Marketing is changing, and the skills required to manage this marketing revolution are different.
Are traditional marketing skills obsolete? Do educational curriculums support new marketing? Can senior marketing executives manage young managers without understanding new media and marketing?
There are marketing skills and experience that transcend traditional and new media. In specialized construction segments, market and product knowledge will always be important. Understanding of planning, forecasting, budgeting and market research are required skills for the certain levels of marketing management. Project management skills, writing skills, and the ability to generate creative ideas, or at least brief, guide and manage other creative staff or agencies are all typical marketing roles. On the construction service side, proposal writing and bid management take priority in marketing. On the retail-side, expertise in merchandising and packaging take prominence.
No question, specialists can be hired to manage certain aspects of new marketing:
- Website design
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Social Media
- Email marketing
- Content and blogging
- Marketing Automation or CRM software
- Events including webcasts and trade shows
While traditional marketers come from educational backgrounds in business, communication, journalism, liberal arts, and yes, engineering; increasingly these specialists and other new marketing talent may come from computer science, IT or math programs.
Higher education curriculums are catching up. Community colleges have moved aggressively into digital media, including certificate programs. Traditional bachelor’s degree programs and some graduate programs are adding digital courses, even complete programs.
Marketing associations are certainly focused on new marketing skills. There are hundreds of seminars and training programs about all types of social media and interactive marketing. The American Marketing Association (AMA), ANA Business Marketing, and the Construction Marketing Association (CMA) each offer extensive training programs and resources regarding new types of marketing and media.
There are several online marketing resources that offer frequent content on advanced digital marketing including MarketingProfs, and HubSpot. And multiple certifications are available including Google Analytics, Google AdWords, HubSpot, and SEMRush.
Human resource departments and marketing job-seekers must embrace new marketing skills and requirements. Specialized recruiters, job boards and directories (including the CMA Career Center) will take share from generalist recruitment options.
Additional Marketing Talent Resources:
How to Get Better Marketing Talent (HubSpot)
Outsourced Marketing vs. Staffing for Construction Companies (CMA)
What Marketing Needs to Know to Hire Top Talent (Gartner)
6 Types of Organization Structures for Construction (CMA)
7 Tips for Hiring Top-Tier Marketing Talent (Recruiter)