Internet marketing, which is also referred to as online marketing or digital marketing is marketing where business owners use the world wide web to market their products and services to potential consumers. For the longest time companies tried to find their way around advertising and marketing their businesses on the internet. It worked, but it did not work as well as they intended it to. We now have a group of experts who understand the interwebs and how it works, who are helping different companies make a killing in their sales on the internet.
This group of experts is what we refer to as Digital marketers. Digital marketers are a group of professionals who help businesses grow their online presence by curating their content in a way that attracts more potential consumers which brings in growth in company sales and long-term relationships between businesses and consumers. These professionals must be well accustomed to different internet channels like websites, social media, email marketing, and online display ads in order to fully benefit a business. A digital marketer is in charge of all aspects of a company’s digital strategy. If you are someone who would love to get into this industry, then this is the best article for you. I will outline the skills that you need in order for you to be a good digital marketer.
Before we proceed, it is important to note that as a digital marketer you can be one who focuses on the creative part of digital marketing which is coming up with campaigns to attract more consumers or you can be one who is more concentrated on the technical part of creating a website and a blog and making sure it works for the benefit of a business. You can also be one who is both and that’s the kind that a lot of businesses want to invest in.
Below are some basic skills you must possess in order to be a great digital marketer.
- CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT: The first thing I learned in business school is that customers will break or build your brand and that only depends on how you engage with them. Customers are the backbone of any business and knowing how to interact with them as a digital marketer is more than important. You cannot be rude to a customer when they bring inquiries, rather you should be able to know how to respond to them politely and this is regardless of however their inquiry tone is. You should never engage as an individual but as a Brand.
- VIDEO CONTENT CREATION: If you ask me when I’m on the internet I find it significantly easier to watch and interact more with video content than reading through a long-written post. Being a digital marketer means you should be able to create good video content, and this is inclusive of shooting, editing, and posting. I will tell you this for free, if ever you go looking for a digital marketing job and you tell your potential employer that you don’t know how to create video content, they will 100% be reluctant to hire you. It has been proven time and again that most people engage more with video content and that is why you must sharpen your video creation skills.
- UNDERSTAND SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION: If anything being a digital marketer means that you should have a great understanding on how search engine optimization works and make it work for any business. Being a pro in search engine optimization means that you understand that in order for your website and blog to get digital ads, it is all courtesy of search drives on the inter webs. In simple terms, you must understand the importance of engine search drives and manipulate them to serve your purpose. Being a pro will not happen overnight, it will definitely take you a while to fully grasp the concept but the sooner you start the better.
- CONTENT MARKETING: What is content and why must it be marketed? Digital marketing is basically a contest between contents to prove which one performs better than the other when presented to consumers. You must be an individual who can create good creative content that will capture the attention of the consumer and potential consumer. Being able to create content and market it effectively will definitely guarantee a business great fortune. With that said, there are different contents that can be marketed on behalf of a business to gain more customers or keep the existing ones. We have white papers, case studies, how-to booklets, and more. Be sure to sharpen your content creation skills.
- BRAND DESIGN THINKING: Being a digital marketer means you are the brains behind how a brand business is perceived by its consumers. You should be a person who can come up with brand designs that will work to the benefit of a business. Depending on what your design thinking level is, it will determine how a business will engage with its consumers and ensure that its online presence is one that is positive and effective. You must be a critical thinker who can look at suggestions, gauge their long-term benefits and how they could affect the business in the long run. You cannot be one who takes on every suggestion and runs with it.
- TECH KNOWLEDGE: Remember the part where I mentioned you can be a digital manager who works on the technical side of the spectrum? Well, you must be a person who is interested in technology and always eager to try out anything new in the technology market. Technology is a big part of digital marketing and if I didn’t know better, I would even say that they are mutually exclusive. You must always be on your toes and looking out for what’s new and how it could benefit your business. All I’m saying is that you must be very easy with technology and using it shouldn’t be something that gives you difficulties. No matter where you want to begin (or end up) in your career, some knowledge of web coding and Content Management (CMS) systems is a must.
- DATA ANALYTICS: You must know how to use google search console and Google Analytics. These two will come in handy for analyzing how your content is being received by consumers and what you should do to make it better and more relatable. Google uses this to send you reports on how your website is doing and with those reports you can begin to curate your content and steer it in a different direction. You must know how to study consumer behaviors and interactions and come up with solutions that will increase conversions and drive traffic to your site.
If you can master and polish all the skills I have mentioned above, then you can make a killing in internet marketing as a digital marketer. It is important to get into a profession where you know your skills will put you in a better position where you can use them and benefit even more.
