Marketers have a major role to play in the boardrooms of industry and meeting rooms of government agencies. Marketers have a unique knowledge base and set of skills that are not commonly held by other professionals such as engineers, lawyers, accountants, architects, doctors and teachers.

Marketers bring a special knowledge and understanding of the values, attitudes and behavior of clients in particular industries or government programs. They are armed with a multitude of tools that they know how to use to develop close customer relations and long-term loyalties to generate cash flow and profit.

Marketers trained and experienced in specific industries, and government ministries, departments and geographic regions know and understand competitive forces. They have the ability to research and develop strategies to take advantage of the weaknesses of competitors, and penetrate new markets, or capture market share of mature or sunset markets.

Career marketers operate in markets where they know business personalities, and are able to collect and gather useful information on short notice. They move quickly and can provide accurate advice based on experience and knowledge.

Marketers are above average communicators both orally and written. They tend to know more than one language and localized nuances of the language of clients, and how to communicate on their level. Marketers understand that communications is both external and internal to drive a marketing program.

Marketers are creative people, who push the edge of societal, industry and government acceptance of norms. They show and lead the way to new opportunities for clients and employers.

Marketers are knowledge workers who understand what needs to be done, and then have the skills and tools to get the job done.

Marketers tend to be relentless networkers and often come to the job with vast fields of contacts and resource persons at their call. They know their way around Internet technology and understand the true value of Web and social network sites as a medium for communications, research and knowledge sharing.

Professional marketers have people skills, communications skills, creativity, and the ability to work under tight deadlines and demands of colleagues, employers and clients. Look to members of the Canadian Institute of Marketing for leadership, knowledge and experience to deliver successful marketing programs that help build profit margins, or any other aspect of organizational growth.