What are the skills needed for digital marketing jobs

In order to become an excellent digital marketer who grabs the attention of the employer at the first attempt, you must know the skills needed for digital marketing jobs. 

Without doubt digital marketing is a booming industry where the digital marketing skills are highly demanded for any sort of marketing and business growth due to the rapid expansion of businesses using online facilities. 

35+ Top skills needed for digital marketing jobs

1. Possessing good practical knowledge of HTML coding
2. Having knowledge of css is plus
3. An excellent theoretical and practical knowledge of SEO
4. Affiliate marketing knowledge
5. Good commands on MS Office skills
6. Knowledge of CMS or capability to work with WordPress
7. Experienced with analytics softwares and deriving insights from the existing data 
8.  Ability to run email marketing campaigns effectively
9. Excellent practical knowledge on free and paid way of branding and advertising
10. Comfortable in using graphic designing softwares or Canva
11. Knowledge of the best and popular free and paid digital marketing tools
12. Hands on practical experience on social media marketing strategy
13. Capability to examine and analyze the key campaign metrics and finding the insights
14. Good project management skills
15. High attention to detail
16. Ability to find the insights from previous data and improving the marketing processes
17. Meeting regular deadlines in a developing work environment
18. Possessing degree or certifications on business or marketing would be a bonus
19. Possessing practical knowledge on developing and managing web development projects
20. Excellent relationship development ability
21. Advance knowledge of Excel software
22. Having practical experience in account management is plus
23. Excellent command on communication skills, fluency in English language is a must
24. Working with responsibility and motivated spirit
25. A good problem solver
26. Possessing organisational skills
27. Experience and comfortable in working with social sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube etc
28. Capable and experienced in creating text and graphic oriented and video social content 
29. Ability to use Video editing software and create a videos
30. Able to manage multiple marketing flows
31. Being goal oriented and enthusiastic to hit to goal to lead the organization in the next level
32. Delivering excellent performance keeping the quality in mind
33. Possessing strong verbal communication skill
34. Excellent in nonverbal skills or emotional intelligence to develop trusting relationships
35. Willingness to adapt the regular change in a dynamic and fast-paced work environment
36. Strong provable work ethics 

36 Essential skills to have to become an expert digital marker

You can become an entry level digital marketer by learning WordPress, SEO, Facebook ads, Google ads, MS Office softwires but if you want to become an expert digital marketer then you need to master all these 36 skills.

1. Practical knowledge of HTML coding

You may think that HTML is a part of coding so it must be used by programmers only, why should it be used by a marketer. 

In order to understand why HTML is a requirement for a digital marketer, let me tell you the use of HTML.  

HTML is used in every web page, that means the websites that you see which are made up of many web pages are all created using HTML.

 Every web page is structured by using HTML. And as a digital marketer you need to deal with people’s websites, which means you need to deal with HTML.

 This is the reason learning at least the basics of HTML is essential for every digital marketer.

 The good news is that learning HTML is very easy. In fact you can learn it even within a week if you give at least three to four hours of time every day. 

2. Knowledge of CSS basics

CSS stands for cascading style sheet, which means the CSS is applied in a web page in order to make a webpage beautiful and appealing. 

Let us understand the difference between HTML and CSS. HTML is like a brick and cement wall of a house, where the CSS is all about painting the wall and imparting design and appealing look to the house.  

HTML creates a structure of the webpage and css is applied on the structure to make the webpage attractive and  beautiful.

 So as you deal with the web pages, you may also need to apply CSS to bring customization and changes. This is the reason having the knowledge of CSS basics is another  good skill for a Digital marketer to possess. 

3. An excellent knowledge of SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.  which means you optimise a website or the web pages according to the requirement of the search engine in order to be in the higher rank so that it can be visible to the audience on the top search results.

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is an essential part of digital marketing, where you are responsible to rank a website on the hire search result so that people will visit the site and eventually the product or service will be sold and generate revenue to the business.

There are many concepts to learn in order to  be an expert search engine optimizer.  you need to  know the on page SEO and off page SEO, you also need to have a clear understanding of what is white hat SEO,  grey hat SEO and Black hat SEO. 

There are around more than a hundred factors to rank a  website in Google’s search result which you need to learn in order to be a SEO expert.

4. Affiliate marketing knowledge

Affiliate marketing is a part of digital marketing, where you do not sell a product directly rather you promote others product or services and as the product or the service is sold you get a Commission.  As a digital marketer you also need to have a good understanding of the process of affiliate marketing and the tools required for it.

Almost every big companies who sells some sort of products or services provide the affiliate link in order to be promoted by the affiliate marketers, now the affiliate marketers use that link in their  website, YouTube channel, blog and in other platforms to promote that product or service, now as the the Reader or viewer  get convinced through your content, they may proceed for buying the product or service, the company gets its sell and you get a Commission.

Different products and services have different percentages of commission. it can be from 2%  to 70% or higher, depending upon the service or the product. service-oriented affiliate commissions are basically much higher than products  in most cases. 

5. MS Office skills

MS Office skill is another required skill for a digital marketer. MS Office includes the softwares like Microsoft Word, Microsoft  PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel etc.  which are used in order to create a document,  presentation or data sheets.

 So having a good understanding and the practical knowledge of MS Office softwares is the essential requirement for every digital marketer. 

It doesn’t take  too much time to learn the basics of MS Office software, you can even learn them within 15 to 20 days,  if you spend at least 2 hours each day.

6. Ability to work with CMS like WordPress, Shopify etc

There was a time when every website or web page was created by literally coding every line . During that time developing a website was much harder than developing now.  As now the CMS or the content management system like WordPress, shopify, Jumla, Magento these are used in order to develop a website very fast without coding every single line.

Among these the WordPress is the most used CMS all around the world, due to its plugin facility which are extensions or a piece of software that can be added to your website in order to make your website more powerful by importing more functions, and the good news is that there are thousands of plugins available in order to make  your website Great and Powerful, the most of the plugins are free and there are also paid plugins in order to extend the functionality. 

Due to the facility of this plugin and the themes which can be readily available from the WordPress repository, WordPress became one of the easy yet powerful CMS, which can be used to develop simple to complex, basic to critical, static to ecommerce every type of websites within very short time and without much effort. 

Shopify is also another popular CMS which is used especially for developing the E-Commerce web pages, it also provides  many facilities to handle an online business. 

Wix is another popular platform to create and maintain websites and web pages easily. 

7. Experienced in using analytics softwares like Google analytics

Analytics software gives a lot of precious and insightful information regarding the visitor’s of the website. The customer behaviour, their location, devices used for accessing the web pages, time of their visit, visitor activities and many more things can be tracked and used for better performance.

 Google Analytics is one of the popular software which most of the people use in order to track there visitors behaviour.  and from this data a lot of Insight  can be received which can be a very powerful tool for enhancing the business or increasing the visitor rate. 

8.  Ability to run email marketing campaigns

Email marketing is another important aspect of digital marketing.  In email marketing you capture the email address of the visitors in different ways, and you continue to follow them up by sending them the valuable information that can be beneficial to the email subscriber. 

 As you provide them valuable resources, along with it you also provide them your service or the product link so that if the trust is built properly then the email subscriber can proceed and buy the service or product from you, as a result you get business. 

9. Practical knowledge on free and paid way of branding and advertising

As a digital marketer you also need to know how to do branding for your business, running advertising campaigns through free and paid both ways in order to increase the visit and make more sales.

There are many free ways to advertise your business like through blogging, guest blogging, writing articles or answering the questions in Forum sites, sharing valuable resources in social media sites etc.

 Some of the paid ways of advertising are Facebook advertising, Google search advertising, Google display advertising, Quora marketing, YouTube marketing, Instagram marketing etc.

10. Graphic designing softwares like Photoshop or Canva using skill

Having at least basic designing skills and ability to use some designing softwares are essential for a digital marketer. As you run the advertising campaign you need to design images that are compelling and attractive, so that people will click on it and will land on your website.

Having a good knowledge of Photoshop and canva can help you to design beautiful images for use in the purpose of marketing.

11. Ability to use top free and paid digital marketing tools

Having a good knowledge of free and paid digital marketing tools is also essential for the purpose of Keyword research, website audit, understanding details of backlinks etc.

 There are many paid digital marketing tools which are used by many expert digital marketer in order to make their marketing easier yet powerful and effective.

Some of the top digital marketing tools are: 

Email Marketing Tools:

• MailChimp
• HubSpot Email Marketing
• Marketo
• GetResponse

Organic Social Media Tools:

• Sprout Social
• Woobox
• Wyng

Paid Social Media Tools:

• Nanigans
• Facebook’s Power Editor
• Twitter Native Platform

Display Retargeting Tools:

• AdRoll
• ReTargeter

Programmatic Advertising Tools:

• Rocket Fuel
• ChoiceStream
• Simpli.fi

Website Testing Tools:

• Unbounce
• Oracle Maxymiser
• Optimizely
• Visual Website Optimizer (VWO)
• Hotjar

Video Hosting Sites:

• Wistia
• Vimeo

Content Curation Tools:

• Feedly
• Scoop.it
• Kapost

Website Analytics Tools:

• Kissmetrics
• Google Analytics
• Adobe Analytics
• Woopra

Customer Service Tools:

• Zendesk
• LiveChat
• UserVoice Helpdesk

Search Engine Optimization Tools:

• Moz
• SEMRush
• Screaming Frog

Affiliate Marketing Tools:

• CJ Affiliate
• VigLink
• Rakuten Affiliate Network

Content Creation Tools:

• Canva
• Landscape by Sprout Social
• Visual.ly

12. Experience on social media marketing strategy

Social media marketing strategy is all about creating a summary of documents about all the details that you are planning to do in order to achieve success on social media by driving more traffic to your business. It also helps you to understand whether your strategy is  succeeding or failing.

The better strategy plan you prepare, the more effective your digital marketing campaign will be. Always prepare a strategy that can be measured easily.

13. Experience in examining and analyzing the key campaign metrics and finding the insights

Experience in analysing the campaign metrics and finding the inside from that which can be beneficial for the next  advertising campaign is also a great skill to possess.

More experience you have in dealing with the campaign metrics and finding the insights, the better digital marketer you will become.

14. Project management skills

Project management skills are necessary if you want to become a successful digital marketer.

Project  management works includes: 

• Conception of project plan to implementation of them
• Creating timelines for every tasks
• Understanding the risk and opportunities while preparing the project plan
• Executive the project plan continuously
• Creating the budget and manage them properly
• Maintaining continuous and effective communication process with others
• Understanding the challenges and solving the problems
• Accomplishing the task successfully within time deadline

15. High attention to detail

It is all about efficiently allocating your resources to reach your goal of successful completion of the task effectively and accurately, in spite of small or big projects. 

High attention to detail increases the productivity level and the performance in the workplace. It also allows the task to be done efficiently with minimal errors. 

16. Finding out the insights from previous data and improving the marketing processes

Data is a powerful resource.  Therefore the previous data of the marketing process can be used for finding out the great inside and used for improving the marketing process. 

As a successful digital marketer you must be able to read the previous data and dig out the insights from it. 

17. Meeting regular deadlines

Meeting the deadlines regularly and completing the task within the required time is another important factor for becoming a trustworthy digital marketer.

Providing the service within the deadline helps to build a trust and better relation with the client, resulting in you getting more returning clients and your business growing.

18. Possessing degree or certifications on business or marketing

It is a wise decision to possess some degree or certification in a business or marketing related field if you are really serious about a digital marketing job. 

Many good organisations or companies ask for the degrees or certification, so if you possess this, it will become easier for you to get a digital marketing job.

19. Web development skill

A website is considered as a digital house for all your  digital  marketing works. Your each and every digital marketing work surrounds the website. 

Therefore having the web development skill is a powerful asset to possess for every digital marketer. 

Developing a website using a content management system like WordPress, Wix or Shopify is very easy. It may take a couple of weeks to learn the development skill using the CMS or  content management system. 

20. Excellent relationship building skill

Relationships play an amazing and powerful role in  every business.  Therefore, rapport building skill is a vital skill to provide better service to the client.

If you desire better customer service then you must build an excellent relationship with the client. 

21. Advance knowledge of Excel software

Data is an integral part of digital marketing. Maintaining the record of visitors, Conversion and impressions etc are crucial for digital marketing. Even though there are many more software, available through which you can keep the track of all your data but Microsoft Excel is one of the most used and popular Software which is used by many digital marketer in order to analyze, interpret and present data in a structural way to create a simple yet most informative report.

22. Having practical experience in account management is plus

As a digital marketer you may need to handle the social media account and website of the client.  Therefore, having practical experience on handling social media accounts and websites is needed to become a digital marketer and find a digital marketing job in an easier manner.

23. Excellent communication skills and fluency in English language

Being excellent in communication and fluent in English is another required skill for every digital marketer, Because as a digital marketer you need to communicate with your client on a regular basis and most probably Using English language.

Therefore having strong communication skills and fluency in in English language is almost compulsory.

24. Handling projects with responsibility and motivated spirit

It is not only about digital marketing but in every area of business you need to be a responsible and motivated person in order to be successful.

Taking the job seriously and fulfilling the required task with responsibility and a motivated spirit will help you to become an effective digital marketer.

25. Problem solving skill

Problems can occur in any situation  and in any business. As problems occur it is your responsibility to understand the root cause of the problem and solve it efficiently.

 You may face a lot of technical problems, communication issues but above all you must be a strong problem solver and will be able to handle the problem wisely.

Let me know your suggestion in the comment section below for adding more life to this article and helping others to grow.

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