What are the skills required to be successful in Marketing?

1. One of the most important skills required to succeed at any job is the ability to think like the counter-party. Holmes was a great detective because he could think like, and often out think, the criminals he was investigating. I'm not the greatest believer in being an extrovert. That's a cliche associated with marketing which has come from associating marketing solely with directly selling products, like Telebrands, where all they do is blabber about a product mindlessly. If you truly believe in your product, you'll be able to tell people about it with conviction, unless you're a total recluse. As a marketing person, your primary goal should be to think as the consumer. Whom you try to sell to defines your product to a great extent. At the same time, given a product, it is important for you to find what's right with the product, given your customer/client profile. So it's important for you to be able to become the consumer and analyze the product accordingly. I'll cite an interesting example here. A popular cereal manufacturer, A, finally turned its sights on India about two decades ago. The product had been a best seller in the US and Europe. Why not India, which was finally accepting foreign brands with open arms? So they came to India, confident that with their brand and product quality, they'd sweep the market. They were wrong. Their cornflakes were made from the best corn, using the best methods. They were crunchy and extremely well packaged. They were on the expensive side but globalization was the order of the day and people were more than willing to shell out a few extra bucks for quality. What could possibly have gone wrong? They had not studied the Indian consumer properly. Western countries have a habit of eating cereal in cold milk, which does not destroy the texture of the cereal in a jiffy. The cornflakes were puffed and would absorb milk, which worked very well for them when the milk was cold, since the slow absorption would make them "juicy".  So the cornflakes would retain their texture, which is what they were popular for. Indians, on the other hand, eat cereal in hot milk. The hot Indian milk, far from making them juicy, filled up the flake and caused it to become soggy, which meant that you were left with nothing more than a paste. The other Indian brands had none of the puffiness and took a longer time to soften up. And they were significantly cheaper. No one bought A. Of course, with time, either A changed its cereal formulation or the Indian masses started liking cereal in cold milk. Either way, now it's a successful product. As a marketing guy, your aim is not just to sell the product to the customer. It's to ensure that you have a product that can be sold. It's not a straight process, it's a feedback loop. Think like your intended customer and you should do fine. 2. Good communication and flexibility are vital once you know what needs to be done. This is again an offshoot of knowing your customer. Being a master of English will not get you anywhere in some Indian village. More than being an extrovert, it's important to be flexible and respect other people, their traditions and customs. If you're the sort of person who wrinkles his nose on seeing someone eat something you're not used to, do away with that habit. You don't have to eat cockroaches, but understand why people do. Have an open mind and take in what you can. Be aware of the world around you. Read. This is what I've learned from my experience which, at 2 years and a couple of months, is rather limited. I'm not an MBA either. But I hope it makes sense. :)

For being a successful marketing, a marketer needs to hold on some skills like a good marketer are strong communicators and astute business operators. A good communication skill will help the marketer to deal with supplier and service providers, maintain relationships with your customers and build valuable networks in the market concerned.Sales team is an essential part of the marketing success and involving them in developing the marketing strategies helps in motivating and focusing the salespeople to achieve the marketing objectives.Collaborating the sales team to perform together helps in the growth and success of the business.

The marketer of today does not craft images, but is human:

The most important thing is the willingness to accept challenges and do anything to achieve it. Besides, you must be extrovert should have good analytical skills should be able to foresee the hurdles in advance and take proactive measures to overcome them You can certainly be an excellent marketing guy if you have or can develop these skills