Top 10 skills needs for advertising

Posted: February 20, 2020 12:13 pm

What do you need to succeed in a career in advertising? This is a role that is essentially focused on communicating a significant element of an overall marketing strategy. To get ahead in advertising you’ll need to nurture a number of key skills.

1. Being able to work as part of a team. A successful career in advertising means being able to collaborate closely with others, from those at your level to people in management and more junior roles.
2. Exceptional people skills. As well as others in your industry, if you’re working in advertising you’ll need to be able to communicate with clients too. People skills can be crucial as clients may be demanding or have expectations that need to be managed with insight and empathy.
3. Effective decision making. If you’re able to weigh up your options, including the costs and benefits of your choices, and feed this into a decision making process then you’re more likely to achieve positive outcomes. It’s essential to be able to be decisive and to understand what your gut is telling you.
4. Good with money. Advertising campaigns aren’t just about finding the right creative approach and working hard to put it into practice. You also need to be able to make the budget work. Ensuring that you can make the most of the resources available is key for forging a successful career in advertising.
5. The application of creativity. Well developed creative skills will allow you to find new perspectives to communicate about an existing product or service.
6. Solutions-orientated. Being a fast and effective problem solver will stand you in good stead in an advertising career. Issues can arise at any time and if you’re able to respond to these swiftly and effectively you’ll find yourself in great demand.
7. Motivated and organised. It’s essential to be able to manage your own time so that you meet deadlines and deliver everything on time.
8. Resilience and patience. Especially when you’re starting out in the advertising industry you’re going to make mistakes – this is how everyone learns. It may take time to see a campaign come to fruition or to find the right approach for a particular ad – if you’re patient and want to keep learning then you’ll find it easier to get ahead.
9. Communication and persuasion. From the clients you work with to the consumers you’re targeting with your ads, being able to communicate and persuade is essential. Are they willing to try your product, provide an opinion or increase the campaign budget? If you have the skills to ensure they say yes then you are likely to go far.
10. Being able to listen. This is probably one of the most important skills in advertising. Not only will it tell you what your clients are really trying to achieve but it will also shed light on what consumers want – and how you can work with both to achieve your goals.

These key skills will make it much easier to get ahead in advertising and create your dream career. Find out more by booking onto our Essential Advertising training course…

How to build excellent working relationships

Posted: February 13, 2020 11:28 am

Strong working relationships not only make it easier to progress in your career but can also enhance the day-to-day experience that you have. People who are able to build strong bonds in their professional life tend to be more engaged and productive, better at working in a team and generally happier in their role. The process of creating these positive interactions begins from the moment you start a new job – if you can put the effort into others around you from Day 1 then you’ll start to create a powerful and effective network for the future.

Put yourself out and offer to help

It’s essential to ensure that you don’t end up with too much on your plate, especially when you’re new to a role. However, you can start making a positive impression from the moment you arrive by being proactive when it comes to helping others. Where could your knowledge and experience be useful, can you help ease the burden on some of your colleagues and how can you contribute to group tasks?

Take part

From team building activities and events to department meetings, make sure that you show your face at as many as possible. Make positive contributions to meetings and be prepared to proactively listen and respond to others too. You’ll be able to make connections outside of your immediate team like this and also begin to build a profile as a valuable participant.

Build positive relationships at all levels

There is often a temptation to focus purely on those senior to you when you’re establishing connections. However, you’re unlikely to make a good impression if you’re dismissive of junior colleagues and this could be misguided as they may not be your junior further down the line. Instead, nurture relationships with people of all levels, be helpful and respectful to everyone and aim to make a good impression on all those that you meet.

Communicate and deliver

Letting someone down by not meeting a deadline is one of the fastest ways to erode relationships in the workplace. Make sure you do everything you can to deliver work on time and to a high standard. Don’t be that person who constantly misses deadlines and ignores people who try to chase you up. If you’re not going to finish something on time then let people know with plenty of notice. You’re much more likely to preserve relationships if you show you can communicate when something goes wrong – and then focus on fixing it.

Be wary of office politics and gossip

These exist in every working environment and you will come into contact with both at some point. It might be tempting to get involved in gossip, as this sometimes feels like a fast way to bond with new colleagues but it may mean being perceived as talking behind others’ backs or joining in jokes at someone else’s expense. When it comes to office politics try to take a step back, especially if you’re new. It’s very easy to ruin relationships by getting involved in the more negative side of office interactions unless you’re careful not to. Excellent working relationships can help you to build your dream career – and enjoy the experience of doing it. Find out more by booking onto our Building Excellent Working Relationships training course…

Our top tips for adopting a successful quality control system

Posted: February 6, 2020 11:24 am

There are many benefits for any business in adopting a quality control system. From improving efficiency and boosting productivity to supporting more positive relationships with customers and increasing customer satisfaction, a lot can be achieved by this simple shift. If you’re about to start the process of adopting a quality control system then these are our tips to ensure that implementation is successful.

Identify why you need a quality control system

For most businesses this will be driven by the need for greater efficiency. Organising and keeping track of documents is essential to avoid wasted resources, staff frustrations and errors and mistakes. Adopting a quality control system will support greater efficiency and allow your business to run more smoothly. To ensure that you pick the right option, start by looking at why the quality control system is so necessary for your business. What are your objectives in using it and what functions are you going to need?

Plan the adoption process at every stage

The more effort you put into planning the more likely your adoption will be successful. This isn’t just about planning the process of implementation itself but ensuring that the quality control system will work to support your business objectives. What are the goals that you’re hoping to achieve with the quality control system and how are you going to track and measure progress? At this stage it’s also useful to identify the role that each employee will have in the adoption process, as well as the support they might need once the system is up and running in order to use it successfully.

Promote healthy attitudes to change

In any business there can be resistance to change, especially when it involves the need to learn something new or acquire an unknown set of skills. Your workforce may not be fully aware of the benefits of a quality control system and, as a result, there may be some negative attitudes to the process of adopting the system It’s essential that you have all your employees on board when it comes to new systems – enthusiasm and engagement will be necessary to ensure that the adoption is successful and the new system performs positively for the business. If the values at the heart of your business culture are designed to help staff embrace change you will find it much easier to support this kind of evolution.

Use automation where it works for you

Although automation is something of a buzzword these days it’s not a cure all for every issue. There are many benefits to opting for a system that integrates automation, in particular the way that this can improve efficiency and reduce the time that staff spend on manual tasks. However, it’s essential to opt for a level of automation that suits your operations and which your team can work with, or it may cause more work than it saves. Successfully adopting a quality control system is as much about the planning as it is the system itself. Find out more by booking onto our Introduction to Quality Management training course…