Top 10+ Marketing Skills To List on Your Resume in 2023

"Marketing skills are needed by marketing professionals only."

Wrong. Think Outside the Bun for a second.

Marketing skills are incorporated into every industry. Whether you’re in retail, logistics or science, employers are delighted to see marketing skills on a resume. 

In this guide you’ll find:

• A clear definition of marketing skills.
• A list of marketing skills examples.
• How to develop your marketing skills.
• And how to include marketing skills on your resume.

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Read more about other types of skills that you could showcase on your resume:

• Interpersonal Skills
• Technical Skills
• Time Management Skills
• Communication Skills
• Creative Thinking Skills
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Management Skills
• IT Skills
• Leadership Skills
• Conflict Resolution Skills

Marketing Skills on a Resume Example

1. Why Are Marketing Skills Important?

Every product or service needs visibility. 

How do they get that visibility? Through marketing. Every company wants employees who understand the value of their brand. That’s why companies invest in employees with marketing skills under their belt. 

So, whether you’re searching for a job, or currently working and satisfied with your position, having marketing skills makes you more valuable to any company. Even a few basic marketing skills will increase your chances of getting hired or promoted as you’ll know how to add value to the company’s brand, thus increasing their profit. 

Let’s find out what skills are essential in marketing, shall we?

2. Top Marketing Skills Examples

Recruiters will be looking for certain marketing attributes that will give an indication of your potential. 

You’ll need to show evidence of a broad mix of hard and soft skills under the marketing umbrella to be successful. 

But— 

Don’t get hung up on whether you’ve had the opportunity to use these skills at a place of employment. You can demonstrate you’ve gained them through non-work activities as well. 

1. SEO

These days, all marketers should have at least a basic understanding of SEO best practices to gain visibility within Google search results. 

SEO as a skill set involves knowing how to write, update, and optimize content to drive web traffic, using tools such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Yoast.

2. Visual Design

Visual storytelling generates engagement and conversions online. Therefore, design and aesthetic appreciation skills are a crucial aspect of marketing. 

Interactive infographics and mixed-media videos are becoming more and more popular. Being able to identify and implement visually appealing and engaging content will set you apart. 

3. Project Management

Planning and preparation skills are required for any marketing campaign. Without solid project management skills, you’ll lose track of what you’re supposed to be working on. This means missing deadlines and not setting priorities appropriately.

A marketing campaign is a project which includes a briefing process, execution, and reporting/results. Polish your project management skills so you’ll be able to stay on top of this involved process, thereby being more productive. 

4. Storytelling

People buy based on the feelings they have about a product or service. 

That feeling is derived from the story that is told through the copywriting and visual aspects included in your copy. The recycled notebook you’re promoting helps the environment—a great selling point. But, seeing a little girl drawing a picture of a tree for her mom will sell that notebook. 

Being able to tell a good story and get buy-in from the consumers is a key aspect of marketing skills. 

5. Ethical Awareness

Integrity, humility, and honesty—these are core principles which should be considered with any marketing strategy. Ensuring that your product or service does not cross ethical lines is an important aspect of marketing skills.

Being aware of cultural mores, the conditions of workers creating the product or service, and whether or not what you’re selling will have a negative impact on people or the environment is part of marketing. 

Marketing to improve well-being for those in need is a way to elevate your marketing for social good. 

6. Time Management

Every job has deadlines and expected timelines for completing tasks. If you’re adept at time management, your employer will know you can be depended on to get things done in a timely manner.

A critical aspect of time management is being able to determine “priority” level tasks over “non-urgent” ones and attending to them appropriately. 

There are many great digital tools to help you with scheduling and organizing your tasks. Find an app that suits you and install it for a time management boost. And in turn, you’ll have time for more creative thinking. 

7. Creative Thinking 

Data, analytics, spreadsheets. There’s a push to make everything technical. 

But—creativity is the spark for every idea. 

Being able to think creatively means you’ll see things from different angles and approach issues in a unique way. It also means you’ll come up with interesting ways to bring engagement to products and services. 

Creative thinking is also a key part of innovation. Employers seek innovative employees as they always think of new ways to make improvements in efficiency, aesthetics, and productivity. 

8. Competitive Research

Doing competitive research means knowing your enemy (the competition) so you know where you stand in the market. Although competitive research lies at the heart of any decent marketing strategy, this skill is also in high demand across many industries. 

Doing this research means you’ll have a concrete idea of what needs to be improved. The company will benefit by knowing where and how to compete, thus gaining more customers and visibility. It’s a no-brainer that companies want employees with solid competitive research skills. 

9. CRM Software 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a critical tool. It arranges and manages the interactions that customers, and potential customers, have with the company. 

CRM software allows a company to see everything in one place—a dashboard with customer history, order statuses, and any outstanding issues. 

Salesforce and Oracle are two of the top CRM software choices to start off with.

10. Negotiation

Marketing is not just about creating compelling campaigns and attracting customers; it's also about building strong relationships and achieving mutually beneficial outcomes. This is where negotiation skills come into play, and here's why they are absolutely crucial for success in marketing roles.

They empower you to build partnerships, allocate resources wisely, outmaneuver competitors, stay adaptable, and sell your ideas effectively. So, for those aspiring to excel in marketing roles, we encourage you to invest time in honing your negotiation skills because they are the secret weapon that can truly elevate your marketing career.

Expert Hint: Make sure to get to know some tools of the competitive research trade: Google Analytics, SEO, Phlanx, SEMRush, and Ahrefs. 

Let’s focus on the hands-on part of marketing skills and help to get them to stand out on your resume. 

3. How to Include Marketing Skills on Your Resume

As mentioned, marketing skills are highly impactful as every business and entrepreneur needs them to create a positive brand image. Every company needs a strong marketing strategy, so including marketing skills on your resume will entice those recruiters.

Make sure you write a resume that makes the recruiter see your marketing skills are top-notch, so you can showcase your skills on the job. 

1. Upgrade Your Resume Profile

Your resume summary, also called a resume profile is the first thing a recruiter will notice. Show them you’re a savvy marketer by creating a stand-out resume profile. It’s like an appetizer for the work experience main course. 

A resume profile is a short overview of your work experience, skills, and accomplishments. It's an introduction to your resume which should showcase your finest attributes, including those marketing skills, and how they fit with the employment position. 

Marketing Skills in the Resume Summary

2. Impress with Your Previous Work Experience

The work experience section shows the employer that you have what it takes. The hiring managers pore over this section to determine if you’re the right candidate. You should certainly highlight your marketing skills using effective resume bullet points, so you don’t get the dreaded rejection call. 

Here are resume tips to get this section tip-top, followed by an example: 

• Don’t be afraid to toot your horn! Include every relevant achievement due to your strong marketing skills. Add percentages, and hard proof of success whenever possible. 

• Also include projects you’ve accomplished beyond your daily duties. Employers will contact the candidate who displays proactive motivation, participation, and aspiration.

• Make sure to always use action words. Instead of “Wrote Instagram posts” write “Composed engaging Instagram stories increasing average daily impressions by 25%.” 

Job Description with Marketing Skills

3. Make Your Education Section Stand Out 

Even if you’re writing a resume without work experience under your belt, your resume education section can highlight aspects of your college career that will make a recruiter remember you. 

Things like a high GPA, extracurricular activities, and school achievements can give you a competitive edge. If the school activities are relevant, it’ll drive home the message that you’re serious about marketing. 

Graphic arts or website design courses, writing for the school newspaper, managing a school project—all those will show you’ve had experience in marketing. 

Marketing Skills in the Education Section

4. Strengthen Your Strong Skills Section

Want a strong finish to your resume? Make sure your resume skills section makes the recruiter feel like they’ve finally found the perfect fit. 

Customize the skills list on your resume to match the requirements of the job offer.

Observe these skills section best practices:

• Read the job description carefully and make sure you’ve included those skills keywords (to increase your chances a resume-scanning bot or human will take notice).
• Bullet your skills list and include both hard skills and soft skills. 

Marketing Skills in the Skills Section

5. Add Supplemental Sections to Wow the Recruiter 

Including extra resume sections shows the recruiter that you are the marketing whiz they want on their team. You want to stand out and have extra skills and achievements that are relevant to the position. 

Here are a couple of possibilities that can highlight your marketing skills:

• Invested hours and money learning a second (or third) language? Flaunt it! Start at the top with the language you’re most fluent in and then show your proficiency with words like “native,” “fluent,” “intermediate,” and “beginner.” And voilà—impressed recruiter! 
• Member of a writing group? Enjoy playing video games? Those can be added to your resume as they demonstrate storytelling and analytical abilities. Add a resume hobbies and interests section, so the hiring manager sees marketing-friendly pastimes. 

Marketing Skills in the Extra Sections

Expert Hint: A superb cover letter makes ALL the difference. HR professionals agree that cover letters are a way to stand out. Learn how to write a cover letter that exhibits your great marketing skills.

The ResumeLab builder is more than looks. Get specific content to boost your chances of getting the job. Add job descriptions, bullet points, and skills. Easy. Improve your resume in our resume builder now.

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4. How to Improve Your Marketing Skills

Honing your marketing skills will make you that much more employable. This can mean signing up for on-the-job training or enrolling in a course. The investment will be returned in your ability to advance your marketing career. 

Read on to learn where to focus your efforts to deepen your marketing knowledge.

1. Take a Course in Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing means beefing up your social media skills. Companies promote their brands on major platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Be sure to learn how video and audio production are key elements in any marketing strategy. 

2. Get Comfortable with Collaboration 

It can be challenging to collaborate with various departments. Marketing professionals need to work across organizational departments. 

Sales personnel, the customer service team, website developers, graphic artists, and content writers all play a role in your marketing strategy, so it’s best to be able to communicate effectively in order to overcome barriers between different people and roles. 

Collaborating means knowing how to: 

• Listen actively.
• Take constructive feedback.
• Think inclusively.
• Give clear directives for every step for the team members to follow. 

3. Take a Course in Automation 

We’re living in a digital world so it makes sense that marketers should make the most of automation tools that could help them achieve their goals.

Removing manual labor through the use of automatic tools ensures accuracy and high quality. RDA Corp states that a whopping 93% of organizations say that automation initiates digital transformation. 

With automation, you can create drip-marketing email campaigns, scrape SEO data, auto-update documents, and increase overall operational efficiency. Becoming skilled at marketing automation is a feather in your cap, so investing in an automation skills course would be sensible. 

4. Develop Web Design Competence

A decent marketing strategy relies heavily on the creation of an attractive and engaging website. Although you don’t need “hacker” level competence, taking a course in website creation would bring your marketing skills to the next level.

5. Take an SEO Deep Dive

According to SEOTribunal, Google processes 3.8 million searches per minute every day.

Just a measly 2 trillion searches per year!

People are constantly Googling and it’s everyone’s #1 tool for finding products and services. 

There are more SEO courses to choose from today than you can shake a stick at. 

It would behoove you to sign up for one as you’ll learn about:

• User experience (UX)
• Link building
• Content marketing
• Zero-click search results
• Organic traffic

6. Start a Blog 

Nothing can beat a solid marketing reputation, and blogging allows you to share your ideas with an audience which builds your authority on that topic. Your writing will improve and your storytelling skills will be developed. 

Having a blog on your resume is a major sign that you’ve got experience with a key aspect of marketing strategies. Blogging has been a consistent feature of marketing over the last several years and a critical element for many businesses. 

7. Listen to Podcasts

With podcast listenership skyrocketing, you should also listen to podcasts from major brands to learn how podcasting helps companies communicate to a captive audience. 

Marketing podcast hosts invite expert guests who give actionable tips, keep you up-to-date on trending strategies, and provide valuable insight on how to elevate your marketing skills. 

Follow these highly-rated marketing podcasts to add depth to your knowledge:

• Social Media Marketing Podcast
• HBR IdeaCast
• Perpetual Traffic
• Authority Hacker Podcast
• Niche Pursuits

These podcasts will also alert you to current trends in the marketing industry.

8. Become a Trend Spotter

Some people bird watch. Marketers trend watch. 

Keeping an eye out for trends is a skill every marketer should start developing today. If you can find a way to make a brand a trendsetter, you’ll be a hot commodity. 

Expert Tip: Follow video content creators, consumer behavior specialists, UX designers, and industry experts on LinkedIn. Bookmark and follow to get inspired so you know what’s trending now to inspire your marketing style. 

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Key Points

Solid marketing skills will go far as every business needs good marketing to survive. Having these skills means you’ll have lots of opportunities. 

Make sure to stay on top of trends and continuously develop your marketing skills. Most of all—market yourself! Develop your own personal brand and be confident in your abilities. 

Showcase your marketing skills on LinkedIn and other social media, on your resume, and in your cover letter. 

Thanks for reading. If you’re still struggling to define marketing skills, or you just need some advice on how to include them in your resume, then let us know in the comments section. We’re here to help.