What skills and competencies will marketers need to succeed in the future?
Answer: Marketing must become more holistic and less departmental. Marketers must achieve wider influence in the company, continuously create new ideas, and strive for customer insight by treating customers differently but appropriately. They must build their brands more through performance than promotion. They must go electronic and win through building superior information and communication systems. To accomplish these changes and become truly holistic, marketers need a new set of skills and competencies in:
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Partner relationship management (PRM)
• Database marketing and data mining
• Contact center management and telemarketing
• Digital marketing and social media
• Public relations marketing (including event and sponsorship marketing)
• Brand-building and brand-asset management
• Experiential marketing
• Integrated marketing communications
• Profitability analysis by segment, customer, and channel