Thanks to the rise of digital transformation, marketing has evolved. Companies have more access to customers and prospect data than ever before, and this data is driving the new competition for consumer engagement.

In turn, the job description of the marketer is evolving. Marketers today aren't just brand experts following the old-school method of looking at how to reach consumers with the usual targeting techniques. A new set of skills are needed in order to engage with consumers at any stage in the customer journey - from awareness, through acquisition, to advocacy.

Marketing leaders worldwide have shared their thoughts on what assets and traits are needed to succeed as a marketer in the digital age. According to the main themes, there are five archetypes that seem to emerge.

Which one do you identify with? You can tweet me on @swsuyeon with your answer if you like...

Five archetypes of the Modern-day Marketer

1. The Marketing Rocket Scientist 

67% of marketing leaders say creating a connected customer journey across all touchpoints and channels is critical to the success of their overall marketing strategy.

So the Rocket Scientist archetype is skilled at looking at the trajectory of the customer journey and answering some fundamental questions: How do I follow them and serve them something that would be of value? How do we pull in all the multiple channels to map that journey towards an end goal? How do other factors like the physical world experiences come in to play?

2. The Marketing Tech Genius

Marketing software tools have come a long way with the additions of predictive AI features and Data Management Platforms. The Tech Genius archetype knows how to build a stack with the necessary pieces to capture all the data signals that the company needs in order to build those personalised one-to-one customer journeys that we're all aiming for.

3. The Marketing Social Butterfly

Today, social media is a channel that can no longer be ignored. It is not only a gateway to the millennial audience but, being the most publicly visible engagement channel, it is now a vital brand-building and customer service channel as well. The modern-day marketer needs to be attuned to the many social networks out there, and be actively flitting between different social platforms to listen and engage with their following.

4. The Marketing Economist

The Economist is adept at managing budget and resources in a tough economy. There may be so many great projects out there but a tight budget means you can't do it all. The Economist archetype is able to prioritise and build solid business cases to evaluate all opportunities, and the costs of not going with an alternative. They are also skilled on how to do more with less - surely a mantra of most modern-day marketers.

5. The Marketing Alchemist

This archetype comes from Ronalisa Zarate-Bayani, CMO of the LA Rams. The Alchemist is described as a master at pulling in the right ingredients, at the right time, with the right mix. Those ingredients can be the Chief Data Officer, the Creative Strategist, the Snapchat expert... The Alchemist recognises an ecosystem of experts at their fingertips and by combining different elements, they can infuse data-driven decision making with creativity, to ultimately provide an experience that is relevant and meaningful to the consumer.

The marketer of the future will be a hybrid

So here I've listed some distinct archetypes - and perhaps you identify with more than one. Rejoice, for this isn't a bad thing at all.

More often than not we see the strongest marketers in the field exhibit elements of all five. So rather than finding comfort in sticking to one, you could start to look at how to incorporate elements of each archetype into your professional persona. A social alchemist, an economical tech genius...

But it's clear the one overarching theme is that mastering a variety of marketing technology will be the blueprint of the successful modern-day marketer. 

And as more businesses embrace AI and other new technologies on the horizon, it will be interesting to see what other archetypes will emerge...

Dive into the full report…

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