20 Must-Have Attributes of a Great Marketer

What does it take to be a great marketer? You don’t necessarily have to have studied marketing or even advertising in college—in fact, few of today's top marketers did! Instead, the great marketing minds of the world have a certain set of characteristics that have vaulted them to the top of the heap.

Here are 20 attributes of the greatest marketers known to mankind. Print them off, tape them to your mirror, repeat them to yourself every morning—do you what you have to do to make sure you live up to these geniuses of the trade.

1. Great marketers are enthusiastic. They’re passionate about what they do, and it shows in their work. Great marketing just doesn’t happen when you’re bored with what you’re doing.

2. Great marketers are loyal to their brand. They don’t just say things about their brand. They believe them and are willing to follow through with those claims.

3. Great marketers know their audience. And they know that marketing to an unknown audience is a complete waste of time. Instead, they use specific tools to make sure they know who they’re targeting.

4. Great marketers are creative. They can’t afford to get stuck in their ways. Instead, they use the excellent gift of creative thinking to adapt and innovate.

5. Great marketers make decisions and are self-starters. They don’t sit around waiting for other people to tell them what to do. Great marketing comes from being independent and even aggressive when needed.

6. Great marketers set goals. And then they plan out their strategies with those goals in mind. Focus is a marketer’s best friend.

7. Great marketers are open-minded. You might say their motto is “Don’t knock it till you try it!” These great minds know how to experiment with their marketing in order to achieve more dramatic results.

8. Great marketers are flexible. They can’t NOT be flexible. Being inflexible as a marketer just leads to headaches and angry coworkers.

9. Great marketers have personality when they write. They make sure to forget everything they learned in high school about being aloof and objective in your writing. Great marketing is all about having a distinct, memorable voice.

10. Great marketers are consistent. They know that their audience lives in a distracting world. Consistency makes sure people know what to expect and when to expect it.

11. Great marketers are observant. Marketing is all about listening. Listening to your audience, listening to your superiors, listening to other marketers. Being observant pays off.

12. Great marketers let numbers do the talking. If they ever come across a difficult decision, they simply split-test and let the stats show them the best choice.

13. Great marketers are always learning. Advances in technology and theory make it impossible to stay ahead if they don’t. The best marketers are voracious about taking in new information.

14. Great marketers are organized. Schedules, lists, wikis—they do whatever is necessary to keep themselves and their team organized. A haphazard marketing plan does no good for anybody.

15. Great marketers don’t work alone. They know that marketing is not a solitary job. The very nature of their job is social—interacting, getting feedback, and learning from other people.

16. Great marketers are ethical. Marketers can’t afford to participate in sketchy dealings anymore. Social media makes it very important to be transparent in your business dealings.

17. Great marketers push boundaries. They’re always trying to find new solutions to problems and new ways to excel. In order to do this, they push at boundaries that have traditionally been set. Sometimes they fail – and sometimes great things happen!

18. Great marketers are dependable. Their team needs to know that they can count on them no matter what. Being inconsistent or unrealistic causes big problems for a marketer.

19. Great marketers are quick-thinking. No matter how good these marketers are, problems happen. Without quick action, these problems can escalate and result in big losses for the company. Luckily, great marketers act fast and find quick solutions when emergencies arise.

20. Great marketers are tenacious. They’re always trying out new things, looking for ways to be better at what they do. But when they do inevitably screw up, do they give up? No! Great marketers stick with it. They know their hard work will pay off eventually.

Don’t these marketers sound like fantastic people to know? Lucky for you, we’ve created a printable PDF list of these qualities—download it now and start becoming the marketer you’ve always dreamed of!