Why you may need to change your Marketing strategy

Marketing candidates are changing…

According to research carried out by Marketing Week “only 44% of the UK’s marketers now have a recognised marketing qualification, with 55% intending to take one while already in work.”

With many candidates now coming from a non-traditional marketing background, recruiters need to make sure they are not restricting their company’s opportunities to benefit from the varied skills and ideas that those without marketing and business degrees may bring.

Why change in marketing is good…

As more and more data is being produced and with the ever changing technology within the marketing industry, many organisations are now finding that they require candidates from more scientific and technology backgrounds to utilize this data to its full potential.

The Guardian writes “For those companies that can harness and analyse this data, it is possible to generate an extraordinarily detailed picture of customer behaviour, preferences and trends.”

Nick Cicero calls those candidates from non-traditional backgrounds ‘unbiased marketers’, whose skills and experiences come from life experience and their “logical thinking from complex problems in completely different worlds.”   He believes unbiased marketers “bring in fresh thinking” but also possess “the hunger to learn and soak in the “traditional” tactics that all marketers need”.

An artist and a scientist…

However this doesn’t mean candidates no longer need to have a creative flair. Marketers need to be well rounded  individuals applying their imagination and creativity, as well as an analytical side in order to be successful.

Alison Orsi, vice president of marketing, communications and citizenship at IBM UK and Ireland says, “It’s about balance. Whoever has the best algorithm and can use it in the most compelling way to provide the best experience is going to win.”   Marketers need to combine their analytical and creative sides together to build “creative stories using data”.

Many senior marketers agree that in the not too distant future data will be providing a platform for a new kind of creativity so now is a perfect time to gain a head start.

What can you do?

As with any job application the first thing potential employers will see is your CV so you need to make sure that this perfectly reflects this mixture of both your analytical and creative skills and experiences you have gained throughout your career to date.

If you get through to interview stage you will need to make sure you can sell yourself in person and successfully illustrate how your previous non-traditional roles lend themselves to the marketing position you are applying for.

Mariano Dima, chief marketing officer of holiday rental company HomeAway comes from an engineering background but “always liked to build things as a young boy”, and believes marketing satisfies this urge “through designing and building products and propositions.”

What does this mean for hiring managers and marketing candidates?

For candidates this means that the current job market is more ‘welcoming’ of those from a non-traditional background, making it a fantastic time to for those looking for a career change or graduates looking to get into the marketing industry.

However it also means that more than ever candidates will need to demonstrate that they are well rounded individuals who are not only able to analyse numbers and data, but use that information to creatively reach clients in an ever changing market.

For those hiring this means that there is an opportunity to tap into are a plethora of non-traditional marketers out there that are ready to bring fresh ideas into the business, along with unique viewpoints and skillsets gained from their previous studies or  job roles in other diverse industries.