Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Marketing in 2021 is all about providing the best customer experience possible. With so much competition out there, providing a first-class experience is the only point of differentiation for brands. A clear eCommerce journey map helps you achieve this. The results of creating a great eCommerce journey map are plain to see, as they lead…
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Last Updated on November 3, 2021 by Rakesh GuptaTo understand how to solve the same business use case using Process Builder. Check out this article Getting Started with Process Builder – Part 10 (Auto forward Records to a Connection). Big Idea or Enduring Question: Salesforce-to-Salesforce is a natively supported feature
The post Getting Started with Salesforce Flow – Part 78 (Auto Forward Records to a Connection) appeared first on Automation Champion.

Marketing is an umbrella term for a wide variety of methods and strategies meant to benefit your business. Your business has different needs that will require different types of marketing efforts. For instance, engaging with your audience and improving sales are related, but still separate goals, so you can’t apply the exact same strategy for both. And if your need is to connect your business and product to other businesses, it will require business-to-business (B2B) marketing.
Growing and expanding your business will require a strong marketing plan. Running a business doesn’t require the exact same skillset as marketing a business. Many marketing professionals will specialize their focus on a specific sector, such as B2B marketing. These consultants or agencies utilize their specialization to help businesses improve their marketing strategies.

The Benefits of Hiring a Consultant
Focusing on a specialty has a lot of benefits compared to having surface-level knowledge of a general topic. Hiring a consultant will give you more time to focus on your business while they build you an effective marketing strategy. A consultant will also bring a fresh perspective and a new angle to your marketing. As well, they only have one role that they can dedicate their full time to. It’s also easier to teach one person your business needs and style versus a group.
How much does B2B consulting cost?
According to ZipRecruiter, the national average pay for a marketing consultant is $26 per hour. That may be a good starting point for you to configure your budget. Figuring out your budget will determine how much you can spend on a B2B consultant or agency. These marketing professionals may charge a fixed fee, invoice their materials and time spent later, or request a base fee with an added risk/reward element based on the achieved outcomes. For a longer project, they may ask for a monthly or annual retainer that guarantees them a fixed fee.

The Benefits of Hiring an Agency
Consultants may only offer strategy, planning, or execution, while an agency can accomplish all three. An agency may also be able to give you more individualized attention because they have more (wo)manpower. Hiring a marketing agency is especially necessary for businesses that don’t have a large in-house marketing division. Outsourcing the entirety of your B2B marketing efforts will take the burden off of you and your employees.

Choosing the right agency or consultant for your business will take some searching. Hiring the wrong marketing help could end up being a waste of resources and your budget if they end up not making progress toward any of your goals. Follow these steps to hire the best one for your business.
1. Define the outcomes you want to achieve.
There’s a reason why you’re seeking the help of a consultant or agency for your B2B marketing. Pinpoint what you want to be improved, whether that is improving something specific within your current marketing strategy or developing a brand new strategy. These goals should be structured in a way that allows them to be tracked so that you can monitor progress toward achieving them.
2. Decide whether you want an agency or a consultant.
The outcomes you previously defined will help determine whether you need an agency or a consultant. If you have a smaller budget and a more specific need, then a consultant would be a good choice. If you have a larger budget and a more broad need, you may do better with a consultant.
3. Choose a budget and stick to it.
When configuring a budget for your marketing efforts, don’t forget to weigh the risk versus the reward. If the reward that you stand to gain is substantial, then it may be fair to advocate a bit more of the budget to your B2B marketing efforts. Then, search for agencies or consultants within your budget.
4. Establish what specialties your hire should have.
Narrow the list even further by focusing on the professionals that have experience in your industry, ideally with exact B2B marketing experience in your industry. Use your desired outcomes to choose what work history and skill set your top candidates should have.
5. Create a shortlist.
Once you’ve found some candidates within your budget that have a skill set that aligns with your goals, you can start naming some to a shortlist. Choose candidates that you believe are worth interviewing that might be a good fit for the role.
6. Pick 10 insightful interview questions.
What do you really want to know about a potential B2B consultant or agency? Have they accomplished your specific needs for another organization in the past? Do they have creative ideas? Ask them about how they handled certain situations or what strategies they’ve developed with other businesses in the past.
7. Begin the partnership!
The most exciting part comes when you see one agency or consultant stand out among the rest and you can confidently choose them as your top pick. Get the paperwork written up and start the process! Confirm the goals of this partnership with your new hire and start working on your new B2B marketing plan.
Hire a B2B Marketing Consultant or Agency
Before you hire your B2B marketing agency or consultant, you should have set clear goals to accomplish with their help. After the decided strategy is implemented, continue tracking progress toward the desired outcomes. This will help you see how valuable or effective the help of the consultant or agency ended up being for your business. As well, ensure that any strategies or methods that were implemented for the long-term continue to be maintained if they are working well.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2009 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Connecting with your audience on social media might seem as simple as a post and a follow, but it’s actually a lot more complex. Twitter as a marketing tool can apply to PR, thought leadership, brand building, and lead generation. Selling on Twitter takes some skill and practice, but it’s a viable platform for growing your business that is definitely worth the effort.

What can I sell on Twitter?
The short answer is: Anything! The great thing about social media marketing is that it can be used to sell such a wide variety of products. There’s a lot of business to be done on the internet across many channels. There is a niche somewhere on the web for anything you may have to sell. To tap into your niche and sell on Twitter like the pros do, follow these best practices.

The internet can be unpredictable, but there are some specific actions you can take to make sure you get a positive ROI from using Twitter. No sale is guaranteed, but utilizing some of these best practices will help you get the most out of Twitter as a tool for sales.
1. Interact with your audience.
Social media was created for people to be social, so don’t be shy! Respond to your mentions and retweets, do Q&A sessions, and be active with not just your followers but other relevant people in your industry. This helps build interest and trust that will encourage your audience to participate in the conversation, too.
2. Share things your market is interested in
Your stream of tweets shouldn’t only be about what you are selling. Users will be more likely to follow you if they see that you are sharing content they want to see and posts they can relate to. And the more eyes you can get on your profile, the more potential leads you’ll have.
3. Monitor your company’s reputation.
Keep track of what users are saying about your business online with routine social listening. Anytime you or your product is mentioned, check out what is being said so that you’re aware of how people are discussing it. Analyze the information for any helpful insight to improve what might be preventing leads from becoming customers.
4. Be consistent.
The Twitter algorithm favors users who tweet frequently and consistently. To help you do this, there are a lot of social media management tools that allow you to schedule posts in advance. This way, you don’t feel pressured to open the app everyday and think of something new and insightful to say. A scheduling app can keep your Tweets consistent, which means your leads will stay consistent, too.
5. Take feedback.
Don’t just watch what users are saying about your business or your product, actually listen. Customers who have had a negative or positive experience may voice their opinion on Twitter. Take the free feedback you would usually need to pay a focus group for and apply changes that can improve your sales.
6. Stay updated on industry news.
Stay on top of big (or small) changes in your industry by checking Twitter frequently. For example, if you heard that your competitor made a big announcement but you don’t know the details, search on Twitter for the competitor’s name to find out the latest news and what people have to say about it. Twitter’s real-time updates are great for getting wind of big news before it’s even published across the web. This upper hand will inform you of ways to gain more sales over the competition.

Social media has grown immensely as a business tool which means you will always be behind the competition if you’re not using it. In fact, Twitter’s monetizable daily active users (mDAU) amounts to 206 million people. That’s a ton of opportunities to sell on the platform. Some of those users could fall within your target audience. Unfortunately, a large following alone doesn’t guarantee sales, so use these tips to best take advantage of the platform for business revenue.
Using Twitter as a platform for selling your product can be really effective if you do it right. It’s not just about building a big following or promoting the most content. Focus on the following tips to improve your sales through Twitter.
1. Have a plan.
Don’t dive into selling on Twitter blindly. Create a strategy for Twitter marketing that works for you and your product and then execute it.
2. Determine which trends and hashtags will benefit you.
You don’t need to go viral in order to be seen, but you do need to put yourself in a position to be found. Following relevant popular trends and using hashtags will put your profile in front of the users that are seeking your content.
3. Build a great profile.
It’s easy to completely customize your Twitter profile with adjustments that fit your product. Even your “handle” doesn’t necessarily have to simply be the name of your business, it could be related to your product or your branding. And this also includes having a special pinned tweet that you want to call attention to as part of your profile.
4. Establish a personality.
Are your tweets going to be humorous? Serious? Lighthearted? Memes? Decide what you want users to see from your brand and how you want your Twitter profile to express it.
5. Connect with influencers or relevant followers.
Find people who are changemakers in your industry and keep up with them. Continuously check on what they are saying and decide what collaborations could benefit your business. For example, co-branding partnerships are a mutually beneficial offer you could make to another successful brand that you connect with on Twitter.
6. Mind your following to follower ratio.
Believe it or not, the myth that users care about your follow-back ratio is actually true. It’s a signal of the success of your account, so be more selective about which users you choose to follow.
7. Don’t be afraid of promotions.
Twitter ads are an awesome tool that you should take advantage of. They are a smart way to promote your brand and your product once you target the correct audience.
Use Twitter Effectively as a Selling Tool
Different social media platforms require different strategies to be effective. For instance, Twitter is focused on text while Instagram is focused on media. Consider the unique aspects of Twitter as a platform and use them to your advantage as you’re developing a strategy. Social media is an important tool for selling your product that can’t be ignored as you continue to grow your business.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2009 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Website traffic represents the volume of users visiting your site. Higher is better because more people visiting your site means more opportunities for advertising, engagement, and eventual conversion.
Ideally, you want to steadily increase website traffic, or at least keep it stable over time. But what happens if your traffic starts to drop? Whether it’s slow or sudden, the results are the same: A smaller pool of users who are seeing your content and potentially generating revenue for your brand. Even more worrisome for site admins is that traffic drops may not have an obvious cause. With multiple traffic sources and factors that influence your site ranking and accessibility, even small drops may be the result of several independent or codependent conditions.
While there’s no quick fix for these drops, we’ve got you covered with actionable tips to pinpoint, diagnose and address falling traffic.

Why is my website traffic down?
To boost traffic levels, site owners must first discover why traffic is down. With multiple traffic sources such as email, social media, organic, and referral, it’s not enough to simply know that traffic is falling — you need to identify the source of the drop itself and then take steps to specifically address the problem.
There are several ways to determine which traffic source is driving your numbers down. Let’s take a look at those next.
How To Identify the Source of Traffic Drops
HubSpot Sources
If you’re using HubSpot’s CMS, you can leverage HubSpot Sources to determine where your traffic is coming from. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do this.
Step 1: First, you need to install the HubSpot tracking code on your site. Head to your HubSpot account and click the Settings icon in the main navigation bar.

Step 2: Next, head to Tracking & Analytics and then Tracking Code on the left sidebar.
Step 3: Now you should see the tracking code.

Copy the code and then paste it before the </body> tag in the HTML code on each page of your site you want to track.
Step 4: Once that’s done, head to the Reports section of your account and then Analytics Tools.

Step 5: Next, select Traffic Analytics.

Here, you’ll see the Sources tab, which displays total sessions as a line chart broken out into different colors by traffic type including referrals, social media, email marketing and direct traffic.This gives you a visual representation of where your traffic is coming from and how it’s changed over a specific period of time.

Google Analytics Acquisition Channels
You can also identify traffic sources using Google Analytics.
Step 1: Start by logging into your Google Analytics account and selecting the Acquisition tab.

Step 2: Then, select All Traffic followed by Source/Medium.
This will provide you with a list of traffic sources to your website along with the number of users they’ve brought.

Diagnosing Traffic Drops
Once you’ve determined the source of your traffic drops, you need to diagnose the problem in-depth: What conditions or actions are causing traffic to fall?
Let’s take a look at some common traffic categories and some questions you can ask to determine what’s going on.
Organic Traffic
Organic traffic refers to visitors who land on your site after conducting a web search and clicking on links from the search engine results page (SERP). It’s called “organic” traffic because it doesn’t come from paid advertising or marketing but instead occurs naturally — or organically — as a result of search queries.
If you notice that your organic traffic is down, ask yourself:
Where is my site in the search rankings?
The higher you rank on the SERP, the more likely you’ll earn organic traffic. Do a quick search for your site’s primary keyword and see what comes up. If you’re not on the first page of the search results, then your site is struggling to get visibility in the SERP.
How is my SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website so search engines will find it and rank it highly against similar sites. If each of your webpages isn’t strategically targeting keywords related to your business, you could be missing opportunities to bring traffic to your site.
Direct Traffic
Direct traffic arrives at your site after typing in the name of your site directly, navigating to it through a bookmark or clicking on a direct email link. If you see direct traffic taking a dive, consider:
What do my URLs look like?
Your URLs should be as simple, clean and concise as possible. If you have pages with long and convoluted URLs, users may be attempting to reach your page but find a 404 error instead because they typed your website address into the web browser incorrectly.
Have I recently updated pages?
If you’re recently updated webpages, look for any changes in URLs. If you’ve made changes without properly redirecting the old links to the new ones, visitors may be seeing error pages which will result in traffic drops.
Referral Traffic
Referral traffic typically comes from other sources such as site lists or blogs. This type of traffic is often part of link building campaigns. For example, you might draft and submit a guest blog to a popular website and include a link back to your site at the end.
If you suddenly see a dropoff in previously consistent referral traffic, ask yourself:
Are backlink sites ranking well?
Blogs and site lists can drive referral traffic, but only if they’re getting visitors as well. If you’re seeing a drop, search for your referral sites and see how they rank.
Do my links point to the right page?
Just like the in direct traffic example above, make sure your links are pointing visitors to the right page. If you’ve made recent URL updates, contact blog or site list owners to have them amended.
Paid Search Traffic
Paid search traffic is exactly what it sounds like: Paid ads within the search engines that display advertisements for your website in search results. The more you spend, the more often your ad will appear and the closer it will be to the top of search results.
If you see paid traffic stalling, ask yourself:
Are my ads in the right place?
Ads only work if they’re targeting the right audience. If you own a window-washing company, then it’s not a good idea to display ads on fashion advice blogs because the quantity and quality of traffic probably won’t match your expectations.
Email Traffic
Email traffic comes from links in emails you send to current and prospective customers. These might be newsletters, sales flyers, or targeted advertisements based on customer preferences. If your email traffic starts to decline, consider these questions:
Do I have the right market?
Effective email campaigns target the right market. You need to know who your customers are, how they prefer to interact with brands, and how much they’re willing to spend to create effective emails. If your target market is loosely defined — or absent — start with email marketing tools to help identify your ideal customers.
Are current emails effective?
Not all emails are created equal. Information alone isn’t enough to capture consumer interest — brands must also include actionable next steps that encourage users to click through. To help boost email efficacy consider A/B testing: Create two versions of a marketing email and see which one produces better results, then repeat the process to refine as necessary.
Social Media Traffic
Social media traffic comes from sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram when customers click through on one of your posts and arrive at your website. If your social traffic starts sliding, ask yourself:
Do my social media posts drive action?
Social media posts need to do more than get users to stop scrolling — they must provide enough information to get users interested but leave enough left unsaid to prompt action. In practice, this means creating optimized social posts that convince customers to click through and see what you have to offer.
Am I using the right platform?
Image-driven platforms such as Instagram are great for brands that use images to highlight popular products. Service-based brands, on the other hand, often see better performance from sites such as Facebook. Drilling down to see which platforms are driving your traffic can help pinpoint ideal marketing channels.

While there’s no single way to fix traffic drops, there are general steps that site owners can take to help remedy these issues:
1. Run traffic reports to identify recent changes.
In most cases, traffic drops are the result of multiple factors that combine to lower the number of unique visitors that arrive on your site. Your best bet in this situation is to look at any recent changes to your website, linking strategy or advertising goals.
For example, if you’ve just done a site-wide update to improve the overall design and user experience (UX) and traffic has dropped as a result, run reports to see where your traffic is coming from and if there are specific sources and mediums that have seen a sudden drop. If you notice that direct and referral traffic are down, this may be an indication that URLs are no longer pointing to the right pages.
In order to keep your traffic up, you’ll want to make sound decisions on this data. If you notice one source or medium, in particular, is contributing to the drop, take a look at your processes and workflows there for any gaps that are causing your site to perform poorly.
2. Be better than the competition.
Sometimes it’s not your site that’s the issue. If your competition has managed to corner the SEO market for your industry or have changed their marketing techniques to better target shared customer segments, you may see a drop in traffic.
To determine if this is the case, start by searching for your site’s primary keywords across popular search engines and see what comes up. If you notice competitor sites have pushed yours down the list, they may be outperforming your search optimization. It’s also worth checking your sources to see if social media traffic is down — if so, your competition may be doing a better job driving organic interest across social platforms
To fix this problem, you’ll need to write content and design webpages that are better than every website ranking above yours. This means targeting a specific buyer persona with each page and having clear calls to action.
3. Keep your site healthy.
Site conditions have an impact on how your website is indexed and ranked by search engines. If you see traffic sliding, take a look at current conditions and how they may impact users.
For example, if your site is slow to load because of large image or video files, users won’t stick around and search engines will penalize your ranking. Issues around layout and functionality are also problematic. Broken links or content that’s all fluff and no function may be increasing the number of users who arrive at your site and immediately leave, in turn dropping your site in search rankings.
Using a content delivery network (CDN) can help videos and images load faster while a tool like Ahrefs’ SEO toolbar can spot broken links on a page so you can fix them quickly.
For even more tips on how to boost traffic to your site, check out HubSpot’s free website optimization course.
Tackling Traffic Slowdowns
Traffic drops may be slow-and-steady or sudden and substantive. In either case, however, they have the same result: Fewer visitors on your site and fewer opportunities for customer conversion.
To address these traffic issues, start by identifying the likely source, then consider potential issues tied to specific traffic mediums. Finally, take action to address common traffic concerns — with any luck, you’ll soon be back up to speed.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2011 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Have you ever visited a website, looked at a product, left the site, but then seen an ad for that exact same product you were looking for on Google? I come across ads like this multiple times per week.
The reason we see these ads is because we’re placed on remarketing lists — we’ve shown interest in a product and a business wants to remind us that it’s still available for purchase if we’re interested.
As a business, using remarketing lists helps you make contact with pre-qualified prospects in an attempt to drive a conversion. In this post, we’ll explain how, as a business, you can leverage remarketing lists for search ads to draw in interested site visitors for conversion, and best-practices for using these lists.

RLSA Audiences
RLSA audiences are created by adding a snippet of code (called a tag) to your website that automatically adds your audiences to specific lists based on the action taken on your site. Once the tags are placed, you can bid on these segments and add them to your marketing campaigns. Here’s a guide from Google on how to set these up.
Creating specific RLSA audiences helps marketers leverage the already interested highly-valuable audience members, as it may not be as difficult for them to convert. As a result, you’ll increase conversions, revenue, and profits. You’ll also make the most of your budgets because these users are more qualified, so you’ll spend less on brand awareness.
If you’re feeling a bit confused, consider this example: you sell fiberglass pools and a user on your site has started a work order for pool maintenance, but then they bounce. Since they came so close to conversion, you can add them to a remarketing list and serve them ads for your business every time they query “fiberglass pools,” or related keywords.
Let’s go over some best practices for using RLSA campaigns in your marketing.
RLSA Campaign Best Practices
1. Know your audience before beginning.
As with any marketing process, it’s critical to understand your audience before creating your RLSA lists and running your ads. Consider creating buyer personas and customer journey maps to learn what customers are thinking about in different stages of your journey for better targeted ads.
An additional step could be to modify your bids based on audience demographics. If your users are signed in to Google when making their searches, you’ll be able to further segment and adjust your bids and lists based on available information, like age and gender.
2. Change bids by user stage.
If you’ve created accurate journey maps, you likely know which customer actions are most critical to driving conversions for your audience — this is where you should use RLSA. Use your website codes to track where your users are in their journey, and bid higher for those closer to conversion, a.k.a the closer they are to completing a purchase.
3. Match messaging to user action.
Ensure that the messaging in your RLSA ads matches the action you want the user to take or the action they have already taken that got them placed on your list.
For example, if a visitor landed on a pricing page, you can share an ad with them that calls attention to an upcoming discount.
To do this, you can create specific tags within your Google Ads account that note which action a user took and modify your bids to show relevant copy based on the action taken.
4. Upsell to converted users with related products and services. 

You may not think to use RLSA on converted users, but it’s a worthwhile strategy if you sell products or services that enhance experiences if used together.
For example, if you sell cameras, you won’t advertise camera equipment to users that haven’t checked out on your site. Once a user has made a purchase, though, and you have a unique list for those that have taken that action, you can serve them ads for camera equipment in an attempt to upsell.
With this tip, it’s important to note that not all converted users are worth retargeting with RLSA. For example, suppose you have a user that is currently in negotiation with a sales rep. In that case, it could be a waste of money to retarget them because they may be ready to convert after conversations with your team.
5. Bid for broad terms.
While it’s important to bid for terms directly related to your business, it’s also worthwhile to bid for broad search terms related to your business that your audiences may search for as well. For example, if you sell SaaS, your audiences may be searching for your competitors before deciding, so you can bid on competitor brand names.
If you choose to go this route, ensure that you’re not spending all of your money on broader terms, as your business-related keywords are the most relevant.
RLSA Campaign Example
A few weeks ago I was working with my friend’s mom to surprise him with a birthday present. He likes to travel, so we decided that a TSA-approved suitcase was the way to go. I spent a lot of time doing research on different sites and visiting multiple pricing pages.
I placed a product from a brand called Away in my cart, but we ended up purchasing from a different company. Away likely tracked how close I got to conversion and added me to an RLSA list. Now I see this a paid targeted ad from Away in search results for the words “luggage” and “TSA suitcase,” as shown in the image below.  
Over To You
The users that you choose to place in your remarketing lists should help you drive conversions.
Take the time to create detailed customer journey maps to know critical points of conversions and create corresponding lists. As a result, you’ll likely find your RLSA campaigns drawing in leads and increasing business revenue.

Think back to a time you had to solve a problem but didn’t have all of the right information. What did you do? Situations like this pop up all the time at work and put your problem solving skills to the test.
As a marketing manager, one may think your job doesn’t revolve around problem solving. But it’s an essential part of putting out fires at work — and making sure there’s a process in place to prevent issues from happening again.

Whether you’re making decisions that affect an entire team or simply creating solutions for yourself, strong problem solving skills can help you grow as a person and a professional.
In this post, we’ll cover what it means to come up with creative solutions and how to hone the skills to approach problems like a pro.
What are problem solving skills?
Problem solving skills allow you to notice an issue, identify the root cause, design an effective solution, and successfully implement it. This includes the skills to evaluate whether or not your plan achieved the results you wanted.
The best problem solvers can anticipate problems before they arise and take action to prevent them or lessen the impact. They use logic to define what needs to change and creativity to propose innovative solutions.
Having strong problem solving skills can help you impress your manager, contribute unique ideas, and achieve your goals. It also means you can work through the core steps of solving a problem:

Identify and define the problem.
Come up with possible solutions.
Evaluate the options.
Choose the best solution.
Implement the solution.
Evaluate the outcome.

While there are many types of problem solving skills, many are considered soft skills that you develop over time. Think communication skills, people skills, social skills, and personality traits. For example, a marketing manager needs to be able to solve a conflict between team members or devise a plan to keep their campaigns going if the company marketing budget is cut.
While problem solving skills can require you to use your technical ability, you have to establish a number of specific soft skills to identify issues and implement solutions.
Problem Solving Skills Examples
No matter your career path, being an effective problem solver is beneficial for personal and career growth. Here’s a look at the skills you may use when solving a problem:

Analysis
Creativity
Judgment
Communication
Organization
Teamwork
Evaluation

Problem Solving Skills Marketing Managers Need
A marketing manager who notices issues and makes decisions to solve them is a valuable addition to any company. This type of person gets things done and motivates others to do the same.
The further you grow in your career, the more problem solving skills you need to have in your toolkit. The higher up you get in an organization, decisions become riskier, solutions are often more vague, and the potential impact can be monumental to the company.
Let’s look at the top problem solving skills you need to be a successful marketing manager.
1. Analytical Skills
Solving any problem starts with analyzing the issue — you have to go beyond the symptoms of the problem to find the root cause.
Maybe your team is routinely going over budget on social campaign spend. Instead of micro-managing every detail, analytical skills help you dig into the problem to see what may be going wrong. You find that your social media coordinators can set up campaigns correctly, but they lack the basic budgeting skills to keep spending on track. So you devise a training program to teach them about profit, loss, and financial forecasting.
Being analytical can include a number of essential problem solving skills for marketers:

Attention to detail
Data collection
Forecasting
Research
Fact-checking
Historical analysis

2. Creativity
Once you discover the true problem, you can come up with the ideal solution. This is where you put your creative problem solving skills to the test. And for those who question whether creativity plays into solving problems, creativity is one of Indeed’s top 20 in-demand skills for 2021 across all industries and fields.
Sometimes the solution to a problem is not always straight-forward, and can require creative thinking and other points of view to be resolved.
Creativity comes in many styles. Engineers can create innovative code, and writers can come up with new blog styles. For marketing managers, creativity plays out in a number of problem solving skills:

Brainstorming
Curiosity
Project design
Project planning
Editing the aesthetics of marketing materials
Creating new promotional methods for products
Planning and executing events

3. Judgment
With dozens of solutions before you, how do you choose the best one? Through exercising sound judgment. Developing good judgment lets you consider the nature of a problem, possible setbacks, costs and resources, decision makers, and how to implement a solution. You can compare between options and select the solution that’s right for each unique situation.
As a marketing manager, you can showcase your judgment skills through:

Critical thinking
Deduction
Prediction
Decision-making
Discussion
Corroboration
Test development
Authenticity
Leadership

4. Communication
Communication skills are the foundation of problem solving and one of the top leadership skills. As a manager, you need to be able to articulate your opinions, brainstorm with a colleague, and give feedback to a direct report. Being a good communicator also helps you relay your decision on a solution and align everyone to tackle it together.
Without specific problem solving communication skills, issues can’t be resolved quickly and efficiently. That’s why to be an effective leader and expert problem solver, it’s important to make sure you have the following communication skills:

Active listening
Patience
Persuasion
Negotiation
Mediation
Clarity of expression
Public speaking
Reading body language
Verbal communication
Written communication
Building rapport

5. Organization
Once you’ve chosen a solution to a problem and communicated it to your team, you still have to create a process to carry out your plan. Organization skills help you implement the steps everyone needs to take, which can improve alignment and efficiency.
Setting up a strategy for your solution uses a number of problem solving skills including:

Prioritization
Initiative
Project management
Project planning
Time management
Meeting facilitation
Recording and filing information
Creating strategic schedules

6. Teamwork
No marketing manager is an island. Teamwork is essential for working with others and contributing to a company’s mission. It’s necessary for exchanging ideas, delegating tasks, and working toward a solution.
Even if your role is largely independent work, you still need teamwork to collaborate with colleagues in different departments and keep your goals on track. But as a marketer, your role usually involves interacting with multiple people (if not dozens) per day. So you need to develop the skills that will make everyone want you on their team.

Collaboration
Delegation
Giving and receiving feedback
Goal setting
Dependability
Resource allocation
Prioritizing tasks
Setting expectations
Assessing employee strengths and weaknesses
Setting expectations
Performance evaluation
Identifying outcomes
Trust
Respect

7. Evaluation
When problem solving, evaluation skills let you assess if a solution is working and help you make the necessary adjustments. These are similar to analytical skills, but often require more patience and flexibility in case your strategy didn’t go as planned. It’s important to know whether or not your plan is working as quickly as possible so you can pivot and try another solution.

Data analysis
Adaptability
Creating and evaluating surveys
Customer feedback
Follow-through
Troubleshooting
Resilience
Integrity
Identifying patterns
Open mindedness

How to Improve Problem Solving Skills
Developing your problem solving skills isn’t as straightforward as mastering Excel. But marketing managers can take several steps to improve their skills and advance their careers.
Question your decisions.
Relying on your gut instinct isn’t the path to expert problem solving skills. Instead, try taking time to consciously question why you make decisions and what the outcomes may be if you choose one option over another. You can ask yourself:

How important is this decision?

How will this impact me a year from now?
What’s the worst thing that could happen?
What effect will this decision have on my team and the company?
What can I do if I make the wrong decision here?

Look for opportunities to solve more problems.
Many experiences in your personal and professional life help you hone your problem solving skills, often without you even realizing it. You can gain or improve your skills by doing any of the following:

Figuring out a technical problem with your phone or computer.
Taking up a DIY project you’ve never tried before.
Resolving a customer or employee complaint.
Organizing a team bonding activity, overcoming obstacles along the way.
Acting as a mentor for direct reports and helping them tackle their problems.
Re-budgeting your finances to fund an out-of-the-blue trip.
Finding out why there’s been a dip in activity on your company’s social media channels.

Find models and games to improve your problem solving skills.
A combination of proven models and fun mental games can help you develop problem solving skills. Some can hone your decision-making abilities, while others let you determine the cost of the possible solutions. Depending on which set of skills you want to improve, look to options like:

5 Whys (root cause analysis)

Fishbone diagram (cause and effect analysis)

Brainwriting (brainstorming technique)

Starbursting (exploratory brainstorming)

Hurson’s Productive Thinking model (creative problem solving)

Lego Master (decision-making and communication)

Escape Room (group communication and collaboration)

Line-Up (non-verbal communication)

Hackathons (brainstorming and creativity)

Demonstrating Problem Solving Skills
Knowing how to solve problems at work is not only crucial for contributing to company goals — it’s also a must-have for moving to management positions. That’s why it’s important to highlight the skills you already have. This includes adding problem solving skills to your resume and showcasing your abilities during job interviews.
Whether you’re looking for a marketing manager role or wondering what to say next time an opportunity to advance at your current company opens up, start with the STAR method. It’s designed to help you think through your experiences so you can articulate your specific problem solving skills. Make sure to give an overview of a challenge you had to overcome, how you approached it, what solution you found, and what outcome you achieved.
Honing your problem solving skills makes you more valuable as a manager and team member. So putting in time to develop the skills most relevant to your current (and future!) roles can make it easier to climb the ladder and come up with efficient, effective solutions.