4 Key Skills Digital Marketers Need To Master

The industry has moved on since the days of infomercials and cold-calling and so must you. Today’s marketplace is far more customer-centric and the latest class of digital marketers generate leads through more inbound methods.

To achieve the same results, evaluate your performance in these key areas:

• Copywriting
• SEO
• Social media
• Data analysis

Are you at the top of your game in all four? If not, it’s time to adapt. You can no longer rely on clever slogans and marketing spiel. Here’s why content, SEO, social media and data are the key tools in your digital marketing renaissance.

1. Copywriting

While copywriting isn’t a new discipline, creating quality content has become more important than ever. With more than 27,000,000 pieces of content published every day, blogs, videos and infographics that provide real value to your customers position you as more than just another brand.

Hype and jargon no longer wash with an informed audience. Instead, transparency and authority are in vogue. Marketers who understand the value of well-written, actionable content are far more likely to succeed than their peers. Write to inform, not to deceive, and always keep your audience’s needs and challenges in mind.

2. Search Engine Optimization

Of course, great content marketing is about more than just style and voice. Digital marketers must also familiarize themselves with the nuances of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is what enables your site to rank on search engines like Google and it all starts with the way you optimize your content.

Digital marketers who take the time to build keyword strategies and stay up to date on search algorithm changes ultimately win out. You don’t need to be a techno-whizz to implement SEO in your marketing campaigns (automation tools such as Yoast do much of the legwork for you), but a strong knowledge of who your content is for and what purpose it serves is essential.

3. Social media

There’s a reason 81 percent of SMEs are now active on social media. Social platforms allow digital marketers to connect with customers on their terms. It’s far easier to engage with prospects on Facebook and Twitter than it is on the phone or in the street. But that doesn’t mean social media marketing is simple.

Skilled digital marketers turn social media engagement into sales. They nurture customers through the buyer’s journey, from ‘casual interest’ to ‘brand evangelist’. The key is engaging your audience at the right times with the right messaging. Influential social media gurus like Neil Patel dedicate their time to studying customer behavior. Replicate their methods to better engage your own followers.

4. Data analysis   

Data is the new oil. Everything we do can be analyzed and quantified, helping us to improve inefficient processes. The same is true of digital marketing, where data-driven strategies result in increased ROI. For example, if you want to know how well your latest blog post has done, you can use marketing automation tools to review the number of visits, shares and clicks it’s received.

Of course, data without insight is useless. Today’s marketers need to identify patterns in marketing data and use it to strengthen their next campaign. By calculating the ROI of individual actions, marketing teams can capitalize on trends their competitors are unable to see.

Remain agile and willing to learn

As you can see, the digitization of marketing has rewritten all the rules. The future of the industry is now online and only the flexible will survive. While copywriting, SEO, social media and data analysis are currently the most sought-after skills, digital marketing is undergoing constant redesign.

Remaining open to new approaches and channels will help you stay innovative and relevant. As Albert Einstein once said ‘the measure of intelligence is the ability to change.’ Bear this in mind as you continue your journey to digital marketing enlightenment.