial a strong sense of teamwork is to success.

4. A customer-centric approach

The foundation of any successful campaign is a deep understanding of both prospects and customers. Results-focused marketers become obsessed with knowing a target market's demographics and psychographics — their needs, fears, pain points and decision-making psychology.

Using a variety of tools and data —including awareness of buyer personas and an abundance of market research and customer feedback — they create campaigns that target and resonate. By aligning your marketing with customers' needs, connections that drive engagement and loyalty are forged.

5. Long-term vision

Short-term gains can be thrilling, but a marketer truly focused on results should be aiming at the long-term, as opposed to immediate gratification. Such a strategic perspective takes the longer view by valuing sustainable expansion and growth over short-term virality and other often meaningless vanity metrics.

That usually boils down to establishing a meaningful relationship with prospects and customers, based on empathy and aligned values. By nurturing each lead carefully, they help you deliver consistently high value to a customer base, turning one-time purchasers into loyal long-term brand ambassadors, without resorting to aggressive or spammy techniques.

6. Adaptability, and an appetite for learning

In part because marketing techniques are in what seems a chaotic state of flux, it's essential to be comfortable with continuous learning, including acquiring new skills. That can feel overwhelming to some, but for the right professionals, it's an atmosphere in which they thrive. They attend conferences, devour industry publications and otherwise constantly work to improve performance. Staying current on new developments, platforms, technologies and theories helps them stay competitive, and you profitable.

7: Goal-oriented and accountable

Finally, a results-focused marketing expert is committed to setting goals and remaining fully accountable for meeting them. They know their success and that of their clients depend on clearly outlined and well-defined objectives, with an accompanying process to track progress and refine results through constant optimization. That's how they establish the all-important roadmap that will help guide the execution of winning campaigns.

John Boitnott ?is a journalist and digital consultant who has worked at media companies for 25 years. He writes about startups, marketing and leadership at?Entrepreneur , the?Motley Fool ,?Readwrite.com ,?Jotform.com , and?his blog .

This post appeared on Entrepreneur.com .