Bloghound

I was moderating a conference session a few weeks ago and asked marketing executives from Gillette, Dunkin’ Donuts and Circle Lendng what they thought was the most important competency for marketing professionals today.

Their unanimous response: math.

With so much customer data available today analytics is becoming one of the most strategic aspects of marketing, yet there’s a huge talent shortage in this area.

"One of the new marketer’s key skills is the ability to marry fluency in higer mathematics and computer modeling to marketing flair and creativity," wrote Richard Rawlinson in last summer’s issue of Strategy & Business. "Just as mathematics has revolutionized finance, it will now invigorate the marketing field, as new models and algorithms are developed to extract value from consumer and business databases, and to allow more precise targeting of ‘hot’ topics to each consumer."

I know a lot of students read this blog, so if you’re interested in a marketing career think about analytics. And for the rest of us, maybe it’s time to learn more about the scientific and mathematical aspects of marketing to be able to be creative in measurable new ways, and to elevate the value of our profession.

marketing and math

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