5 Essential Skills All Digital Marketers Need To Prosper
Digital marketing is massive, and it can be challenging at times, particularly for those new to the industry, to find their place. My best advice to new initiates into our industry is to make sure you have the following five skills as best you can. And once you have these down, look for ways that differentiate you using your own personality and knowledge.
1. Video
Video is here to stay and growing monthly, so either jump on the train or be run over.
According to nearly all the research videos hold a customer’s attention for two minutes longer which is huge in the digital marketing industry. What can you do in two extra full minutes? Firm up your story and make your pitch!
But the potential of a video in your sales copy doesn’t stop at giving you a longer duration of your customer’s attention and time. You also must consider the Google video bump!
A well-optimized video can boost your chances of being in a top Google ranking by at least 50.
As if a longer duration and more attention and a beautiful Google bump in page rank wasn’t enough, we also know that 80% of customers are more likely to purchase a product after seeing it in a sales video on the product page.
So in short, become a skilled user of videos in your marketing to increase conversion, customer engagement and higher page ranking.
What makes videos so powerful and engaging? They’re personal. People get to see your product or service being used and discussed. It builds confidence and reminds your would-be customer that there are people behind this product/service.
2. SEO & SEM
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the very foundation to all levels of your digital marketing. It can take years to become an expert – you can leave the finer technical details to the professionals (especially if you’re a ServerWise client) but you should be aware of the basics. Be able to understand the key points and know what your professional consultants are talking about when they use industry jargon and terminology.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is paying for ad placements throughout related and targeted search engine results on Google and Bing.
3. Content Marketing
And here we have the very core of all digital marketing activities and strategies. Content marketing is essential but complicated and comes with its own challenges. After all, you have to know how to create unique and engaging content that is SEO-friendly and will serve as an evergreen platform by successfully driving traffic to your site with little effort.
Before you feel instantly overwhelmed, it’s important to understand that content comes in many forms. Once content marketing meant only highly specialized and high-quality articles, but now it can be nearly anything from videos, social posts, GIFs, emails, white papers, blogs, e-books, product manuals, explainer videos, reviews and just about anything else you can think of that some may find engaging.
4. Know Your Tech
Digital marketing is, after all, digital by nature and definition, meaning it’s entirely technologically driven. As such you must have a firm understanding of the various tech components (funnels, landing pages, WordPress, autoresponders, etc.).
Luckily, it’s never been easier to pick up a few things from freely available explainer videos and tutorials on YouTube. Head over to YouTube.com and watch a few explainer videos, and you’ll start to pick it up in no time.
Also, (here’s my little sales plug) make sure you’re working with a company and provider who is always willing to help tighten up your weak points. Here at ServerWise, over half of our support tickets have nothing to do with tech support related questions because we’re always here for you no matter what you need.
5. Become Very Persuasive
At the end of it all, a strong digital marketer must know how to sell because that’s what it always comes down to after all. You must know how to sell your product or service.
You’ll need to be able to use analytical thinking and creative-problem solving to develop strategies to sell, target new clients and customers and get new sales from old customers.
What is the most important part of sales? Being persuasive. You have to be able to convince someone to buy the product you’re selling.
Those five points are in no way a complete blueprint for digital marketing success, and I’ve been in this industry long enough to know no one can make you any guarantees. In the end your product or service must be worthy of buying or all the paid ads, SEO strategies and content to drive and engage with social media platforms are a waste of time and money.
It’s the sales page where the magic happens. This is the page that gives you a return on your marketing investment. It is on this page where we convert visitors to paying customers. Do you know the valuable elements of a high-converting sales page? You will soon. Keep Learning >
Content marketing is the backbone of the biggest success stories over the last decade. I’m referring to companies like Zomato, Canva, ThinkGeek, HootSuite and even Blendtec. It’s not surprising that so many brands are focusing on content marketing, given the average ROI is twice any other type of digital marketing. Keep Learning >