6 key skills marketers should add to their resumes in 2024
There’s no way to sugarcoat some of the top workplace trends of 2023: lower budgets and smaller staff numbers. Tech companies laid off over 100,000 workers over the course of 2023 — and the workers who remained spent much of the year scrambling to cover the gaps left when their colleagues were let go. We were truly in our ‘do more with less’ era: the work had to get accomplished, but the resources were slim. [caption id="attachment_493501" align="alignnone" width="8688"]Photo by M. Monk on Unsplash[/caption] While 2024 hasn’t completely stabilized (Microsoft and Amazon both announced large layoffs in January), many workers have recovered from the shock of the collective losses of 2023 and have begun to look toward the future. For marketers especially, there is a collective need to move beyond the ‘Do more with less’ era and into a more sustainable landscape. That’s why 2024 will likely be a year dedicated to upskilling for many marketers — or at least it should be! Try Wrike for free Why you should continue to pursue new skills There are a few very compelling reasons to learn new skills, especially in a tumultuous job market. Whether you feel your current position may be in jeopardy or not, having new skills can help you protect yourself in the future as well as expand your current horizons and improve job satisfaction. One reason to upskill is that it will make you more valuable as a current employee, potentially helping you avoid layoffs in the future. Employers might look more favorably on someone who is able to offer a broader range of skills than someone who has a more limited skill set. Upskilling could also allow you to move laterally within your company to other roles at a time when the scope for promotions might be on hold. Another reason to pursue upskilling is to ensure that if you are affected by a layoff in the future, you should be able to maximize your job search opportunities with more skills under your belt. CNBC reported that when employees were laid off in 2023, a number of those workers ended up being hired at smaller companies or in adjacent industries: “Some laid-off employees immediately found new jobs at smaller software firms and internet companies or continued their careers outside of tech, pivoting to consulting, health care, finance and other industries eager to recruit top talent who might have otherwise stayed at larger tech companies.” Over a third of laid-off tech workers found positions in software development, internet, and IT firms. Joining a smaller firm often means that you will have broader responsibilities than at a large company. In the hiring process for one of these roles, having a wider range of skills to offer can give you a competitive edge. Finally, upskilling will likely increase your job satisfaction. A study undertaken by Gallup and Amazon found that “nearly three-in-four workers (71%) who have participated in upskilling agree or strongly agree that it has enhanced their satisfaction with work.” If you can increase your current and future employability as well as your job satisfaction at the same time, that’s a win-win situation. Areas marketers should upskill in 2024 Upskilling or even reskilling opportunities are often dependent on your current role and experience, as well as your employer’s flexibility and openness to the process, which may involve using working hours. With those caveats in mind, certain categories of marketing skills will continue to be valuable in the coming years and will most likely benefit marketers who seek out those skills. Here are a few key marketing skills marketers should add to their resumes in 2024: Data analysis and reporting: Reporting and data analysis go hand in hand. Data analysis allows you to better understand the numbers behind what’s working and what’s not, and reporting can help you show your managers and executives how the work your team is undertaking is affecting the company’s bottom line. This course will give you the lowdown on how to analyze key metrics for your marketing campaigns. Social media: Social media is here to stay and many marketing departments that have undergone layoffs have had to say goodbye to their social media staff. Learning new strategies in the social media marketing department can allow your organization to continue to have a presence during a period of slower growth. HubSpot offers a free social media marketing course that would fit the bill in this area. Project management: Most marketers function as project managers as part of their roles, but most don’t have formal project management training. The Project Management Institute offers a selection of free e-learning opportunities that will help you gain a better understanding of how the principles of project management can inform your marketing campaigns, event planning, and more. A/B testing: Figuring out exactly what marketing activities, campaigns, or language works best is critical to effectively using budgets and resources. A/B testing allows you to do just that, drilling down into the effectiveness of particular elements with your audience so you can do more of what’s effective. A course in the basics of A/B testing like this one would give you a sense of how to start designing the most effective A/B testing experiments. Generative AI: Understanding how to use generative AI for your marketing role, no matter what that role is, will continue to be imperative over the coming year. Whether you’re using ChatGPT to draft email cadences to nurture leads or brainstorming keywords, the new AI technology can and should help make your marketing job easier and less time-consuming. This ChatGPT for Beginners course would be a smart place to start. Copywriting: As a copywriter, I might live to regret suggesting all marketers upskill their copywriting but, truth be told, it’s a darn useful skill to have. If you can draft more effective emails to potential leads without the help of your organization’s copywriters (if they have them at all), you’ll be one step ahead of your colleagues. Similarly, if you are applying for a position at a company that doesn’t have copywriters, having strong writing skills can only benefit you in the hiring process. This course in High Impact Business Writing would help you polish your writing skills. Why mastering Wrike can help bolster your 2024 goals In the spirit of continuous learning, Wrike offers a range of courses that will help you improve your Wrike skills, ensuring you’re able to use each and every feature that can impact your team’s success. (Our marketing team recently brushed up on our skills and we can attest it’s a game changer!) While Wrike doesn’t offer general marketing courses, so many of our platform’s features directly enable marketers to use the skills we outlined above. Interested in increasing your analytics and reporting skills in 2024? Wrike’s advanced analytics feature allows you to analyze data and create reports with a few clicks. Trying to improve your copywriting skills this year? Use our integration with Grammarly, which offers full functionality in all tasks and ensures your Wrike work is typo-free. Once you’ve created the foundation for a new campaign using ChatGPT, bring it into Wrike to manage it from start to finish. If you’re itching to get started using Wrike to support new skills, a Wrike free two-week trial is the perfect introduction. Try Wrike for free
How to Create the Perfect Content Brief
One of the most effective ways to attract new leads and build brand awareness is through content marketing. Developing and publishing content on a regular basis is very important to ensure that you get the most out of your efforts. Depending on the size and nature of your team, the best way to manage your content creation process is through a consistent and organized calendar. In this article, we’ll discuss how a content brief can help reduce the amount of time spent on various tasks and projects, as well as what else you can do to scale your team. Keep reading to discover what a content brief is, why it’s important, and how to write one. Then, explore a real content brief example, along with tips on how Wrike can help. What is a content brief? A content brief is an important document that marketing departments and agencies use to tell writers and collaborators what they should do when creating a specific piece of content. It can be used to communicate the direction a piece of content should take, as well as optimize website messaging, pinpoint sales funnel targets, and support keyword strategies. What is an SEO content brief? A good SEO brief is a document that helps writers understand the purpose of their content and what should be included in it in order to rank higher in search results. These details should include primary keywords, secondary keywords, internal links, headers, alt tags, metadata, and anything else writers and editors should know when creating the final piece. Why are content briefs important? A content brief is a must-have for writers before they start working on their first draft. It helps them identify what they should focus on and what they should avoid in order to create better content. Here are some of the key benefits of using a content brief: They solidify your strategy Content briefs outline what you’re writing, but, more importantly, they also explain why you’re writing it in the first place. This affects the tone, intended audience, call to action, and many other important aspects of the piece. They save time and money Detailed content briefs make it easier for teams to assign and track requests, as it eliminates the need for back-and-forth emails. It also allows them to stay in sync with their projects and work seamlessly across different time zones. They keep allocations organized Including details such as project scope within the brief for each new piece keeps freelancers on track time- and budget-wise without going overboard and charging extra down the line. They help writers be creative A great content brief will give the writer both direction and inspiration. Examples are helpful in sparking creativity. They ensure deliveries and deadlines are met Content briefs clearly outline when first drafts, notes, edits, approvals, and publications are all due. This keeps the entire team on the same page. How to write a content brief: What to include No matter what type of content you’re creating or what strategy you’re going for, you’ll want to include each of the following: Article title: This is the name of the blog post or other piece of content. It should include your primary keyword. Subtitles or headers: This will point the writer in the correct direction and incorporate some more keywords. Target audience: Who will read this piece of content? Add their job title and what they are likely most interested in learning about within this topic. Article funnel stage: This refers to the top, middle, and bottom of the sales funnel, aka, the buyer’s journey. The funnel stage should directly impact the perspective of the piece. Synopsis: A two- to three-sentence description or summary of the piece will go a long way towards making sure your writers understand what you need. CTA guidance: If you have specific links or ideas for what you’d like readers to do after they finish the article, that information goes here. Even a general idea will help your writers. For example, even if you don’t have a specific case study in mind, you can ask your writers to find a relevant one to include. Word count: This is the range or total number of words the writer should hit within the piece. Blog strategy experts recommend a minimum of but longer-form posts in the 1,000-2,500+ word range perform best. Helpful research links: Articles you want the piece to be modeled after or ones the piece is competing with should go here. Website or client guidelines: There may be specific requests or requirements depending on where the piece will be published, so make sure to include those too. Deadlines: Make a note of each of the following due dates: Keyword research Outline First draft Notes (if any) Revisions Approval Publication SEO content brief template: extras to include If you want to win Google’s featured snippet placement or simply rank higher than your competitors, you’ll need to include each of these: Meta title and description Meta descriptions and title tags are parts of HTML code that help search engines understand a web page's content. These are usually shown whenever a page appears in search results. Link suggestions (internal and commercial) Linking to pages on your own company’s website as well as third parties strengthens SEO by building further connections to other relevant articles and pages. This is very helpful for search engine algorithms that will want to better understand how to place your article when ranking for certain phrases. Relevant keywords and volumes Keywords also help build out the full picture of what your article is about. Their volumes represent the number of times a specific keyword has been searched for within a given timeframe and may indicate its value to your audience. Competitor research What are competitors saying about this topic? How does your brand agree or disagree? And, most importantly, how can your article be better than theirs? Redirect information (if relevant) A web page can be made available under multiple addresses by using a technique known as URL forwarding. When a browser tries to open a page that has been redirected, it displays a different page with a different address. Content brief example This content brief example is what we’ve used to create the post you’re reading now. Here is an outline along with an explanation of each item: Article title How to Create The Perfect Content Brief Article URL This is the web address the post will go to when live. Title tag This tag will appear at the top of our webpage. Meta description When searching for our chosen keywords, this information will pop up underneath the title in search engines. Article synopsis/purpose Here, we discuss which keywords we’re supporting, what we’re trying to do with the article, and what readers should gain from it. We also discuss which products or services to highlight, if any. Article goal This clear and measurable goal gives the piece more direction. Audience Here we use a bulleted list to outline the job titles of our intended readers Funnel Stage This is where we pinpoint which stage of the funnel we’re targeting Useful research links These links make it easier to quickly find relevant information on the topic(s) Prospective word count We use a single number or range. Draft date due Add your date here. Publication date Add your date here. Primary keyword This is where we put the word or phrase along with its volume. Primary keyword current ranking If our brand is already ranking for this keyword we’ll put that number here. Ranking URL If we already have a post ranking highly for this target keyword we’ll note the URL. Secondary keywords This list includes supplementary keywords and their matching volumes Inflexible H2s & H3s Here we organize our chosen headers in list form. H2s go in the first bullet point. H3s, if any, go in the indented bullet point. Internal link options to commercial pages List any relevant landing pages for the article. Internal link options to supporting pages These links are relevant to the topic and may provide additional information readers would like to know. How to create your own content brief template Step 1: Create a document draft Start by creating a document your writers and editors will have access to. Copy and paste a content brief example like the one above or create your own. Your marketing project management solution may also offer in-platform templates for content briefs. Step 2: List requirements Next, double-check all included content. Is there anything else the writer may need to know before they begin? Are there any additional sections you need to add so that the brief aligns with your greater content strategy? Step 3: Add in strategy components Then, begin to fill in the gaps. Collaborate with your SEO and editorial teams to get it done by the assigned deadline. Make sure they have completed their work before you get started with the brief, that way, it’s good to go soon after creating it. Get sign-off before handing it over to the writer. Step 4: Get notes and revise Finally, be sure to test out your template and make a point to review its performance over time. Ask all collaborators for their feedback, then apply their notes to the next version of the content brief template. You may find that there are sections you can trim, saving time in the process, or, you may discover more information is needed. Adding these sections to your content brief template now will save time on back and forth questions, additional revisions, and missed deadlines in the future. Why use Wrike for content strategy and content brief creation? Wrike is a project management tool that makes it easy for marketers to plan and execute their content strategies as well as create winning content briefs. Besides offering a holistic planning tool, Wrike has many highly effective templates, including the editorial calendar template. If you're a content agency or writer interested in project management, this template can help. The goal of this template is to create a pipeline that will allow you to regularly produce and publish new content. It will also help you create a consistent and comprehensive content plan. Not only does this aid in managing all of your requests, but it also keeps track of your schedule. It can even help you accelerate approvals and manage capacity. For example, if you’ve got incoming requests from internal stakeholders, you can capture and manage them all in one place. You can invite feedback from external collaborators right within the platform itself, making this solution fully scalable — an important quality for the high demands of content marketing management! And because there is no “one size fits all” solution to content marketing, Wrike has made its editorial calendar template completely customizable. With the help of custom workflows, you can easily create and manage a variety of tasks and projects. A custom workflow will also help you organize all of the different stages of your content. This allows teams to track all of the important details of each content asset, distribution platform, and intended sales pipeline. You can add various fields to any content brief or request form, such as the client’s name, the budget, and the due date right in the template itself. After a request is submitted, your team members can click "Add Assignment." You can then choose an appropriate team member to manage the task. Adding a new task to this template is as simple as clicking the + button and making sure that it's placed in the appropriate folder. The Wrike content plan template also comes with pre-built dashboards that will allow you to monitor the progress of your content. These can be used to choose which posts to promote where. The template can also be used to determine which content you want to make more or less of in the future. We recommend using our tool to plan and get approval on your next marketing budget with figures based on real data from your past projects obtained through Wrike. Aside from the publishing calendar, Wrike also comes with a variety of project management tools that will allow you to manage all of your content. Wrike offers a content management platform that simplifies content strategy and content brief creation. This includes everything from writing copy to storing visual assets to running reports to see which content is most effective. In addition to developing effective content strategies, Wrike’s digital marketing tools can improve a brand’s marketing as a whole. Consistent, high-quality content can help boost brand messaging and improve customer experience. And having a platform to manage it all can help resolve the many requests that come from various parts of the business. Having a consistent way to capture and manage all of your requests can help keep your other content plans running smoothly. Here is how Wrike’s team uses our platform for content strategy and content brief creation: Organize initiatives through individual calendars. With the ability to create individual calendars for different content types, Wrike allows our teams to manage their schedules more effectively. It can also help them identify potential conflicts between projects and tasks. Keep everyone on the same page. The ability to share Wrike's calendar with other departments makes it easier for teams to work together on projects. For instance, if a blog is scheduled to launch before a new product is released, the team can easily see the status of the blog. View accurate project updates. One of the most challenging tasks for teams is keeping track of the status of their tasks and projects. With Wrike's custom workflows, they can easily see the status of their tasks and projects at a glance. Break incoming requests down into actionable steps. Project steps are outlined during the content request phase. In order to create a submission, an employee must first decide if the content will need to be written, edited, and/or proofread. After gathering all the necessary information, the requester is then directed to a page that provides a variety of questions that will help them choose the type of content they need. Save time updating calendars. Wrike teams also use automation features within the platform. The first step in creating content is to create a Wrike task. This allows our teams to keep track of all the details related to their projects and tasks. As a result, Wrike Calendars automatically update with the latest plans and schedules. Track project details you care about most. With the ability to create custom workflows, Wrike's content operations process can help teams keep track of all their tasks and projects. These features can help keep the details of the projects and tasks in order. Get a bird’s eye view of all active projects. The team can also use a dashboard to keep track of all the progress of the tasks. This feature can help keep the team members focused on the tasks that are most important. Next steps: Put your content strategy to work with Wrike Now that you know how to write a content brief, it’s time to decide how you’ll organize your strategy with the entire team. Use Wrike’s two-week free trial and input all of your briefs and related tasks into one clearly organized and easy-to-reference calendar the entire team can use to visualize your content strategy.
Graphic Design for Beginners: Top Tips
With so many brands vying for customer attention in a sea of digital content, it’s more important than ever to use effective images that draw people to your message and brand. But having Photoshop loaded on your work laptop doesn’t automatically make you a designer, and a bad visual can annoy viewers (at best) and attract the wrong kind of attention (at worst). Good design is not something you can master overnight. There's simply too much to learn. The principles of brand identity, layout, and white space, color and typography, how to convey a message — not to mention complex design software. So how do you, as a non-designer, avoid common mistakes and navigate a suite of design applications to create eye-catching visuals without getting bogged down by too much information? We've collected a library of quick tips, cheat sheets, and online courses to help you master the basics and design beautiful creative assets for your business in no time. Why learn graphic design? Why should you spend time learning about graphic design for beginners and consider this as a career field? 1. Graphic design skills are in demand For starters, it’s an in-demand career path. Research suggests that the job market for graphic designers is expected to increase by 4.6% between the years 2016 and 2026. CareerFoundry echoes a similar sentiment, placing graphic designers at number seven on a list of the top 10 most in-demand design job titles for 2022. 2. Graphic design offers plenty of career options Another perk of learning graphic design for beginners is that it’s applicable to just about every industry. Graphic designers can assist with a variety of services, including business promotion, software, trade shows, and product packaging, to name a few. And because there are so many different types of services graphic designers can help with, the graphic design skillset is relevant across all industries, whether you work with product or service-based clients. 3. Graphic design work keeps you on your toes While some professionals prefer a consistent day-to-day workflow, graphic design means every day is different. New projects and work vary across the board, so there’s never a dull moment. The types of tasks that you work on will differ depending on client needs — one moment, you could be working on a logo design, and the next a full branding guide. There’s no telling what each day will bring, but it’s guaranteed to be a mix of types of work, unique tasks, and clients spread across industries and sizes. 4. Graphic design lets you flex your creative muscles Graphic design provides the opportunity to tap into your creative brain, and Entrepreneur suggests that reaching our creative potential in our work is paramount to feeling fulfilled and living a meaningful life. Sure, there are technical skills in design, such as using particular software systems and understanding design basics. But good graphic design also requires creative expertise. Coming up with new and unique designs means you’ll need to tap into your creative brain as much as possible. Graphic design courses for beginners Are you convinced and ready to learn graphic design? It can be tempting to dive in and try to learn everything all at once but don’t overwhelm yourself. We’ve rounded up some graphic design for beginners courses to help you get started. Free graphic design courses Graphic Design Workshop For Beginners Professional Advertising & Graphic Design [Mascot/Logo] Graphic Design for Entrepreneurs…Who Can’t Draw Graphic Design Basics Introduction to Graphic Design History Graphic Design Paid graphic design courses Become a Graphic Designer Graphic Design Basics: Core Principles for Visual Design Introduction to Graphic Design: Illustrator Basic design fundamentals everyone should know Want to take your learning a few steps further? Let's dive into some basic design fundamentals and resources for you to uplevel in these areas. Typography Your choice of typeface gives your design character, in addition to legible text. A stylish font is pointless if it’s unreadable, and using too many different fonts can be overwhelming to the eye. In general, limiting yourself to two to three complementary fonts in your design is recommended. Color theory Achieving harmony with color is essential for an eye-pleasing design. You don’t want your design to be either too bland or too chaotic. Some basic formulas for color harmony include using analogous colors (three colors that appear side-by-side on a 12-part color wheel), complementary colors (any two colors that are directly opposite each other on the color wheel), and a color scheme based on nature. Hierarchy What’s the most important element of your design? Don’t overwhelm your headline by overlaying it on a bright, bold image, for instance. Prioritize each of your design elements and keep that priority in mind when placing them, determining size and color, etc. Grids and balance Grids create guidelines for how visual elements should be positioned within your design layout and help determine proper proportion and balance. The golden ratio, or the ‘“rule of thirds,” is commonly used with grids to create an eye-pleasing result. And by placing certain elements outside of the grid, designers can naturally draw the viewer’s eye to these break-outs. Another way to learn graphic design? Study others’ work Start a collection of designs that you like, taking the time to define what you like about them and why. By analyzing successful designs and adopting certain elements into your own creative assets (without copying the design outright, of course), you can learn what works and quickly improve your visuals. Some common design mistakes to avoid: not using enough white space, placing too much text on one line, and using too many fonts and colors. Additional resources: Fundamental design principles for non-designers Want to learn graphic design? 9 tips and tricks for beginners The designer's guide to grid theory Typography design: Rules and terms every designer must know 10 basic elements of design Logo design: 15 golden rules for crafting logos How to design the perfect business logo (infographic) Graphic design software: Three options (and how to learn them) When it comes to software for graphic design, there are a few choices on the market that seem to reign supreme – and they’re all from Adobe. Below, we’re breaking down some tips and helpful resources for each of the most popular options: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. And when you’ve improved your graphic design chops and need to manage the ins and outs of your creative projects? Adobe Creative Cloud integrates seamlessly with Wrike. Photoshop Tips for beginners Unfamiliar with Photoshop? We have a few quick tips and extra resources to help you get started with this popular design software. Crop your images to create the best composition. If you find the horizon is off, you can level it by dragging any corner of the image box to rotate your photo. Use the Healing Brush to erase any spots on your image left from specks of dust or scratches on the camera lens. Bump up the contrast by brightening highlights and deepening shadows using the Levels window. Go easy on the color saturation. You can boost saturation to make your image more colorful, but too much can make it look glaring and overwrought. Additional resources: 2022 Adobe Photoshop keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet 5 easy Photoshop tips for beginners 18 quick Photoshop tips for beginners 10 Photoshop tips and tricks for beginners 120 Photoshop tips, tricks, and fixes Illustrator tips for beginners Illustrator is another popular software option used to create vector graphics. Vector graphics can be enlarged without compromising the integrity of the original image, so you get a crisp image no matter the final size (unlike bitmap graphics created by Photoshop, which can look jagged and blurry when scaled up). Additional resources: Adobe Illustrator cheatsheet Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator 10 essential Adobe Illustrator tips and tools for beginners 11 quick tips for Adobe Illustrator The absolute beginner's guide to Adobe Illustrator InDesign tips for beginners InDesign is built specifically for designing printed materials, including brochures, ads, business cards, books, and more. It’s the tool you use to put the visual elements you create in Photoshop and Illustrator together into one place or publication. One of the trickiest aspects of print design is being artistic while also making sure your work can be printed without any technical issues messing things up. You'll need to understand things like bleed, file format, image resolution, measurements, and more. Additional resources: Beginners guides to InDesign 2022 Adobe InDesign CC keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet InDesign tips I wish I'd known when starting out 14 little-known InDesign tips Adobe InDesign tips and tricks Take your creative campaigns to the next level Of course, having the right graphic design chops is crucial. But, when it comes to organizing your work, using collaborative campaign management software helps ensure that everyone on your design team is using the latest, approved creative assets and that what’s produced is in line with brand guidelines. It’ll save you hours (and headaches) and result in a better finished product. Wrike’s all-in-one solution for creative teams streamlines the administrative side of creative projects and includes proofing and approvals and an extension for Adobe Creative Cloud. Start your free trial to give it a try, with nothing to download or install.
