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Marketing is one of the most critical business functions. Spreading the word about the product, service, or the brand itself is as important as its inception. As the world shut down during the pandemic, organizations embraced digital marketing as their choice of marketing medium. Social media marketing continues to touch new heights as people spend more time engaged with screens.
Marketing leaders discovered the impact of marketing strategies on sales, outcomes, and growth; even so, they are taking center stage in their organizations. With increased attention on marketing, more funds are being poured into the effort to accelerate the digitization of marketing operations. This comes as positive news for people looking to join the marketing industry. Such a sudden shift accelerated the transformation of the entire industry, which also translates into the demand for new skills and talent, creating new jobs. This article will look into the skills essential for marketing in the digital era.
1. Copywriting
Copywriting is defined as the “activity of writing the text for advertisement and publicity material.” It is written text you see on the billboards, the title newspaper of newspaper ads, or the signs outside physical stores. In the digital world, it is the content you see in the caption of Facebook ads, the headlines of google ads, or the description of a YouTube video.
Copywriting is often confused with content writing, but it is much more. For example, this article in its entirety is content writing. On the other hand, copywriting is the text intended to promote a product or service. Due to its objective, copywriting will not be replaced by AI-based writing tools anytime soon, as it is much more than just writing some catchy words. Check out these top courses at Udemy to learn more about copywriting.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The higher your webpage appears on search results, the higher its visibility and the probability of getting the consumer’s attention. SEO is a set of practices designed to improve the positioning and appearance of web pages in organic search results. Therefore, SEO is one of the most valuable skills for digital marketing. Google is the most popular search engine, and hence its algorithm governs most of the traffic by:
- Looking for pages with high-quality and relevant information to the searcher’s query.
- Use crawlers to read web pages and match their relevance to the search based on keywords and other factors, known as ranking signals.
- Using the site’s link profile to determine its quality. A link profile is the number and quality of hyperlinks on that page.
Appearing high on search engines is still one of the most critical requirements to generate quality traffic to your webpage. Therefore, the SEO market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19% and reach $77.6 billion between 2021 to 2023. To learn more about SEO, check out this free course at Coursera for google SEO fundamentals.
3. Marketing Automation and Technology
Marketing automation uses technology to automate monotonous tasks such as email marketing, social media posting, and even ad campaigns. The use of technology improves efficiency by eliminating the possibility of errors due to human intervention and also ensures a personalized experience for the customer. For example, many emails and SMS marketing tools exist that write to customers based on their interaction with the brands, expressing the brand’s attention to their customers. Automation enables the implementation of such a service at scale.
The Marketing automation market is expected to be worth more than $25 billion by 2023. HubSpot, Marketo, and Mailchimp are some of the popular tools that provide marketing automation services. Such tools can be used to streamline the following tasks:
- Lead generation, nurturing and scoring
- Upselling and cross-selling activities
- Customer lifecycle marketing and customer retention programs
- Analytics and reporting consumer data insights
- A/B testing to see which headlines, offers, copy, or images work best
Refer to the marketing automation courses on Udemy and LinkedIn to learn more.
Social media platforms have become an integral part of marketing strategies. As users spend more and more time on social media platforms, it is only logical to advertise your product or service there. It involves building a following for a brand, reaching potential customers, and retargeting prospects and customers with tailored content. Developing a social media marketing strategy requires individuals with social media skills who are familiar with:
- Functions of each social media platform
- Algorithms of platforms that drive traffic
- Generating and maintaining engagement
- Extracting, analyzing, and reporting engagement metrics
A recent LinkedIn article highlighted the demand for digital and social media jobs in marketing with half of all jobs posted on the platform being in the digital and media space. Check out the Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate to improve your skills.
5. Content Creation & Marketing
Content holds an essential place in digital marketing strategies. Every business needs someone with skills to create high-quality, relevant, and SEO-compliant content. An online presence can be improved through consistency in content output, using relevant keywords, and following a well-structured format.
Content marketing is the process of attracting, engaging, and retaining users by putting out content and constantly optimizing it for higher engagement. Brands often market their content on various social media platforms to gain the most traction. Different social media platforms favor different media types, and you should be able to create different kinds of relevant content accordingly.
Most popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok support video content. But why? People like to learn about things by looking at videos. YouTube is the second biggest search engine, right behind Google. As video content consumption rises, production is becoming more and more affordable. Brands are turning to appropriate social media influencers to promote their products and services in their niche market.
6. Graphic Designing and Photo Editing
Digital marketing often involves graphic design, which requires both creativity and strategic planning to attract new customers and increase traffic. Graphic design is an essential marketing skill that can help establish an attractive brand image and peak interest in new and existing customers. Graphic designing skills for digital marketing may involve:
- Innovation to produce authentic content
- Knowledge of design software and equipment
- Ability to liaise with stakeholders to identify design expectations
Photo editing skills help you professionally enhance images so the brand can provide a high-quality display of its product, service, and values. They are beneficial in creating marketing content for websites and social media platforms. Popular photo editing software includes photoshop and lightroom.
7. Brand & Audience Development
Audience building and brand development are crucial to marketing strategies. A brand must have a clear and strong brand identity to build and maintain a loyal and growing consumer base. Usually, brand identity comes from values and their product or services, but sometimes brands can be much bigger than what they represent as a company or a product. Supreme or Beats by Dr. Dre are some examples. The promotion campaigns, visibility, or exclusivity can make a brand a sensation among consumers.
Brand identity attracts the respective audience, people who identify with and want to be a part of the lifestyle the brand represents. Therefore, companies value people who can attract ideal buyers and maintain engagement using content. They act as the face of the brand, like a spokesperson or the social media account handler of brands. Their interaction with people develops the brand’s perception in the public eye.
As the market for digital marketing will witness growth in the coming years, competition in the industry will grow. Therefore, it is essential to have top-notch skills to survive. Also, if you feel that you possess the skills to be a good marketing executive, we highly recommend looking into a career in the industry. It is a growing field with a promising future. So, get certified and plan your career change today.
