Five Aspects to Being a Modern Marketing Leader

In certain industries, such as marketing, there is no guarantee that a person’s actions will meet preferred results. To increase the chance of success, a leader must possess a particular perspective with a set of skills to give the team the best opportunities. If you’re looking to move higher in digital marketing jobs, read on for our top five personality characteristics of a skilled marketing leader.

1. Imagination

Inspirational marketing leaders need to be creative. Creativity is imperative to rousing the team with concepts of possibility and imaginative ideas. For a marketing project to cut through the standard saturated landscape, it needs to be innovative and take the consumer by surprise. So, if you are able to view things from a different perspective or recognise creative ideas when they present themselves, you have the talent to be a professional marketer. Of course, some of the best marketing leaders are not imaginative; however, they know how to inspire others who will contribute to imaginative solutions.

2. Use a Strategic Approach

One of the most significant elements of any marketing project is preparation. The level of planning will determine the success of execution and overall results. As a marketing leader, you may believe your planning days are long-gone making prep another person’s job. While this is true to a certain extent, marketers will always need to get their hands dirty during the preparation phase. Even as a marketing leader, you will need to outline the project’s ultimate goals. Failing to identify the purpose of the project can result in a team heading off in different ways to the approach you envisage, and it is no fault of their own. Defining and mapping out a marketing strategy allows you the opportunity to position people based on their strengths, as well as delegating accordingly. After all, this is what a good leader has to do.

3. Looking Beyond the Results

While marketing is an exciting and creative profession, it also requires a methodical approach. Nowadays, data is vital to all projects as it allows one to identify the demographic targeted, see what they are consuming and indicate how effective you are at reaching this group. As such, most people will obsess over the project results, losing sight of the creativity. The most successful marketing leaders are those who can see beyond the project results and use data as insight for the following project. Leaders who become overwhelmed by data tend to interpret the results as disappointing and a failure. This obstructs the person from viewing the positive results. Focusing on the negative elements and mistakes will hardly make a marketing team feel as if they are achieving goals, particularly if the leader is disregarding their contribution.

4. Building a Contacts Book

To be a successful marketing leader in 2019/2020, it is important that you have more than a helpful team. Half of this job involves constantly driving new opportunities from both inside and outside the organisation. Nowadays, everything is digital, and people want to connect with others they see as influential and relevant to their needs. This is the primary reason why personal branding has become significant. Leaders need to show fellow marketers their voice to both consumers and team members, making them sure of the voice behind the organisation and why it should be heard.

5. Knowing When to Delegate Tasks

Even the most autonomous marketing leaders need to know about delegation. If you do not have time to complete all tasks, delegation can help reduce the pressure and pass out roles to be completed without supervision. Successful leadership involves correct delegation of tasks, giving people the chance to shine, but still ensuring that all team members have your support and guidance. Of all things, delegation gives a leader time to ensure their team is strong and bring in new faces for areas that may be lacking. After all, a successful marketing leader is only as good as the people they have in their team. Delegation is not a simple task, but once you learn how to complete this task you will promote more successful projects.