What makes a good marketer a great marketer? Whether you’re hiring a new marketing team member or looking to improve your own marketing abilities, it’s time to think about more than just the obvious technical skills that are required. A successful marketer possesses several human qualities that set them apart:

Intuition

Logic is important, but it isn’t the sole decisive factor for finding the truth. Sometimes data cannot portray a wholistic story and so Marketers need to rely on ‘Intuitive intelligence’ and trust their gut on many things, such as customers’ needs that they don’t even know they want yet, or how target customers may react to a new brand identity. From a client perspective, good Marketers are also able to sense their clients’ needs through a strong understanding of their business. In both cases, Marketers are reflecting on the data they have available and using their gut intuitions to help them make the best decisions.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Having a high IQ is definitely an advantage but having a high EQ determines one’s ability to manage relationships and feelings. Marketers must be able to motivate and build trust within their team members as well as partner agencies, to rally around their vision to execute complex campaigns with many moving parts – this can require high levels of EQ, especially under tight timelines.

Agility

Being flexible and having a constant willingness to learn makes Marketers able to adapt and take advantage of new opportunities, as well as optimize campaigns and results. Thinking ahead of risks and building in mitigation strategies can help Marketers be agile and pivot when markets change, like when new competitors enter or if customer’s behaviors change.

Collaborative

Today’s Marketers cannot do their jobs alone and must be able to impact, influence and encourage others. Marketers need to work together to collaborate for creative ideas as well as problem solving. Using diversity in workplaces allows people to consider different outlooks and opportunities that would otherwise be overlooked, and potentially generate new, innovative ideas.

Authenticity

Marketers, who understand the importance of being authentic, genuine, self-aware and transparent, are able to inspire trust amongst their target market. When done right, being authentic creates loyalty with customers as well as strengthens a company’s brand.

Humility

People don’t buy products, they buy feelings. Understanding what motivates your customer to purchase your product, on a deeper level, requires Marketers to focus externally and make it “all about the customer”, instead about themselves. Also, being able to be humble enough to understand when something is not working is an important quality of a Marketer. Finally, good Marketers know they don’t know everything and are always learning – up to date with the latest technologies, models, and customer trends so that they can bring these ideas into their work.

The best marketers know that creating relationships is at the core of all successful marketing. Whether it’s getting closer to your customers, brands and even other marketers or team-mates, these relationships are based on human connections, and therefore the skills just mentioned are strong differentiators in enabling Marketers to be great.

Roshni Wijayasinha has 15 years of progressive experience in helping companies bring brands and products to market and has started her own consultancy, Prosh Marketing, specializing in Marketing Strategy, Planning and Communications.