If you're in marketing and looking to take your career to the next level, it's important to know which skills are in demand and which are falling out of favor.
Though there's no single answer to this question, an analysis of job trends, market data, and the advice of those in the field can help you gain a better understanding of what you'll need to stay relevant.
What Skills Are Most Important to Marketers?
Video production skills are essential to marketing growth!
As marketers continue to struggle to reach their audience in an increasingly digital world, they are turning to video.
We're seeing some of the classic skills that will likely always be required of marketers: written and verbal communication skills, basic data analysis, and digital literacy, for example. However, video production skills are also proving to be increasingly important to those hiring marketers.
According to a recent study by LinkedIn TalentSolutions, 92% of recruiters and hiring managers say they’ve seen an increasing demand for candidates who can create videos for marketing purposes.What’s more, 78% say they have seen increased interest from companies looking to hire candidates with these skills.
Companies are looking for video production skills
If you're looking to land a job in marketing, it's essential that you have video production skills.
In fact, Animoto found that 84% of marketers rank video creation skills as important when hiring for a new marketing position.
If you're curious about what kinds of jobs are out there, here are some terms we found on various marketing job descriptions in the country:
- Creating different contents including videos
- Social media management including video editing and photography
- Script writing
- Design digital experiences that can be distributed to all social media channels
Video Production Is the Norm In Marketing
Video production skills are becoming the norm across all of marketing, not just a specialty that "general" marketers can avoid.
It's no secret that video is the future of marketing. According to recent research, video is responsible for 65% of all consumer internet traffic and 85% of all mobile data traffic. And if that wasn't enough to convince you, here's another stat: 3 million hours of video are watched on YouTube every single day.
The interesting thing about the job descriptions containing the phrases above is that none of them were explicitly video production jobs—or even video marketing jobs.
Not a single one contained the word “video” in the position’s title, nor were any of the roles contained within a production department. The takeaway here is that basic production skills are becoming the norm across all of marketing, not just a specialty that “general” marketers can avoid.
Why Video Production Skills Are Becoming More Essential in Marketing?
Audience Engagement
It's no secret that video consumption is on the rise, and it's only going to continue.
Brands are responding to this increase in video engagement by creating—or doubling down on—their own video marketing strategies.
So why should you consider adding video to your marketing mix? Well, for one thing, it's proven to be effective. According to a study conducted by HubSpot and Animoto:
- 90% of B2B marketers say videos have helped them grow their business in the past year
- 90% of B2B marketers say that their company will be creating more videos next year than they did last year
In-house or Video Production Agency
For the past two decades, companies have been outsourcing video production to third-party agencies and freelancers. This allowed businesses to focus on other aspects of their brand and not worry about having to hire someone to produce videos for them.
But as the media landscape changes, so do the needs of brands. In today's world, it's more important than ever for companies to understand how video can be used to drive growth and revenue. This means that they need employees who are trained in the art of creating optimized quality contents for digital channels.
A second shift happening here is that in the past, many companies would have hired a production company or turned to freelancers to tackle all elements of a video project. Today, more and more teams are hoping to tackle some of their smaller, scrappier production needs internally.
For example, some brands are handling all of their social content internally while partnering with production companies for paid ad placements.
Or, some brands are testing their own paid ads while relying on production companies for videos across their websites. This balance between third-party production partners and internal teams demands in-house employees to have the ability to tackle video projects alone.
What are the benefits of in-house video production?
If you're looking to grow your brand and boost sales, then you need to consider how a video production team can help. While it may seem like an unnecessary cost, the reality is that having team members with basic production skills is an asset for a few reasons.
First, it allows for a quick turnaround. If your brand notices a fun video trend that you want to get in on right away, having someone who can make a quick social video is often quicker than turning to an outside team.
Second, teams that take a do-it-yourself approach to video content, especially for social platforms, often accomplish the authentic feel that audiences love.
Are there company benefits for in-house video production team?
Video production is becoming increasingly important to marketing growth.
In-house teams can't compete with the investment in equipment and experience that production companies prioritize, but that doesn't mean they can't benefit from learning the basics of video production.
So, while the need for production companies is definitely not going away any time soon, savvy marketers will recognize that learning the basics of video production will help them stand apart during their next job search.
