As more businesses look to build a digital presence, it is easy to comprehend the importance of digital marketing as an effective tool to help businesses reach new customers.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a form of marketing that involves utilizing a particular set of advertising skills designed to harness the power of the Internet for the express purpose of promoting a business’ products or services. Digital marketing is also used to promote a company’s brand.

Which Specialized Skills Are Needed in Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketers are called upon to wear many hats. They have to be able to do more than simply write well. They must learn a diverse set of specialized skills to get ahead in this business. We have compiled a helpful list of 19 “Must Have” digital marketing skills that everyone new to digital marketing should master.

1. Flexibility

Digital marketing is dependent on many factors. Client input, customer feedback, marketing tools, trends, and social media popularity are constantly changing. The ability to be flexible can mean the difference between a digital marketing nightmare and a digital marketing home-run.

2. SEO Experience

Choosing the right keywords makes it easier for customers to find your content via search engines. There are online tools available, known as keyword generators, that are simple to use and are designed to help you select just the right keywords to help your content be found quickly. Remember to think about other related terms and phrases associated with your main subject.

For example, if your content is a generalized article about ‘real estate,’ don’t simply choose ‘real estate’ for a keyword. ‘Housing,’ ‘land value,’ local realtors,’ ‘home value’ and other related words can help draw additional potential customers to your content.

Don’t mislead customers, however. Make certain that the keywords you select are directly related to your content.

3. Sales Experience

Having some sales experience will help you understand how customers think and make buying decisions. This is especially helpful when you are writing sales copy.

Becoming familiar with clients shopping behaviors allows you the advantage of knowing what draws customers in and what pushes them away.

4. Ability to Build/Maintain Successful Relationships With Customers

The vast majority of clients have come to expect one-on-one attention. They expect you to know what they want and how they want it. This is where taking the time to build an authentic relationship with a customer can pay big future dividends, by way of repeat business and free positive word-of-mouth advertising.

Establishing and maintaining good customer relationships is an invaluable necessity.

5. Active Listening Skills

It is essential that you take the time to develop effective listening skills. At times, being an effective listener may seem like you are expected to be something of a mind reader.

Effective listening means more than simply hearing what a customer’s is telling you. It means understanding what they are not saying as well.

For example, if you email a client about the benefits of a particular make of automobile, citing how wonderful it handles or how it gets great gas mileage and the customer replies with “that sounds nice,” what they are saying is “that may be, but tell me how it will fit in my budget” or something similar.

6. Ability to Think Objectively

No matter how much you may personally like a particular ad campaign or a piece of content written for a product, service, or brand, if it is not performing well you must be able to remain objective and make any needing adjustments to it for it to perform well.

7. Ability to Get to the Point Quickly

People have very short attention spans in the digital world. If you do not grab their attention in the first few words, they will exit your site. Be concise but informative with your content.

8. Social Media Skills

One of the fastest ways to garner attention is through the use of social media platforms. Viral content translates into free advertising. It creates a buzz among social media users that ‘share’ content they like and think another will like also. It is a modern-day form of word-of-mouth advertising.

9. Photo Editing

Learn how to add compelling photos to your content through the use of photo editing. Content that incorporates eye-catching photos has a lower bounce rate than content that utilizes only lines of text.

10. Word Press Familiarity

Word Press is a great tool for writing content. Word Press offers many useful and time-saving tools digital marketers need to develop web pages and specialized content.

11. Email Marketing

Using email is an effective marketing tool. It helps you stay connected to your customers. It is an excellent way to present timely information, offering customers a discount, or for follow up after a sale. The use of Email makes it easier to maintain a more personal relationship with customers.

12. Data Analysis

Data analysis will show you what works and what doesn’t. Knowing how to read, effective understand, and incorporate the information provided by data analysis tools will help you create content that is useful.

Data analysis tools can show you how a particular piece of content is performing. They can show you how many times a piece of content has been accessed by visitors, which content is the most popular during a pre-set time frame and more.

Data analysis can also show which content may need to either be adjusted or even eliminated if it is not performing as expected.

13. Visual Design

Be visually creative with your content. A solid wall of text is boring. Use creative design elements to break up text and add visual appeal to your text. Carefully select text colors, headline banners, and background colors that enhance your content and are easy on the eyes.

Harsh, bright visuals can detract from your message and be a turn off for customers.

14. Familiar with Various E-mail Management Tools

Email management tools allow a digital marketer to schedule customer notifications regarding an upcoming sale, loyal customer reward programs, and much more. These tools enable you to target either an individual customer or a selected group of customers with scheduled mailings.

15. Advertising with Google AdWords

Google AdWords is a cost-efficient way to advertising by making use of Google’s extensive reach and influence. Google is practically everywhere you want to be seen in cyber-space.

16. HTML Knowledge

HTML knowledge translates into creating compelling website content through the use of eye-catching headlines, emphasizing certain terms or phrases with italics, underlining, or bold text, and creating scannable text by using bullet lists. Learning the language of HTML opens up another avenue of useful design elements.

17. Use Inbound Marketing to Generate New Leads

Creating weekly blogs, viral social media posts or perhaps weekly podcasts are all popular methods of interacting with the public online. Known as ‘inbound marketing,’ these tools create additional avenues of influence for the express purpose of drawing new customers in.

These are very effective ways to get your company or brand in front of a targeted audience.

18. Understand Paid Per Click (PPC) Advertising

Paid per click advertising is another method digital marketers use to generate interest in their product, services, or brands. When a customer uses a search engine to find information about a subject, the search engine returns both websites related to the subject and related advertisements (usually seen in the sidebar.)

If a customer clicks on one of the ads, the advertiser pays for that click. Paid per click advertising is a method for paying to drive traffic to your site instead of having to depend on customers to find your website naturally in the search results.

Learning how to use pay per click advertising and utilizing its power to generate additional web traffic to your site is an effective way to increase your scope of influence on the Internet.

19. Know the Difference Between Desktop and Mobile Advertising Platform Needs

In today’s busy world, type of the majority of consumers now accesses the Internet on the mobile device. In fact, mobile device users are far surpassing desktop users and this trend is predicted to continue. Digital marketers must recognize and be capable of adapting their advertising efforts to meet and master this trend.

Advertising for desktop users allows for longer text and larger visual elements. In the mobile advertising market, load times and bandwidth requirements must be taken into consideration when designing an effective marketing campaign.

Mobile device users will easily become frustrated with ads that take a long time to load or ones that hinder their ability to quickly and easily access the information they want. A pared down, straightforward approach to advertising is best when designing ad campaigns for mobile users.

While both desktop and mobile device access platforms can each be terrific sources for attracting new customers, digital marketers must understand that each access method has different design needs. Digital marketers must be ready to respond to the needs of both audiences quickly and effectively.

Digital marketing is one of the fastest growing, and constantly adapting, fields in today’s job market. As with more traditional advertising, it is critical that you that the time get to really know your customers. Their shopping behaviour will tell you exactly who they are, what they want and what they expect.

Be responsive to their expectations. Give them the information they need to make informed buying decisions. Use different marketing tools, such as social media interaction and email campaigns, to establish and maintain strong relationships with your customers. Take advantages of the variety of digital marketing tools available online.

They are designed to maximize your marketing efforts for the best returns on your time and design efforts. Remember to be flexible so that you can quickly respond to changing customer needs. Take an innovative, thoughtful approach to designing your advertising campaign.

Remember to try to see things from your customer’s point of view. Doing this can give you valuable new insights into how to best approach their advertising needs.

Digital marketing campaigns are often the first time a customer is exposed to something new. Digital marketers have the potential to greatly influence how and even why customers may like a product, service, or brand.

Do your homework, update your skills to accurately reflect your customer’s changing needs and be prepared to respond to those needs quickly. The effort you make today will be worth the rewards you earn tomorrow.