As we head into the new year 2018, there is a great need to acquire some digital marketing skills that help you stand out in business. The need for digital marketing skills has never been higher, yet the digital skills gap has never been wider. This discrepancy can provide you with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your value and competency – you just need to make sure you’ve strengthened the right skills.
There is a popular business saying that says nothing happens until someone sells something. With the recent adoption of technology across all sectors, acquiring some digital marketing skills is key. Here is a list of digital marketing skills to start learning today.
1. Web Data Analytics.
The most important skill in digital marketing is web data analytics. Thanks to the growing analytic tools such as Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Hotjar that is providing us with the abundance of customer data.
Being able to track, access, and analyze data through various tools and technologies in order to inform marketing decisions are skills that are no longer optional for marketing teams.
Also Read: Why Every Business Needs To Start Blogging.
2. Email Marketing.
Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. Email marketing has one of the highest returns of any digital marketing technique. The power of Email marketing as a marketing tool is often underestimated.
Email marketing strategies have changed over the years. What worked five years ago, now no longer works. But it’s still a key player in any marketing strategy and a needful digital marketing skill for anyone that is looking to acquire new customers with less.
3. Content Writing.
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Investing in writing quality content around your business or brand is a great digital marketing skill that will lead to an increase in traffic to your website and higher organic search engine rankings for your business which results in more leads.
4. Brand Storytelling.
Brand Storytelling is a strategy to increase brand awareness and loyalty among consumers by providing them with compelling storylines about your business and products. The best brands are built on great stories. — Ian Rowden.
A brand story is more than content and a narrative. The story goes beyond what’s written in the copy on a website, the text in a brochure or the presentation used to pitch to investors or customers. Your story isn’t just what you tell people it’s also what they believe about you based on the signals your brand sends.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a form of marketing focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. SEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines.
The majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Search engines are the primary method of navigation for most internet users. This is true whether your site provides content, services, products, information, or just about anything else.
Also Read: 10 Websites To Find Freelance Writing Jobs.
6. Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a form of digital marketing that uses paid search ads to get more web traffic through desktop or mobile web search. (SEM is more of paid ads on search engine websites like Google & Bing.)
Managing an SEM campaign requires constant monitoring, testing, tweaking, optimization, and learning and this is a vital skill for any digital marketer. The process is similar whether you choose to advertise with Google or Bing—which also drives search advertising for Yahoo.
7. Social Media Marketing.
Social media has become entrenched in our everyday lives and routines. Social media is one of the single most powerful tools in the modern marketing world. You need to develop an understanding of unique copywriting, color psychology, analytics, and visual marketing to improve your social media skills.
Nearly one-third of the population is currently using some type of social media platform. This is why businesses are looking to capitalize on this unique digital marketing skill to drive new business opportunity. Having a social media marketing skill qualifies you to become a social media manager whose major responsibility is to manage contents on social media pages.
8. Website Design (HTML/CSS/Wordpress).
A great digital marketer should be able to design simple landing pages for collecting leads and manage CMS websites like WordPress, Blogger etc. If you can’t do any of these two activities on your own it will be difficult to implement most of the digital marketing skills that were shared in this post.
Basic web design skills like HTML/CSS or even WordPress is a unique digital marketing skill that will help a digital marketer go a long way in 2018. You can learn basic HTML/CSS skills required as a digital marketer on websites such as Codecademy, TreeHouse etc.
9. UI/UX Design Skills.
As a modern-day digital marketer, you need to understand and appreciate the difference between UI and UX. They are different skills and functions and have a specific role to play in creating a superlative customer experience. Don’t be ignorant, understand the nuances.
Although companies typically have a separate design team, don’t underestimate the importance of knowing design principles as a marketer. Whether it’s creating a mockup of a landing page or Photoshopping a shareable image, a little design skill can go a long way (and make you more attractive as a marketing candidate).
10. Digital Marketing Automation.
It difficult to keep up with the demands of all the digital marketing techniques and skills shared in this post without any form of automation.
Most businesses will rely more heavily on marketing automation tools, which means their digital marketing team must be skilled in various marketing automation tools like HubSpot, Buffer, Marketo, and Pardot.
Follow us on Twitter or visit our Facebook page for more resources to grow your business online.