Using Photoshop or a similar design platform as a marketer was always considered a “bonus” skillset that would set you apart from the average marketer.
Things have changed dramatically. Marketing is no longer simply being creative with your content and thinking about audience engagements and positioning. It does now include actually being able to create visual content and understanding how the visual content is going to attract the target audience.
Even before Covid-19 greatly disrupted the norm, employers had shifted and were still looking for a marketer who is able to work in this new-age marketing world, so the faster you learn the basics the better for your career. The role of marketer and designer are merging at a growing rate. Due to the pandemic as well as the need to cut costs this trend is increasing rapidly. Once the pandemic is under control, I seriously doubt the trend will reverse due to the cost-effectiveness most employers are looking for.
What knowledge should a marketer have?
As a marketer in today’s world you must be able to master the below 5 basics:
- Social Media Marketing Mastery: You must be able to edit and enhance photos for social media. The days are gone where you could plainly take a photo from your mobile phone and upload it with a pre-defined filter. Photos need to be considered from a content and aesthetic point of view and the use of photoshop to resize and color correct for uniform expression is essential for providing quality social media content.
- Jack of all trades: As a marketer you are expected to design an eBook, PowerPoint presentation, social media images, website banner advertising, just to mention the most obvious. You might not consider yourself a designer but be able to jump into any requirement for your company without having to involve and brief a real “designer”, you are going to make yourself stand and be deeply depended on as a valued member of the company.
- Money Talks: Companies are always trying to get the projects/work done in-house rather than outsourced. This saves them time and money, and companies hire people who save them money. This is a win/win situation for marketers who photoshop because they can also demand a better salary and companies will keep them because they save them money.
- Lifelong skill: Photoshop takes time and persistence to master. Yet putting the effort it will pay off very quickly for you as a marketer and the company you work for. Without repeating the benefits listed above it is also beneficial as being able to express what you do visually is an increasingly important skillset for current and most definitely future jobs. Everything is getting more visual. All industries are getting more visual and with the looming benefits of AI. Companies are going to need people to visualize and master these visual digital futures we won’t be able to escape.
- Free your mind: And the rest will follow… Being able to take on new and creative projects as a marketer will secure your job prospects and make you a valued member of the company. Photoshop is a space for creativity and there are few restrictions on the kind of work that you can do in the program. You will be able to better explain and express creative ideas and concepts to win pitches and get yourself ahead of the curve.
Not to know photoshop as a marketer will most likely hinder your future job prospects.
