Top 5 Most Underestimated Skills Every B2B Marketer Should Master by 2020

There are 50.4 million marketers in the world according to LinkedIn. Obviously marketing is a very popular profession. 

If you’re starting out in 2020, how do you get picked?

I have interviewed many marketers and I always look for these 5 skills that I’m about to reveal to you.

These 5 skills give me indicators that they are going to be awesome in marketing. 

Surely, we all need to be digital these days, but mastering tools are easily learned and outsourced.

What I’m looking for is whether the candidate has the marketing DNA.

They are in my opinion the most underestimated skills every B2B marketer should master and yet 99% of the marketers out there do not possess them. 

And if you do, congratulations! You’re good to go for 2020 and beyond!

Anyway, let me present to you the top 5 skills every B2B marketer should master by 2020.

#1 Copywriting

Copywriting is the most underestimated skill in any business. In fact, it is the most important skill a marketer possesses that will set her or him AND THE BRAND she or he manages apart from the bunch. 

When I scroll through status updates on any social media platforms, the first thing I read is the headline or the first few words. Are you one of those people who gets lazy, I’m definitely guilty too, and begins their messages with these phrases:

Check out our new…

We have just launched…

Don’t miss our upcoming…

and how many times did you unconsciously scroll past these? Perhaps you shared or liked it because you have to, for e.g. you work for the company?

In copywriting, we are taught to spend at least as much time on the headline as the body content itself. This makes a lot of sense. With so much noise out there, people don’t have time to consume them all.

There are 1 blog for every 7 people on planet earth - Neil Patel

Tips on writing a killer headline?

First of all, spend a lot thought on the headline, the first few words in your post, caption, status updates, ads, etc. Here are some tips:

• Use words that trigger emotion and curiosity such as “reveals”, “mistakes”, “shocking”
• Avoid marketing jargon
• Use the irresistible How to headlines
• Compile The Ultimate List or The Top 10 List
• X “Hacks” To …
• Try reverse psychology “Don’t read this”

Spend no time on your headline then people will spend no time on your content. Period.

Copywriting is the art and science of strategically delivering words (whether written or spoken) that get people to take some form of action - Copyblogger

#2 Storytelling

Sometimes we are controlled by checking off the list, and we think seldom about why we do it in the first place, ie to get attention for the brand.

To get attention for your brand, we need to direct the focus off the brand.

A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself. - David Ogilvy

Instead, tell a story.

Ever since we were young, we are surrounded by stories. In fact, we are hardwired to learn through stories. I witness how my 3-year-old applies the words she has learned from bedtime stories in her pretend play repertoire. 

Stories intrigue. They stick. 

So how do you tell a story? 

Not everyone is a great storyteller. Storytelling is a skill and with life experiences, you become a better storyteller. 

This is because the best stories are the ones which are authentic and story that you have personally experienced.

You don’t make stories up, you document stories.

When telling a story, use this fairytale formula:

• Once upon a time, everything seemed ordinary
• A change was about to happen
• And then there was a conflict
• The conflict gradually ceased
• And they lived happily ever after.

No idea what to tell?

Think about the moments when you emotionally responded to what you saw, heard or read. For example, when I interview customers for their stories, I would always jot down the moments when they make me laugh or feel something – it could be empathy, pride, or frustration. These moments are the climax of your story.

Entertain. Inform. Dazzle with your stories.

In that priority order.

#3 Execution

90% of the marketers I know rely on agencies to do their most strategic work such as branding and content writing. Even SEO is a strategic game in my opinion.

Without doing the dirty work, there is no way to learn the game. I would listen to Marketing School in the morning on my way to work and apply the technique I learn on the same day, just to keep learning and staying ahead of the game. 

So make sure to blog, write your own manuals, and every landing page and email from scratch. Test it. See what works for you.

Only execution will lead to knowledge. -thelazycmo

#4 Reading

Many popular influencers and entrepreneurs today will tell you that reading is a waste of time.

Reading requires focus and focus is a skill. Reading is hard and doesn’t come naturally to many. Surely there’s a lot of reading you do when scrolling through the feed but it doesn’t give you the deep-dive, the nitty-gritty details into a specific topic.

That’s precisely what reading gives me. It gives me superpower. 

Not sure what to read?

Start with these, my top all-time 5 favorite books on marketing which deserve my most precious bookmark:

• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Art of War by Sun Tzu
• Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki
• Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
• Behind the Cloud by Marc Benioff

#5 Creativity

Everyone copies and that is ok except that you want to be the person people copy from. That takes creativity.

Being creative is being original in coming up with ideas. In order to learn how to be creative, we need to understand where ideas come from.

So what is an idea?

I love this little book by James Webb Young, The Technique of Producing Ideas, which sums it up very nicely. I learned about this book when taking a copywriting course led by Mark Dubois, still my all-time favorite lecturer.

An idea is a new combination of old elements. Bringing old elements into new combinations highly depends on your ability to see relationships. 

The book also spells out the five-step technique of producing ideas:

1. Gather material
2. Work over the material in your mind
3. Step away from the problem
4. Allow the idea to come back to you naturally
5. Test your idea in the real world and adjust it based on feedback.

I’ve done this over and over again and it never fails me. 

Take the first step, believe in the process, and make it part of your routine.

You’d be surprised how creative you really are.

Now, are you ready to master these skills?

Love and bubbles,

Ling

This article is originally published on thelazycmo.co