11 Must-Have Marketing Management Skills for 2024

The role of marketing manager requires a very diverse skill set, much of which is non-negotiable if you want to be successful. 

When it comes to must-have marketing management skills, you’ll need to have a firm grasp on business management, creative and critical thinking skills, and be a problem-solver. You’ll also need to have strong communication and leadership skills, as you’ll be in charge of motivating your employees for the best possible outcomes.

Ready to take on the ins and outs of marketing management?

So, which skills are must-haves for a marketing manager in 2024? Keep reading to find out!

Understanding Marketing Management in 2024

Marketing management skills are broken down into two categories:

• Hard skills
• Soft skills

Depending on the size of the company, the marketing manager may be responsible for performing the majority of marketing tasks. Or, there may be enough employees to delegate these tasks to, freeing up time to focus on strategizing and planning. 

This is why having a full skill set is essential, as you may or may not have to compensate for what’s lacking. What’s more, our entire world has gone completely digital. The internet has come to the forefront of how we communicate our products and services to the public, which means marketing managers must be able to master digital platforms and everything those platforms are connected to.

Thanks to the internet and all of its fun tools and platforms, hard skills are more important than ever before. However, we shouldn’t underestimate soft skills as those are the very things that can “seal the deal” when it comes to acquiring new customers and retaining them.

Marketing Management Skills (Hard)

“Hard skills” refer to technical knowledge and industry expertise. These skills typically include everything from market research and public relations to analytical skills and product development. As a marketing manager in a digital atmosphere, you’ll need to have these seven skills up your sleeve:

1. Market Research

Being able to conduct efficient and accurate market research is a hard skill that marketing managers cannot live without. Understanding exactly who your target audience is and what their needs and pain points are will make or break your brand marketing efforts.

This means carrying out both qualitative and quantitative research using various methods and then having the ability to analyze and use the data to come up with solutions to the audience’s needs and pain points. 

2. UX Design Basics

The digital world is all about catering to the user experience (UX). A brand’s website is considered a “touch point” between the customer and a company’s product or service — as well as their purchase decision. 

If a company’s website is set up to provide a positive experience that promotes engagement, customers will more likely make a purchase. Therefore, marketing managers need to have an understanding of what makes for a compelling UX design to keep people on the company’s website for longer and make purchases.

3. SEM and SEO Knowledge

Search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) both revolve around the ever-evolving search engine algorithms that allow websites to be seen during user searches. Marketing managers must be on top of the best practices that enable a company to market its website to search engines as well as optimize its websites for better visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).

4. Content Marketing

Most people prefer to come to conclusions for themselves, hence the need for inbound marketing via content. Putting out consistently high-quality content with valuable information is what will allow you to build trust with your target audience. It’ll also encourage brand loyalty while attracting new customers.

5. Social Media

Believe it or not, in 2023, social media marketing sufficiently became a skill that you’ll need to have as a marketing manager. It’s how brands can reach further into their target audiences and engage on a more personal level with said audiences. 

Mastering social media platforms is a key technical marketing skill. It involves much more than simply creating posts, videos, or running ads. Success in this area requires the ability to generate leads and build your brand’s reputation by strategically leveraging the right platforms and influencers. Utilizing tools like Hootsuite, Tailwind, or HubSpot can streamline your efforts by centralizing all your social media activities in one platform, ensuring a cohesive and effective strategy.

6. Coding – HTML/CSS

Having an idea of how coding works is an advantageous skill to have as a marketing manager. It allows for better insight into how a website works and where it can be logically improved, which is directly related to problem-solving 

7. Analytics and Data Interpretation

This is one of the most valuable marketing management skills you can have. Analytics allows you to track and measure the effects of each marketing campaign to help you make smarter decisions down the road. Being able to put the numbers into context and understand how and why things may trend up or down is what unlocks the keys to marketing performance.

Marketing Management Skills (Soft)

“Soft skills” refer to a combination of social and interpersonal skills that play an essential role in marketing — and life.

As a marketing manager, there are four soft skills you need:

1. Strong Leadership

It doesn’t matter whether you work with a large or small team; leadership skills are critical in mentoring and motivating your team to work together and overcome challenges. Leadership revolves around setting goals and delegating tasks to the best people for the job, which requires a sufficient amount of intuition and calculated risk-taking.

2. Effective Communication

Marketing managers constantly have to communicate with teams and clients, which makes communication a vital soft skill to have. 

Being able to communicate clearly and effectively is important to ensure that everyone is on the same page and has a firm understanding of the objectives at hand as well as what the analytic data is telling them. It’s also the best way to address customer concerns and build long-term relationships, as it allows you to turn negative feedback into positive solutions.

3. Organizational Skills

Marketing managers have a laundry list of responsibilities. Staying on top of those responsibilities is what will allow you to create realistic deadlines, keep track of important milestones, and keep your team on track. 

A marketing manager without organizational skills won’t be able to get their team to move forward as one to achieve the marketing goals at hand.

4. Willingness to Learn

Arguably the most important soft skill is the eagerness and willingness to learn. Marketing is something that’s constantly changing, which means a brand will need to reinvent itself with each campaign. 

Mistakes will also be made as experience doesn’t happen overnight. As a marketing manager, you need to be able to address your personal mistakes and any mistakes made throughout a campaign that resulted in poor performance to learn from them. That’s how growth happens.

Some marketing management skills are acquired over time with experience while others can be learned quickly. As long as you’re willing to continue learning and dedicate yourself to the brand you’ll be marketing for, it won’t be long until you start seeing success as a marketing manager.

Take Your Marketing Management Skills to the Next Level

APX Construction specializes in everything from design builds to contracting services — all of which involve marketing. Get in touch with us for a free consultation on your next construction project.