Your path to a career as a marketing analyst

One of the most impactful trends in marketing research has to do with immersive media — the ways consumers can become deeply engaged with content, people, products, and businesses as a whole. Focus Pointe Global notes the increasing demand for augmented and virtual reality tools that businesses are using to create a full 360-degree environment for consumers to experience. Those working in the field will need to embrace these tools fully.

Another component of immersive storytelling will be video capture. New technology allows for fast, even real-time access to video creation and interactions. Marketing analysts will need to have a better idea of how and when to use video, including for in-the-moment, geo-location data analysis and behind-the-scenes content.

Skills in consumer behavior studies will become more important in this career. As more companies work to use consumer behavior as a driving factor for product and service development and execution, the need for more in-depth understanding of consumers will be important. The U.S. Small Business Administration lists consumer behavior as a key differentiating point for market research success.

During product research and development, the need to understand the “why” behind decisions is crucial. Analysts will increasingly work with behavioral scientists to create customer journeys and branding reflective of these new and ever-changing viewpoints.

Adobe notes the importance of data-driven creativity within the customer experience. Analysts will need to use more data, both on a larger and a more intimate scale, to reach consumers. The focus continues to push toward the customer experience. Organizations are working to integrate data and creativity into new marketing campaigns, but also into the development of new customer solutions.

Companies will use data to better focus on all types of customers, at all points in the customer journey, instead of the most likely or ideal customer. In this way, companies will need a more balanced focus on creatively interpreted data that supports fast decision-making.

Analysts will also find more of their skills focused on creating experiential commerce, a term that relates to crafting experiences, rather than solely products, for the customer. Analysts will increasingly work on building ongoing relationships with their customers through strategies that zero in on the experience a customer has when interacting with products and services.

A component of this work will focus on longer-term outcomes in relationships. Many marketing analysts work in the retail sector. In this area in particular, they will see more integrated experiences, through social media, online sales, and in-person events, that strive to build these long-term relationships with customers.

Although fieldwork continues to be one of the most important investments for marketing analysis, the market is seeing a move toward technology-driven research. This includes both online (e-commerce) and offline prospects for data research and development. Developing an agile process to gather data and analyze it so marketing strategy can be adapted quickly is key. This includes the use of artificial intelligence, blockchain, cognitive cloud computing, and data automation.

Individuals with skills in these technological areas will be in high demand. While these skill sets are not traditional components of marketing educational paths, they can prove to be very valuable for research and development as well as for analytics in the field.