Obviously this is part two of my previous article entitled Everybody is (or wants to be) in marketing these days. – In the first part, I brought up three things that I think are typical characteristics of an expert in the field of marketing. The three points were creativity, being an early adopter and being well connected.

I will now proceed with the final points on my own personal list of things that typically characterize someone well versed in the art of marketing. Of course, as I mentioned in the first part, I’m by no means an expert myself, and such there’s a (slim) possibility that you might disagree with some of the points on my list, but if that is the case you’re more than welcome to rectify my by simply posting a comment.

• A good salesman – This one is pretty obvious, because when you think about it, marketing is all about selling products, services or something similar. And such, I dare propose that most professional marketers would make excellent sellers as well!
• Analytical capabilities – As Scott pointed out in his comment on part one, it’s absolutely necessary for a professional marketer to have a strong analytical understand. This skillset is used to minimize the percentage of failed marketing attempts by analyzing the numbers and seeing what works and converts well.
• Strong sense of empathy – Scott actually touched upon this point as well in his comment, but I want to elaborate on it. If you want to be a successful marketer you need to develop a strong and sincere sense of empathy, that is to understand and share the feelings of others. This is necessary not only in order to see people from the perspective of the different customers, but also to truly appreciate customer feedback.
• Flexibility – Another important trait of qualified marketers is the ability to be flexible, and adapt to the constant changes in the environments that surround the businesses and products that they are working to promote. Needless to say, this is especially crucial within the markets that operate on the cutting edge of technology. I am however also convinced that businesses in older and more traditional markets can enjoy more success and expand their reach by more quickly embracing new possibilities.

That concludes my list. The first part got a few responses, and hopefully now that I’ve shared my most important points, even more people will join the discussion and share what they think makes a successful marketer.

On a relatively different note, the number of RSS subscribers here at my personal blog hit a new high today. This came as a bit of a surprise as I have hardly been posting very consistently since I came back from my summer break, but it certainly serves as a motivation for me to continue posting in the future, hopefully a bit more frequently. So expect at least two more posts from me before we hit the end of the weekend, as I’ve already got a couple of drafts just waiting to be polished and published!

From what little observations I’ve made lately, it seems that everybody wants to be in marketing these days. People I meet at school want to be in marketing because they don’t want to be stuck pushing pencils behind a desk in a four times four feet cubicle, and online it seems that everyone and their mothers are giving people marketing advice. It really does seem that marketing is a trendy field to operate in.

Now I’m by no means a marketing expert, but I do have some experience with internet marketing. I’m pretty sure that I could, if given the proper amount of time and quality material to work with, get any blog or website a steady flow of traffic. Of course, that doesn’t say much about me except that I have a decent grasp of what it takes to market something online. What I want talk about in this post however, is what qualities that characterize an expert in the field of marketing. My experience is limited however, even though I have some experience with online marketing and is a student of the field at University level, so I might miss with this swing I’m taking here. But hey, that’s why I have comments enabled on this blog!

• Creativity – One of the most important traits if you want to be a good marketer. You should be able to think outside the box, and find new ways to promote your service or product. Being book-smart is all good and well, but how will you be able to sell more than your competitors if you’re just repeating the steps they’ve already taken, or will be taking to promote their products?
• Being an early adopter – Closely connected with the first point on creativity, especially when it comes to online marketing, you should be able to spot potential ways of utilizing the latest services and technologies to market your website, service or product to a new clientele. This is particularly useful in gaining terrain compared to your competitors, and always being one step ahead can obviously help you gain valuable shares of your target market.
• Well connected – Possibly the most recognizable trait of a good marketer, online or offline, is that the person is extremely good at making new connections. With this in mind, there’s no wonder that early marketing science lectured that being a good marketer required certain personality qualities, more specifically being an extravert. Of course, in recent times it’s become well established that you can certainly have a successful career in marketing without being that guy that talks to every girl at the bar, but knowing people still helps.

And that’s all you get for now. Yeah, this is one of those dreaded split pieces of writing, where you have to wait a day or two for the second half of the article. The reason of course, is that I want to lure as many of you as possible into subscribing to my RSS feed, just because you want to make sure you don’t miss out on the rest of the things that characterize a marketing expert.

In the meantime however, I would like your opinions as well. I’m sure there are many of you out there who are better versed in the art of marketing who have more qualified opinions than I do, and I want you to share your voices with the rest of us. Post a comment, let us know what you think are important qualities in marketing!