With a limited budget, how do you decide what marketing positions you need in-house and what can be outsourced? Whether you’re interested in a marketing career or are building out your 2019 budget for a marketing staff, these are the 7 roles that will be in demand in 2019. Here’s what to look for in a candidate, how to score resumes, and alternative options for getting the skills your team needs, on a budget.
MARKETING DIRECTOR
The first person you should hire once you’ve determined you need an in-house marketing department is the leader.
What to look for:A marketing professional with a minimum of 8-10 years of experience working in the industry, and a desire to take on a full load of responsibility.
Must-have skills:Highly organized, big thinker, ability to manage a team, and strong communication (both written and verbal) skills. The ability to art direct a designer and edit a writer.
Nice-to-have skills: Typically, this person comes with some creative background, whether they started out as a writer, graphic artist, or social community manager, but it’s not a necessity.
Scoring the resume: Award bonus points to candidates who show an aptitude for working with difficult personality types and someone who can bring people with different viewpoints together. This means they’ll have success getting marketing and sales to work together on initiatives. Steer clear of resumes that focus too much on any one marketing channel or tactic. You want someone who isn’t afraid to think outside their comfort zone and wear any hat. Hot tip: Look for someone who’s spent time working in the restaurant industry, especially as a server or bartender.
Alternative option: If you typically work with a creative agency on marketing campaigns, you can probably get away with hiring a mid-level marketing manager. Just be sure this candidate has experience working with agencies, and understands the nuances of marketing strategy.
COPYWRITER
The voice of your brand should be consistent and created based on the products you sell, the audiences you serve, and the industry in which you work.
What to look for:A professional writer with 3-5 years of experience. If your Marketing Director has experience writing copy, you might be able to hire a Junior-level copywriter with just 1-2 years of experience to supplement the team.
Must-have skills: Look for someone with the ability to write effectively in different voices. A one-trick-pony writer with just one voice might be great for your tech audience, but she might not suffice when it comes to communicating with young adults.
Nice-to-have skills: A writer with some experience writing social content is a plus. It can be taught, but having some background and knowledge on communicating via post or tweet will come in handy.
Scoring the resume: Give extra points to those who use clever language and give you a glimpse of their personality. Typos and grammatical errors do not a good copywriter make. Send those through the shredder.
Alternative option: If you don’t have need for a full-time copywriter you can look for a trusted, experienced freelance writer or content agency to fill in when necessary.
DESIGNER
The look of your marketing and sales materials should fit your brand’s personality.
What to look for:A professional designer with a minimum of 3 years of experience. If your Director of Marketing has experience as a designer, you may be able to hire a Junior-level designer with just a few years of experience to supplement the team.
Must-have skills:Look for someone with the ability to design a wide variety of elements, from social media gifs to banner ads, trade show signage, micro content and brochures. Hot Tip:There are two types of designers: those who are highly creative, and those who are highly technical. You will likely need both – if you can find both in one candidate, hire her on the spot!
Nice-to-have skills: A designer who can think strategically and come up with new concepts and new formats is a valuable asset.
Scoring the resume: Give extra points to resumes that are well organized and offer a good sense of style. Standard formatting on white paper shows a lack of creativity. The converse is also true; someone whose resume is a riot of color and images might not understand the value of subtlety in design.
Alternative option: Here, too, you may be able to hire a freelancer, just be sure it’s someone with a book of high-quality work who understands your industry and can meet your deadlines and budget. A small, agile marketing agency with lots of design experience can come in handy, too.
STRATEGIST
Marketing teams need someone who can lead strategy for every effort. That person could potentially be the Marketing Director, though the two don’t always go hand in hand.
What to look for: Someone with 4-6 years of experience strategizing on campaigns and presenting strategies to clients.
Must-have skills: Confidence presenting and leading a team. Your strategist should be both a strong decision maker and a highly creative thinker. He/She should understand how to integrate online and offline strategies, and have some knowledge of or interest in incorporating modern tools and strategies.
Nice-to-have skills: A strategist who has experience creating campaigns for a variety of different industries and in different formats will come in handy. Look for cutting-edge ideas and a clever thought process.
Scoring the resume: Look for candidates who share examples of successful strategies. Award bonus points for grammatically correct, straightforward language and a well-organized resume layout. Avoid resumes that simply drop in any form of the word “strategic” just to capture attention.
Alternative option: A marketing consultant or agency can take the place of a full-time strategist. If this is the route you’ll take, be sure to look for someone who’s well-known in the industry and has the background and book of work to back it up.
SOCIAL MEDIA/COMMUNITY MANAGER
Social media has become a critical component of a strong, integrated marketing plan. If you’re still not putting any thought behind social media channels, you’re absolutely missing out on connecting with critical, influential, prospective customers.
What to look for: A professional with a minimum of 2-3 years of experience, and a desire to lead a high-profile channel.
Must-have skills: Your SMM must have strong communication (both written and verbal) skills, a firm understanding of social media platforms and some experience with social media software.
Nice-to-have skills: Some experience decoding data and analytics is helpful, but can be taught.
Scoring the resume: These candidates live and breathe social media, so if their resume doesn’t include any mention of their personal social media handles, forget ‘em. Or, if they are included, but when you visit their profiles, they’re inactive or inconsistent, they may not be a good fit. Award bonus points for candidates who link to their personal profiles, and professional profiles they currently manage or have managed in the past.
Alternative option: No budget for a full-time social media manager? Keep in mind that this position is critical to your company’s ability to communicate with your audience where they are. A freelancer or social agency may be able to fill in here, just be sure you hire someone with the right tech tools who can help you set realistic objectives and has strategic ideas for growing your business.
INFLUENCER
Influencers don’t need to be celebrities. In fact, recent data confirms that grass-roots influencers are more effective because they are highly trusted and carry more weight among their audiences.
What to look for: Look internal! Employees who are loyal and engaged in company culture are a great start.
Must-have skills: These “micro influencers” should be active on social media platforms where your company’s audience lives.
Nice-to-have skills: Strong communication skills are helpful.
Scoring the resume: No resume needed, but be sure to select employees who have positive dispositions, are strong role models for other employees, and are excited about being a part of your company’s social media efforts. Employees who aren’t engaged in the company culture or don’t have a positive attitude might not be a good fit.
Alternative option: Not sure if an employee advocacy program is for you? Test it out by selecting a few high-level executives first. Use an advocacy platform like Bambu by Sprout so that you can quickly and easily provide content for these micro influencers to share, allow them to tweak social posts to fit their unique voice and audience, and ensure your brand standards are followed. alpha |BRAVO’s Social Command Studio comes equipped with Bambu by Sprout and Sprout Social dashboards to keep all of your social media efforts in one place.
DATA ANALYST
Data is the new currency when it comes to marketing. And because of the sheer mass amounts of data companies are able to gather, it pays to hire a dedicated professional to not only capture relevant data, but analyze it and use it to inform marketing strategies and tactics.
What to look for: A professional with a minimum of 2-3 years of experience, and a love for diving deep into data.
Must-have skills: Your Data Analyst should have strong data analysis skills as well as the ability to clearly explain what data is showing and how it can be used to inform strategy.
Nice-to-have skills: Some experience with data tools or dashboards is helpful
Scoring the Resume: Candidates’ resumes should show proof of success in the form of data as it relates to marketing and sales. They should also have some experience distilling data points and presenting to internal teams or clients.
Alternative Option: If your budget won’t yet allow for a full-time analytics role, you can look at hiring a freelancer with exceptional skills, or a marketing agency with a focus on data-driven strategies.
Depending on the size of your company, your marketing team might consist of a seven-person staff or a single person with the help of a marketing agency or two. Either way, having professionals with these skills will set your company up for success and ensure that your marketing efforts are strong and successful in 2019. Need help with content, design, social media or production efforts in 2019? We’d love to help you put together a killer 2019 marketing strategy! Contact us here.
