5 Skills You NEED to be a Modern Marketer

The marketing landscape is always evolving as new tools and technologies constantly alter the way in which every marketer works. A career in marketing may refer to various jobs as the industry is laced with several different roles, but generally speaking, marketing refers to the management of relationships between consumers and a business. This often involves the process of showing potential consumers why they should use a company’s product or services.

Prestige Recruitment Group understand the importance of a great marketer, so we’ve compiled a list of the top five skills you NEED to be a modern marketer:

1) Communication Skills

Marketing is a form of professional communication, as you need to communicate the benefits and advantages of your business to potential consumers and existing customers. This may come in the form of explicit conversation, such as responding to customers over social media and replying to emails, but it may also come in the form of indirect, metaphoric advertisements. You might also need to create content for blogs or run e-mail campaigns.

Inside the company, communication skills are also vital as most marketing teams consist of different people with unique creative ideas. It is therefore important that you are able to communicate effectively to management and other members of the team to get your ideas across.

Regardless of the specifics of your job role, linguistic ability is vital for any marketing career and so you should ensure that you have exceptional communication skills.  

2) Technological Skills

Over the years, marketing has become more digitally focused, especially with the growth and development of the Internet and so it is important that you have a thorough understanding of technology. You will be expected to use project management software, CRM’s and other creative programmes such as Photoshop and Illustrator. Therefore, it is vital that you get to grips with entering the digital workspace, as well as the physical workplace. You can learn more about this here.

3) Creativity Skills

Closely linked to our previous point, it is vital that you also have creative skills. When you enter the digital workspace and use programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, you must have a creative eye and be able to tell what looks good, and what works. Everything you create must be aesthetically pleasing, professional and to the highest standard so make sure you develop your creative skills when you can.

As well as this, if you are working in marketing it is vital that you come up with innovative and exciting ideas so that you can engage with potential consumers and customers – being creative and thinking outside the box is crucial.

5) Analytical Skills

As technology and society develop, marketing requires a lot of research and analytics in order to determine what the audience wants. Part of marketing relies heavily on carefully crafted strategies that may be altered, as campaigns may have to change course based on the analytical information received. There are tonnes of free tools that can measure the success of campaigns and it is, therefore, vital that you can use analytical figures to make changes accordingly! 

4) Enthusiasm to Learn

The marketing industry revolves around constantly changing trends and ideas. Because of this, it is vital that marketers are developing their skills and knowledge in order to stay on top of their game, which is why so many marketing qualifications have expiry dates! The sheer scale in which society, technology and trends develop due to tools like the Internet means that marketers have to learn faster than ever.

Marketing can be a very rewarding career, especially as it has quantifiable results. When working in marketing, you can really promote change and transform your company’s sales figures and engagement through interaction. It is also good for individuals who are eager to constantly develop their knowledge. If you fancy it and think you could work in marketing, get in touch with us! We recruit for a variety of marketing roles from digital marketing assistants to marketing managers!

5 Skills You NEED to be a Great Administration Assistant

As an administrative assistant, you perform a variety of clerical duties and tasks to support your organisation every single day. Everyone knows that admin staff must have top notch computer literacy skills, as a huge duty within the role includes creating spread sheets and using word processing software – but here are five other skills which are equally as important to be a great administrative assistant:

1) Communication Skills

As an administrative assistant, you will interact with a wide range of people both online and in person. Therefore, your communication skills are vital, as you must always come across as both friendly and professional at all times. Being a good communicator, you should also be a good listener. You must listen carefully to every person you talk to and ensure you remember correct, accurate information. This also links into written communication skills – your spelling, grammar and sentence structure are integral aspects of online correspondence. Therefore, in order to be a great administration assistant, you should be able to communicate clearly, accurately and professionally across all mediums – whether that’s speaking on the phone, sending an email or filling in written forms.

2) Organisational Skills

When undertaking multiple tasks with similar deadlines, it is easy to forget things. Admin staff can’t do this, as they must stay on top of everything at all times. You must have exceptional organisational skills in order to keep schedules straight and everything running smoothly around the office. You should know how to keep everything organised, whether that’s managing a filling system or coordinating paperwork flow throughout the office.

3) Attention to Detail

To be a great administrative assistant, you have no room for mistakes. When filling in forms and paperwork, you must ensure everything is correct at all times – as a mistake from you could affect the business. You need exceptional attention to detail to ensure the right information, materials and data is gathered for co-workers. A great administration assistant can keep on top of all their responsibilities while ensuring that detail does not slip through the cracks.

4) Self-Motivation

As admin staff, you are unlikely to have management working directly above you. This means you will have to be self-motivated in order to ensure you get things done on time and to the highest standard. If you do start to lose motivation, the business will immediately realise as it becomes clear you haven’t completed your tasks.

5) Problem-Solving Skills & Intuition

Great administrative staff must have extraordinary problem-solving skills. You will have to use these skills if clients cancel meetings or if appointments need juggling. Without a direct manager, it is extremely unlikely that you will be told what to do and when, and so to be a great administrative assistant, you need to use your intuition at all times to prioritise tasks and get things done on time.

Although challenging at times, being an administrative assistant is a thoroughly rewarding career choice, especially if you like to stay busy. You have a lot of responsibility and multiple tasks to do simultaneously but a business couldn't last without it's admin staff! If you are currently looking for work or need to recruit for an administrative assistant, get in touch. 

5 Skills You NEED to be an Efficient Office Manager

As an office manager, your knowledge of the office is top notch – you know who to call and when. Whether calculating payroll or hiring new employees, you must perform your duties with the upmost accuracy for a business to perform well. Everybody knows that office managers must be multi-taskers, but here are five other skills that are equally as important to be an efficient office manager.

1) Exceptional Communication Skills

There is no denying that miscommunication can lead to terrible problems for a business. So in order to combat this, it is important that as an office manager, you listen well and provide clear input, answers and advice. This goes further than face-to-face conversation, as written communication is just as important, especially in an office environment. With emails, you want to incorporate the most important information up front as the recipient is probably going to pay more attention to the words that they read first. Re-read your email before you send it. If you think you’ve sent something misleading or confusing to a member of staff– just pick up the phone or visit their desk to explain.

2) Organisation and Time Management Skills

Tracking your time over the duration of a few days will help you assess exactly how long a task takes. If you and your staff understand how long a task takes to complete – you can schedule your time more productively and accurately. This carefully links into organisational skills as they are both critical in completing tasks on time and making sure your day runs smoothly. Keep items and documents in their proper places to allow easy access by any staff member who needs them. This will get rid of ‘wasted time,’ when an individual is busy looking for something particular rather than being able to work.

3) The Ability to be an Innovative Thinker and Have a Creative Mind

As the office manager, there are going to be difficult situations that you can’t control, as well as challenges that you need to overcome. The best way to overcome these difficult situations is to approach them with an innovative mind-set. You should try and think outside of the box as often as you can – you should constantly expose yourself to new ideas and industry trends to continue to develop your creativity and innovative mind. This will bring increased positivity to your office environment.

4) The Ability to Stay Optimistic

Sometimes in a stressful situation, it can be easy to forget to smile and stay happy. Using humour in the workplace, smiling and embodying a positive attitude will lift morale in the team. This means you should be able to keep the positive attitude on your bad days. Being an office manager – you need to continue to motivate your members of staff regardless of personal circumstances or bad situations so remember to stay optimistic.

5) The Want to Continue Learning

Nobody is perfect. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the top of the ladder – you can still learn. The best office managers know this and embrace the chance to continue learning. Seek related education and work experience, find courses that may be relevant and read everything and anything! You should also be open to learning from your staff members - accept that sometimes they might know things that you don’t – and that’s okay.