7 Essential Professional Digital Marketing Skills

Here are some of the essential skills every professional digital marketer needs. Learn and master these to become a very good digital marketer.

The demand for digital marketing professionals is rapidly increasing around the world. One of the beauties of the roles in the digital world is that the professionals can work from anywhere in the world.

But what exactly should a digital marketer be expected to know? Of course, there are levels of expertise and specialisation among digital marketers. However, there are key skills that each digital marketer needs to at least understand.

Even though professional digital marketers need to have an above average understanding of these skills, it is also very important that they become exceptionally good in one of the digital marketing disciplines. Such people are called T-shaped digital marketers.

Essential skills of professional digital marketers.
1. Website Management
The website is the only channel of interacting with customers that a marketer can have 100% control over. In many cases, the website is the place where the real online business occurs. That’s where visitors are converted to clients.
As a digital marketer, it’s very important that you learn how to manage websites. Learn how to use at least one CMS and I will recommend WordPress.

Why WordPress? Because 40% of the internet runs on WordPress.

Why is this important for professional digital marketers?
In my nine years of working with marketers, one of the drawbacks in implementing digital marketing plans is the delay that comes when marketer rely on the IT department or your external website maintenance partner to make updates on the website.

I have seen ads which referred people to websites which have no information about the promotion. This is can be avoided if the digital marketer learns how to manage websites themselves.

Thank God for content management systems, it’s easy for everyone to learn how to manage websites like a professional without writing any line of code.

It’s very necessary for both digital marketers and entrepreneurs to have the website management skill.

2. Email marketing.
Despite all the new technologies, channels and tools that are available to digital marketers, email marketing remains the most effective channel for sales conversion, engagement and keeping in touch with existing clients and followers.

On average, a new customer has to see your advert seven times before they take the necessary action. Email marketing gives you the chance of engaging your potential customers till they taken the action.

Email marketing is more than writing bulletins to clients on a weekly or monthly channels. It is a sales, education and advocacy strategy as well.

Digital marketers need to learn email marketing beyond the basics.

Why is this necessary for digital marketers?
I see basic email marketing mistakes being made by respectable digital marketers. One of them is buying email lists. Another mistake is having no strategy or method to get email addresses from visitors on their websites.

Anyone doing business online but has no plan to grow their email list is wasting a huge opportunity for cheaper advertising in the future. Without email strategy, businesses miss the chance to increase the number of interactions needed for potential customers to take action.

Email marketing goes beyond knowing the right tools to use, into the developing strategies that you need to get the most from this channel.