--- title: Hiring a Marketer? Here's What To Look For description: Making your first marketing hire is tough. Here are the things you need to look for and the skill sets that will make sure you find the right person for the job. --- # Tech In Boston Blog ## [Hiring a Marketer? Here's What To Look For](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/hiring-marketers) [fa icon="calendar"] Jan 8, 2015 8:40:00 PM / by [Dave Gerhardt](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/author/dave-gerhardt) ![](https://470553.hs-sites.com/hs-fs/hub/470553/file-2318924860.jpg?width=35&name=file-2318924860.jpg) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) # What Makes a Good Marketer Hiring marketing people is tough because there’s a wide range of personality types and skill sets that might make someone good. I know former engineers and investment bankers who are now great marketers. I’ve seen MBA grads struggle, and people with 0 experience crush it. But while there is no perfect mold for what makes a great marketer (and as Noah Kagan likes to point out, “[most marketers suck](http://okdork.com/2011/01/18/how-to-hire-a-great-marketing-person/)”) there are a few things that they all have in common.  Here are the things to look for when making your first marketing hire. #### They have a deep understanding of the customer and the market. Not just because they wrote up a bunch of questions and sent a survey out to customers. This understanding comes from things like sitting in on sales and support calls, and most importantly getting outside of the building. #### They are great writers. In tech marketing, a great writer is someone who can easily turn product features into customer benefits and tell stories with their writing. Evernote is a great example of this. Anyone off the street could write about their product’s features and say things like “note taking functionality” or “we offer unlimited storage space,” but they got someone who understands the importance of value and the benefit to the customer. The result is a message like: “Capture your ideas. Save all of your ideas, things you like, things you hear, and things you see.” #### They are excellent communicators. Marketing touches all parts of the organization. Great marketers understand how to change a conversation based on who they are working with, whether it be sales, support, product management, etc. #### They are curious about how things work. They don’t have to have the same understanding as a product manager would, but in order to be effective they need to have some technical chops and know (and use) the product inside and out. #### They pay attention to what's going on in the industry. It’s not a coincidence all the good ones read and tweet about a lot of the same things. #### They aren't afraid to fail. A good marketer will try 100 different things just to find one that works. #### They are focused on the right data. Data-driven marketing. We get it. Everything is measured now, and we obsess over numbers and analytics. But not all metrics are worth focusing on.  A good marketer will find the ones you should care about. #### They get things done. Regardless of whether it fits in their job description - they are that person you'd call up regardless of what the task is.   Topics: [Hiring](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/hiring), [Marketing](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/marketing) ![Dave Gerhardt](https://470553.hs-sites.com/hs-fs/hub/470553/file-2318924860.jpg?width=100&height=100&name=file-2318924860.jpg) #### Written by [Dave Gerhardt](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/author/dave-gerhardt) [[fa icon="twitter-square"]](https://twitter.com/davegerhardt) ### Never miss a new blog post ### Posts by Topic - [Startups (7)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/startups) - [Hiring (3)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/hiring) - [Marketing (3)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/marketing) - [Ideas (2)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/ideas) - [Account Management (1)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/account-management) - [HubSpot (1)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/hubspot) - [Podcast (1)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/podcast) [see all](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/hiring-marketers#) ### Recent Posts #### More Links #### Contact Dave [fa icon="envelope"]  david.a.gerhardt at gmail Copyright 2014 | Designed with [fa icon="heart"] by [HubSpot](http://www.hubspot.com) [[fa icon="chevron-up"]](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/hiring-marketers#)