Two weeks ago we posted about the advantages of being a marketing generalist or specialist. But what specialties are we talking about?
That question was asked of me. And now I want to answer it.
In my opinion, these are the five most important specialties any marketer could have in 2015:
- Web Design/Development – marketers need to have more technical skills these days than they did in the past. So much of what we want to do requires technical support. But it’s not always easy to get the support you need. So when it comes to basic HTML and CSS at a minimum, marketers can get a lot more done if they know how to do some light development work themselves.
- Content Development – I almost wrote writer, but it’s more than just that. A good content developer from a marketing point of view is someone who can create any kind of content for a company, from start to finish. This includes creating strategy, identifying themes, coordinating with stakeholders, prioritizing, project managing, and writing. And it doesn’t stop with a finished piece of content. The content developer should be leading the promotion of the content as well.
- Social Media/Community Manager – view the community as the entirety of people who interact with you online, including any and all social media sites, your own forum or website community, email subscribers, etc. Managing the community involves answering questions, creating content, getting feedback, and organizing people in such a way that they become a force for growth within your company. A good social media specialist can turn a company that uses social media because they “have to” to a company that relies on social media for real growth.
