Must Have Skills for a Today’s Digital Marketer
Having nightmares before the Interview…? Especially if it’s your dream job and you want to give your best and you always feel as if there were some mantras that would affirm success in your interview, then nothing like it…
I am sure every one of us has faced the situations like this, no matter how well you are prepared. It was no different for me until I mustered all my courage to call my mentor Suresh (CEO-Web Marketing Academy – Bangalore), a day before my interview for a Digital Marketing Manager position.
“What is your USP that differentiates from other Digital Marketers? “. This thought has been lingering in me, until I spoke to Suresh… who gave a new dimension to my thought process and confidence.
Let’s walk through the essential skills and tools that are required in this Digital world (sic), which sets you apart from other Digital Marketers and helps to stay ahead of other competitors. So let’s login to the discussion “To stay ahead of your competition” on the Skill sets required for a Digital Marketing professional. This content has been created by Staff and Students of Web Marketing Academy, Bangalore.
This podcast speaks elaborately on below summarized points. These have helped me to overcome the challenges during my interviews and I feel this would be useful for anyone who is looking to make a career in Digital Marketing.
1. Content and Content Marketing
Content: Benjamin Franklin has rightly said… “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing”. We need to accept undoubtedly that “Content is King”. But how is it related to Digital Marketing? The illustration below depicts the role of Content in Digital Marketing and the content creation lifecycle. Content has become a strategic asset for a person or a company and is an important component flowing across the digital, social and mobile web.
Fig 1: Role of Content in Digital Marketing
Fig 2: Lifecycle of Content creation
Content Marketing: Focuses on creating, distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain customer/audience. Implement SEO for your content.
Content Marketing tools: Be it writing blogs / presentations / boosting the brand / poster creation / etc. you just can’t afford to miss the little tools which help us get the content created and shared.
- Canva – This one-stop graphical design platform gives a wide assortment of design tools for all business and personal requirements
- Adobe Illustrator-Enables the user with free hand drawing and develops creativity
- Adobe spark-Free visual storytelling tool
- Pic to chart-Visual representation has taken over the world of content
- Skitch – Take screen shots/access photos, edit, annotate by adding them to a simple palette of drawing. Comes handy when few sections of the images needs to be highlighted
- And many more…
Last but not the least our mobile phones have apps like Instagram, YouTube and others, which serves as content creator and can be created and shared “on the go”.
2. Adapting to ever changing trends in Digital Marketing
Change is the process of life and Digital marketing is no different. It’s for us to decide whether to change or get stagnated at a particular role or Job. In today’s world, Digital Marketing trends are rapidly changing and we have no choice but to accept and implement them in Digital Marketing strategy. The changes could emanate from the team, manager, or company but one need to be adaptable and has to follow the global mantra “Only constant in this universe is Change”.
Social media platform like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, etc. help us keep updated on the changes and trends.
3. Speed
In this digital era content decays at a very fast rate. Information keeps coming and changes by the minute. Be the first one to adapt and make sure to create content that adds value to your profile. Snapchat videos can be created on the fly, which is a raw and unedited piece of content. Even this is fine, do not wait for the content to be scrubbed and polished before sharing it with others, else it may be too late and will become stale information. Is there a hurry to be the first? …certainly yes! So do it today and do it now…else you will miss the bus.
4. Learn how to overcome negativity
Thanks to the emergence of Social Media. Whether its Facebook or Twitter your every move is followed and tracked by people and they express their thoughts with Like/dislike, Emoticons, replies, etc. How to deal with negativity is a vital survival technique and how to overcome without being affected is a challenge which needs to be dealt wisely.
Be it your team members, seniors, family or social media, be open for criticism. Watch “Price of Shame” an inspiring TED talk by Monica Lewinsky, wherein she highlights the huge negative campaign that was heaped on her and how she withstood a culture of humiliation. Whether its Facebook
5. Obsession with certifications
Certification helps recruiters to shortlist your profile from many others, as it gives an extra edge while competing for a job. To summarize:
- Practical knowledge is vital for Digital Marketing and implementing the acquired knowledge is what that counts during the job.
- Case studies give lot of insights and help to come up with alternative solutions.
- Introspect, decide and work on the aspects that you are not confident
Certification is not a ticket to the job, but just additional qualifier which brings much more confidence to the employer during interviews.
6. Presence on platforms
Imagine your CV has links which shows your digital marketing presence on all media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slideshare, YouTube etc. Such a profile presents a very strong case and is one of the area which an employer would be interested in.
So why delay, go ahead and:
- Share your thoughts on Twitter
- Share your content on Slide Share
- Record a video on topics of Digital Marketing
- Go live on a classroom session/topic on Podcast
- Share insights on LinkedIn
- Be active on Quora
- Start blogging frequently
Make your presence felt in as many Digital platforms as you can.
7. Be privy to Apps
Learn to use apps to make life easier. Mobile Marketing will be the next big thing and per recent survey the prediction is that in next five years 80% of the phones across the world will be smart phones.
Easier ways to keep tab on apps are:
- Check Trending apps on Google play store
- Check the usability statistics
- Check the rating and reviews
Tune into the episode on the “First Podcast network “which have been bifurcated for different genres.
8. Presentation and communication skills
Let us take a scenario where during an interview if you are asked to present a topic related to what you have learnt in Digital Marketing, then you need to communicate very well with all the knowledge you have and that too in a convincing manner. So “Anything which isn’t presented well doesn’t sell”, whether its dish, product or person. The key points to remember are:
- Work on the presentation skills
- Effectively communicate in all discussions and interactions
Other references and Resources which are very useful are: Michael Hyatt blogs, Presentation Zen , “Everybody writes” – a book by Ann Handely, Presentation Tips by Gar Reynolds.
9. Analyze the predictions and get updated
A great way to keep up the pace with Digital world is to have an eye on the trends of the top tier companies. Look at the bits of information which helps to know which way the world is moving. Information may come in different forms and sizes like Quarterly reports, Patents filed, press releases, etc. Visit web sites which give prediction of social media and then channelize where you want to be in the digital marketing space. For example, Tesla’s interest in solar farm project, Apples foray into Health Segment, Googles VR project are few of the examples of things that may shape the world in coming days. It is better to keep watch on all interesting and newer stuffs happening around us.
10. Learn on the fly
It’s a digital era and everything happens instantly in this space. So it is “Now or never”. It is fine if there are few hits and misses but at least you are on the path of adapting to trends. Important things to note:
- Record /document every bit of things that are done
- Keep few of your podcasts and videos handy to show it to the interviewer. This serves as a proof of your presence on media.
11. Get things done
There are multiple solutions to each and every problem that comes in our way. Think and provide / suggest options of how to deal/ approach a problem. Don’t hesitate in taking risks, if required seek help. Nowadays it is preferred to get things done quickly rather than solving the problem in a perfect way which mostly takes longer time.
12. Make Mistakes and learn from it
Henry ford has rightly said that “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing”. Stop nagging for perfection, keep learning from mistakes. If you record your mistake and learn from it, that is even better as it brings in more credentials to your profile
In conclusion, Digital Marketers need to develop and strengthen their presence online by delivering value in the form of relevance and quality of their content. Content marketing and storytelling are as old as human beings. We always need to convey important information in useful ways. Social media is the latest evolution in the way we can share our stories. Go for it and make the maximum use of it to enhance your careers.
Author: Poornima Ravishankar
Editor: Madhur Phadnis