The world has changed and so have marketing skills

By / Charles Nixon / In Best practice /

According to a major survey of marketers by Adobe, marketing has changed more in the last two years than in the previous fifty. So how do we know what best practice now is or even, at a minimum, good practice? How to tell if you’re ready for today’s world of marketing and business.

For most of us, when it comes to marketing skills, guidance probably comes from watching our peers, taking direction from our bosses and from news and articles in our trusted blogs and news sources. We tend to follow advice and hope that the correct results will follow; only later deciding to question and innovate.

But what if the current way of doing things just does not work any more, driven by more dynamic environments and new technologies that appear to be turning accepted nostrums upside down? Having been through the most traumatic recession in 70 years, the world is no longer the same, and the digital revolution has impacted every aspect of marketing from product to promotion. It is now an integral part of the business and marketing mix. These changes mean that we urgently need to review how we ’do’ marketing.

In response to these changes, a new set of professional marketing standards has been developed by the world’s largest body of marketers, the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

These revised standards were the result of engaging with 3,700 marketers, employers and senior business professionals. They show the capabilities expected at each stage in a career and are designed to guide both marketers and employers in assessing levels of proficiency and identifying training needs.

The standards recognise eight technical capabilities that are required in order to perform efficiently and effectively:

Technical capability

Brand	This technical capability is about defining brand strategy and positioning, managing the brand and providing clear brand guidelines for its protection, and tracking and measuring its performance to inform future activity.
Risk, Reputation and Compliance	This technical capability is about managing corporate risk, governance and reputation through effective monitoring of relevant legislation and regulation to ensure ongoing compliance by marketing. It is also about managing the overall reputation of the organisation through the alignment of people, processes and brands
Integrated Marketing Communications	This technical capability is about the integration of marketing communications strategy with business strategy and the use of both physical and digital communications tools in an integrated way.
Digital Capability	This technical capability is about influencing organisational digital strategy in terms of its impact on structure, culture and strategic plans as well as integrating digital capability into marketing to meet the needs of the customer.
Value Propositions	This technical capability is about the development of customer value propositions using an innovative approach as well as the delivery and management of customer propositions, products and services.
Channels to Market	This technical capability is about developing and managing appropriate channels and partners to meet changing customer needs and business goals.
Customer Experience	This technical capability is about defining what the customer experience should be in order to meet corporate objectives and achieve customer advocacy. It is also about the delivery of activities that deliver the desired customer experience.
Monitoring and Measurement	This technical capability is about ensuring that all marketing activities, whether generated by the organisation or the customer, are monitored and measured for their effectiveness. Data and insights produced are then interpreted and used to achieve improvements in the future.

In addition, three core capabilities are identified which sit at the heart of marketing and play an essential role in informing our understanding of the market, and developing marketing solutions that lead to the achievement of business goals and sustainable organisational performance. These are:

Insight
Strategy
Championing the customer

Finally, professional standards recognise five levels of ability within each capability and these are categorised as:

LEVEL	Definition	Knowledge	Application
Authoritative	Mastery at the highest level	Mastery	Habitual
Accomplished	An advanced degree of knowledge and consistency	Mastery	Regular
Able	Full knowledge of concepts and application to business	Full	Regular
Active	Meaningful knowledge with some experience and application	Some	Some
Aware	Limited knowledge or experience	Limited	Limited

As marketers progress in their careers or move positions they may need to evaluate their technical capabilities against what is expected for the new roles they take up. In addition, some may wish to specialise in a technical area such as digital or communications, for instance, and they can then plot a path of higher competence in this area.

Marketing skills – self assessment tools

These two sets of guidance then lead on to the use of an effective self-assessment tool. A marketer’s knowledge can now be evaluated using the grid below and then plotted on a vector diagram. Together these tools use the standards to identify current attainment and to highlight the areas that each individual may need to address through a combination of work experience, knowledge acquisition, courses and qualifications.

LEVELS OF ABILITY	Aware	Active	Able	Accomplished	Authoritative
TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES
Brand
Value
Digital
Reputation / Risk
Communication
Customer
Channel
Measurement
CORE CAPABILITIES
Insight
Strategy
Championing the Customer

New Professional Qualifications

Using these standards as a foundation, the CIM has also developed a new set of professional qualifications that were implemented for the first time this year.

These new qualifications are more relevant to today’s world and offer a more flexible approach in line with modern learning practices. The five levels of ability are catered for in the different levels of qualifications and awards available, enabling managers to ensure the knowledge and skills of their staff are developed in line with their career progression and the requirements of the team. In addition digital marketing is now an integral part of all of the new qualifications ensuring that all marketers are equipped with this essential set of skills and knowledge.

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Author: Charles Nixon

Charles is Master and a founding director of Cambridge Marketing Colleges and consults in marketing for high technology and publishing companies. He is a former member of the CIM’s International Board of Trustees and is President of the CIM Cambridgeshire Branch.

The world has changed and so have marketing skills