a. Befriend data: Big ideas, great ideas, good ideas are all good but too bad if they land in wrong markets or among wrong target groups. It is impossible to know your priority markets without deep diving into data points such as market contribution, market share and growth potential numbers etc.

b. Know MS Office Suite like the back of your hand: Ok, may be not like the back of your hand but definitely like the sole of your feet. It is critical and fun. Get over your fear of spreadsheets. They are powerful and they are lovely.

c. Read a lot: There is nothing more clichéd than: “Bill Gates reads 50 books in a year.” If you are not Bill Gates, read 20 but read at least those many. And as varied as possible. Marketing is about delivering and communicating value to the consumer and you can’t imagine what reading of good books can deliver and communicate.

d. Know how PNG is different from JPEG: This doesn’t take much to learn. A couple of weeks dealing with marketing collaterals and you sure will be well-versed with marketing and design terminologies.

e. Develop presentation skills: I am sure you knew this will be one of the things right when you read the headline. All of us like reading or sitting through good looking presentations. There are endless ways to present boring data through interesting, insightful graphics; it is just a matter of getting over our laziness.

f. Immerse yourself in new-age media: Some call it digital media, some SoMe (Social Media). I prefer new-age, since it is always growing, always recent. Trust me, if you have taken care of your data abilities, new-age is just another communication channel.

g. Look at the consumer like you look at your beloved: We, human beings, are configured to pursue things that give us pleasure and avoid things that give us pain. Consumer is a human being, like your beloved. Follow Pleasure-Pain principle in everything you do around the consumer.