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7 Digital Marketing Skills Every Professional Needs

Posted By Guest Blogger 29th of April 2015 General 0 Comments

Digital Marketing Skills 1

 

This is a guest contribution from Brian Burt.

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

That popular bit of wisdom has a timeless ring of truth to it, but we may want to update it for the internet age.

“Whatever you are, be a digital marketer” might be more apt in this era, when nearly everything that matters happens online.

The new reality is that in order to be marketable in any field, you need to sharpen your digital marketing chops. Whether you’re an administrative assistant or a CEO, you can be a better version if you have a basic foundation in web marketing.

7 Digital Marketing Skills You Need to Succeed

1. The Online Hustle

If there’s one thing that internet marketers are masterful at, it’s the online hustle. And by that I mean, the ability to jump online, identify key influencers or companies, figure out how to contact them and then be persistent as hell about getting what you want. This skillset is critical in everything from finding a job to getting guest blogs to nabbing new clients.

Every professional today needs to be a digital ninja, adept at tracking down opportunities online and coming up with creative ways to turn those opportunities into reality. Maybe that means Tweeting at the hiring manager of your dream job or doing some light online stalking of a new business partner you want to impress. Regardless of your goal, you’d do well to learn how to become an expert at leveraging the web to get what you want. 

2. E-Relationships

In the digital age, your first point of contact with anyone new is almost always done online. So it’s absolutely crucial that you hone your interpersonal e-mailing skills. You might be thinking, “Uh, I’m pretty sure I know how to e-mail,” but just because you can type and press send doesn’t mean you’re doing a bang-up job at using e-communication to your advantage.

When it comes to forming and maintaining excellent professional relationships online, it’s all about finesse. Digital marketers are pros at becoming BFFs with people they’ve never even met in person. Sometimes that means making a cheesy joke about the weather or asking an authentic question about the recipient’s life, but the point is to go the extra step to turn your faceless e-mail address into a real, living, breathing human with whom people want to work.

3. Social Media Savvy 

The only person who can acceptably say things like, “Oh, I just don’t get social media” is your grandmother…and even she’s probably posting funny pictures on Facebook. Social media know-how may have once been a bonus, but it decidedly necessary by now.

Regardless of the field you’re in, you should have a polished LinkedIn profile at a minimum, but you should also have a decent working knowledge of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr. Anything less makes you come across as a bit of a dinosaur in the professional world. This is especially true if, like many, you’re working in the start-up world, where every employee is a jack of many trades and should be ready to take the helm of the company’s Twitter account or Pinterest boards if asked to do so.

4. Finger on the Pulse 

In the digital marketing field, it’s essential to keep up with trending topics, modifications to the Google search algorithm and new social media policies, just to mention a few things. As the game is always changing, it’s stay current or perish. And while things might not move at such a breakneck pace in other industries, keeping abreast of news and trends in your niche is pretty much always a surefire way to get ahead.

5. Data Matters

Internet marketers are not just about crafting cool messages and viral social media posts. Hard data is actually where the rubber hits the road, because no amount of hard work or clever words matter unless they’re having an impact on the goal of increasing exposure and opportunity. All professionals would do well to become more data-oriented if they want to be more successful. After all, the work only works if it has your intended result.

6. SEO 101

It’s not really necessary for all of us to be SEO experts. But as internet users and professionals, we should all have a basic grasp on how websites earn a high ranking position in Google searches. Here are a few key understandings:

  • How to spot an ad versus an organic result in search results.
  • The fact that websites that are in the top organic results of Google searches are there because they’ve established themselves as a legitimate and reliable, over time.
  • Google punishes websites that use cheap shortcuts to try to rank quickly.
  • The more reputable websites that link to a website, the higher its ranking.
  • The more people share links to a site on social media, the better it does in rankings.
  • New businesses need to work hard to establish themselves online – no one will find your new website if you don’t put in serious work to build a presence.
  • For content to boost SEO, it needs to use popular search key terms naturally.
  • One easy and reliable way to climb the rankings is to consistently add original content to your site in the form of blog posts. 

7. In Your Audience’s Shoes 

The digital marketer’s perennial question is: Who is my audience? In this world, that may be the customer or the potential client. Even if that’s not true for your field, you have an audience. When you tweak your resume or put together a presentation for colleagues or just write a new blog, you’ll improve your work in a serious way if you make every move with your audience in mind. Marketers know that their opinion is sort of irrelevant in the sense that they can be over the moon about a new idea, but if it won’t resonate with the audience, it’s worthless.

As the internet becomes an increasingly dominant part of business, all professionals have a duty to become proficient in basic digital marketing skills.

And when you add this skillset to your already impressive qualifications in your field, you become a double threat and infinitely more valuable to current and future employers.

Brian Burt is a digital marketing pro who’s been in the field for more than a decade. As the founder of WebRev Marketing & Design in Chicago, he’s constantly learning about and experimenting with new strategies that help businesses improve their online presence. In his rare spare time, Brian also enjoys fixing up vintage cars and guest blogging on a variety of business and marketing sites. Check out www.webRevmarketing.com for more.

About Guest Blogger
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Comments
  1. Thanks Brian for your detailed articles. I am also agree with you, E-Relationships is a factor which play an important role for content marketing. Your SEO 101 is really impressive.

    Happy blogging :-)

  2. Relationships is 100% of the business online when you play your cards right. Do the transformation business work and you’ll be good for the entire journey.

  3. Great article on digital marketing skill..
    E-Relationship is a good idea

  4. A digital marketer is like a conductor. Many players, a lot of shiny noisy instruments and a big audience.

    It means understanding the nuances of the new web paradigms and how they interact.and tarot card reading in delhi .

  5. This article is very helpful for anyone who is new in content marketing field like me. I think the skills that you have listed in this article such as Customer Segmentation, Multi-Channel Content Planning, Editorial, Creation & Curation, Community Building will be very effective.

  6. Hey Brian, I think SEO is the most important thing amongst all others.

  7. Oh man, that first one! The difference between success and starvation, I can’t count how many times!

    This is actually a great list, because about half of it focuses on something so many people, especially beginners (myself included, once up a time) forget, in the digital/impersonal world we’re working in: It still comes down to building relationships with people. And someday it will probably come down to building relationships with the robots who run everything, but the principles persist.

  8. 2 is so incredibly huge Brian. In a few months I’ll be releasing an eBook/book with my friend and business partner Matthew Capala. We’ve worked with one another for years on endless projects. This hyper prospering release and the previous releases/projects all were the product of us building an e-Bond, patiently, over time. I did it through blog commenting and email contact, along with social media. But hell, I did it by being a friend hahaha.

    One may over complicate things online. Trying to use tools, to force things, to work harder and longer. I write long form, helpful content directed at 1 targeted reader. I make friends by promoting other folks on social networks and by commenting on blogs. My cupboard is not bare ;)

    What we do is simple, if we keep it simple, and #2 is the one step to follow, the skill to develop, to have astounding success online.

    I am blogging from paradise because I learned how to make friends, by being a friend. Comment, share, meet, greet and hey, just make someone feel special, and so many doors will open for you, it’ll be amazing. Just persist with this approach to see the greatest returns…and you will. Thanks!

    Ryan

  9. “Whatever you are, be a good one.” this is really a nice quote :) and its really a good article about internet marketing :) learned new things :D thanks and keep publishing awesome articles! :)

  10. Hi Brian,

    This is really an awesome post and i too believe that relationship and networking becomes an important part of digital marketing and you should learn the art of building relationships with others over Internet to utilize best from the internet resources.

    Regards,
    Ovais Mirza

  11. Hello Brian,

    Your perspective on E-Relationships are very much true. I agree with you.

  12. Darren,

    Thank you for sharing this wonderful guest post, I loved it!

    Brian,

    Fantastic job on this post! As someone who works in Social Media, I found it to be packed with excellent advice for both industry professionals and newbies alike. I especially loved your tell-it-like-it-is banter, it added so much to the article and made me literally laugh out loud (and I don’t LOL easily)!

    It is true that social media has become a necessity in today’s marketing world but I’m glad that you pointed out that it isn’t just important for marketing. It has also become a research tool for recruiting in any field, as well as a way of life to find the products and services you are looking for.

    As for trends and data, all companies should be looking at these to keep innovating their systems to achieve sustainable growth. The consequences for not doing so isn’t just keeping you from growing, it could ultimately lead you to large loss and can potentially put you out of business.

    I’d like to end my comment with this statement: Relationship building isn’t just for Marketing and Salespeople. Make connections and enjoy the communications, building a network is important for every person and every business!

    I look forward to reading more from you!

    Sincerely,

    Andrea

  13. Tom McGaughan says: 05/01/2015 at 3:33 am

    My biggest takeaway from this article is ‘knowing your audience’ It is essential that you figure out where your potential client is before you bombard them with ‘Everything they wanted to know about ____ but we’re afraid to ask’
    In a word…Listen
    They’ll tell you…!!

  14. Great article Brian! Thanks for all of your tips.

  15. Great way to combine all of these factors. Although I have been blogging for 5 years, I did not pay attention to SEO until recently and it’s such an important factor.

  16. I really appreciate article like this. It’s very informative and I learned something from here. Thanks for sharing and I will definitely share these 7 Digital Marketing Skills Every Professional Needs.

  17. Great way to combine all of these factors. Although I have been blogging for 5 years, I did not pay attention to SEO until recently and it’s such an important factor.

  18. It’s a great explanation, now the trick is implementing!

  19. Great ideas thank you

  20. Relationships, SEO, and “lots and lots of content” is what DNN cares most about. And passionate too! :-)

  21. Great list!

    Working in PR and Communications for a while now I found that especially #2 and #7 are highly important – I myself am not too advanced in SEO Skills and am training to get more Data savyy at the moment.

    I believe it’s not as important to be an expert in all your mentioned skills – but having a broad and basic knowledge on all of the mentioned things and focussing on the parts one is particularly great at can really make the difference.

    Good Read, I’ll definitely share it with my audience!

  22. :) Thanks Brian for these helpful and informative tips! I agree with your tips, especially in number 7. Thanks again for sharing a great post! Keep it up!

  23. Awesome list, thanks so much for sharing.

  24. bilal says: 05/19/2015 at 4:38 am

    It’s a comprehensive kind of list for all of us. Market intellects is providing all services at affordable costs. I have tried them, they worth a shot.
    CHEERS everyone

  25. As usual great article! I think the most challeging areas in DM for 2015 is Analytics and SEO. Those two are with major changes!

    Thanks and keep up the outstanding work :)

  26. I agree with what you said about SEO. Before I started using the internet frequently I didn’t know what SEO was. Now I have learned what to look for when reading comments and when deciding which sites are valid. I really think a good ranking can come naturally as you produce good content.

  27. This is a very useful post for all the bloggers. Keep posting valuable content like this. Thank you

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