How marketers can remain up to date

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The skill sets of effective marketing leaders include a growing list of interesting and challenging roles. Strategic aspects of advertising, analytics, research, sales, digital communications, public relations, content creation and team management are just a handful of the relevant areas.

Additionally, marketing and public relations professionals know they need to stay up to date on trends and insights to best support their clients. Fortunately, staying aware of industries and marketing knowledge is easier than ever via current videos, online courses, websites, podcasts and professional meetings.

With summer reading time upon us, don’t forget to consider a few good marketing reads. Since your time is valuable, I suggest short e-mail newsletters or blogs on trending topics. These digital publications enable you to dig deeper on topics if you are interested beyond the quick lead.

Essential reading

If you do a quick Google search, several marketing gurus, including Mark Arpaia and Pamela Vaughan, offer “best” list compilations of marketing newsletters and RSS feeds for your email box consideration.

RSS feeds are “real simple syndications” of online files noting new details of published content changes that my help boost your productivity. These feeds have been less utilized since the proliferation of websites but are still part of the regimen of some good publications.

Most of the newsletters listed below have small subscriber fees and their frequency of publication varies. Their features and stories are well-prepared with good visuals and are often entertaining. The following is a personal compilation of suggested newsletters  that cover most of today’s relevant marketing composite skills topics:

• Mashable is a great website for social media news and tips;
• The Forrester Blog — Market Insights covers market research notes of value; Google, LinkedIn, YouTube, FaceBook and Twitter: RSS feeds of official blogs of new features and tips for these key platforms;
• Non-Obvious Insights is from a former Ogilvey and Burnett marketing strategist who covers trends and non-obvious” views of value to marketers before their competition sees it.
• Failory — Rather than reviewing success stories, sometimes it’s valuable to see what doesn’t work in real world marketing and gain insights from failures. Can you learn from the mistakes of others? This weekly newsletter thinks so;
• Marketing Brew covers news and politics updates three times a week and dives into how they will impact marketers and their worlds;
• Marketing Pilgrim covers news, rumors and aspects of internet marketing and online advertising.

You can also read newsletters from relevant professional organizations. The local and national Public Relations Society and the New York and Baltimore Chapters of the American Marketing Association have excellent sites with newsletters for members.

Additionally, the longstanding and most quoted advertising publication, Ad Age, is a bit pricey but the premier source on the topic. You can always read it at your public library in print.

Of course, with organizations thankfully starting to host in-person seminar and networking events again, marketers and those with the responsibility of marketing for their organizations can get back in the habit of socializing while learning about trending topics. That may involve relearning some important social skills, but adding in-person events back to the ways to remain up to date professionally is a most welcome return.

Glenda LeGendre is principal of Strategic Marketing & Communications and can be reached at [email protected].