The digital marketing industry has been experiencing rapid changes for a long time now. You might feel that the skills you learnt yesterday are no longer valid. But that being said, some skills stay relevant longer than others.
I break down these skills in this article to help you understand better. Plus, I will analyse some job descriptions to give you a closer look at what recruiters are actually looking for.
First, there are two basic categories under which you can bucket all the other skills: Hard and Soft skills.
Hard skills are specific abilities that you have acquired through the years. These skills can be taught through constant education and practice.
Examples of hard skills can be Search Engine Optimization, Coding skills, Data analytics, Copywriting etc. These skills are specific to a particular profession.
Soft skills are common or core skills applicable to all professions. They are also called interpersonal skills and are more about character traits.
Examples of soft skills can be communication skills, time management, public speaking or collaboration etc. Soft skills determine whether you will be a good team player, manager or leader.
Both hard and soft skills are equally important to succeed in Digital Marketing. You will most probably be interacting with your clients numerous times in a day and success in these interactions is highly dependent on soft skills. Some organizations value soft skills over hard skills.
The skills in demand for different positions vary according to the nature of the job. The position of a campaign specialist will require more hard skills than soft, however, an account manager will gravitate towards soft skills. Any role that involves significant human interaction will prioritize soft skills.
Here are the top 5 digital marketing hard skills to master in 2023-2024
1. Copywriting
Copywriting sits at the heart of any digital marketing content. It is what connects you and your customers. Copywriting is to digital marketing as words are to a song. It is the message you want to give to your audience. A good copy can go a long way to help you achieve success and this is a skill that you should definitely consider improving constantly. Copywriting is used across blog posts, emails, and videos and is relevant to SEO, Content marketing, paid advertising and even social media. This makes copywriting the most transferable skill across digital marketing.
2. SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the practice of organically ranking your website in search engines. Almost all businesses use SEO along with paid advertising to show up on the search engine results page. Although SEO takes time, it is free and can become efficient with time. SEO is significantly important for small businesses since they often don’t have the financial power to compete with multinationals. The biggest advantage of SEO is that it consistently performs over time giving the best return on investment.
3. Paid advertising
Sometimes, companies look for faster results and more visibility. They might be running a promotional sale and want to reach a wider audience in a limited period of time. That’s when paid advertising comes into the picture. Paid advertising is also how companies like Google and Facebook earn the majority of their revenue.
Now, paid advertising is applicable both for social media and search engines like Google and Bing. Job descriptions will clearly differentiate the two by highlighting the skill they are looking for.
Account Manager, Paid search (SEM) refers to Search engines while Account Manager, Paid Media is for social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
If you plan to make a career in paid advertising, getting certified in Google Ads and Facebook Ads is important.
4. Web Analytics
Being able to read and make sense of data is considered a highly valuable skill in Digital Marketing. As a digital marketer, you will receive hundreds if not thousands of user signals and being able to make sense of the clutter will determine success. The campaigns that you will create are based on the insights that came from analysing your user data. If one of these steps goes wrong, the entire process might be derailed. Hence, to make the right decisions, being able to read data is crucial. The tool most advertisers use to analyse data is Google Analytics and getting certified in this field will help you to boost your career significantly.
Google has already launched a newer version – (GA4) of its existing analytics tool (universal analytics) and will sunset it in June 2023.
5. Project Management
Just like copywriting, Project Management sits at the core of digital marketing. In simple terms, project management is the process of navigating work to achieve the project goals within the given constraints. The Digital marketing scenario is mostly in the form of projects, where you need to execute campaigns or tasks within a certain budget and time frame. This makes it similar to a project and a strong knowledge of project management can help you outperform others.
Bonus tip:
Outside of these, skills like Google Sheets, Microsoft Office, Google Tag solution, A/B testing and keyword planning can help you stand out in front of recruiters.
Now, here are the top 5 soft skills you can develop:
1. Communication
Being able to communicate effectively is THE most important soft skill to master. Effective communication is being able to exchange ideas and thoughts so that the message is understood with clarity and purpose. It helps to make strong decisions and results in more productivity as well.
2. Problem-Solving
In today’s challenging business environment, it is very important to navigate through problems and solve them efficiently. Problem-solving is also like a challenge which you need to overcome.
Usually, problem-solving involves these steps:
- Defining the problem
- Brainstorming solutions
- Picking a solution
- Test the solution
- Review results.
These steps are then repeated on a loop.
3. Time Management
Time management is the process of consciously using your time to achieve the best result. Most of the time you might have wished you have enough time to do everything you want, and honestly, that’s the situation for everyone. That’s when effective time management comes into play. Another trick is to make sure that you avoid distractions. There are several tools you can use to manage time and the one I find most effective is a checklist. It sounds simple, but can be a lifesaver. Google Chrome also has extensions to keep your distractions at bay.
4. Interpersonal skills
No matter how advanced AI becomes, social skills are super important. Being able to communicate and form healthy relationships with others form the crux of interpersonal skills.
3. Adaptability.
Adaptability is being flexible to changing situations, rising to new challenges and ensuring that you can work together in a team. In today’s dynamic work environment, adaptability plays a crucial role.
Also, today’s work environment is widely multicultural and being able to adapt and work with your peers from different ethnicities is extremely important. And not only your team members, but adaptability is also being able to work with customers from different countries. Candidates with adaptability skills are far more suited to succeed than others in today’s work environment.
Thank you for this blog. I am fairly well versed in the theory of Digital Marketing, but I am not well versed in the practical application. I am so thankful for your explanations. You really helped me revise some of what I studied previously.