Top Skills You Need to Get Hired in Digital Marketing

Digital marketing demands many skills from marketers, including a long list of technical and soft skills. If you’re a digital marketer looking to land a new role or are just starting your career and hoping to obtain your first marketing position, here are the skills you’ll want to develop and showcase through your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn profile.

Digital Marketing Technical Skills

To boost your resume and increase your chances of landing a job, take the time to learn and hone these essential digital marketing technical skills.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is a powerful way for organisations to enhance their visibility in search results and generate organic website traffic. Digital marketers play a key role in developing search-optimised sites by implementing on-page, off-page, and technical SEO techniques. Many courses are available online to help you develop SEO expertise. You can also take advantage of tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to enhance your SEO capabilities—in fact, some employers will want to see that you’re capable of using these tools during the hiring process.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) and Paid Media

PPC and paid media are marketing methods that cost organisations money for actions taken (like ad clicks) or whenever an ad is displayed online. PPC and paid media require marketers to proficiently use platforms like Google Ads and social media to distribute ads, making these essential tools for digital marketers to be familiar with. Effectively using these tools requires marketers to understand audiences, audience targeting, and ad optimisation. To develop PPC and paid media skills, you can enrol in certification courses, such as those offered by Google Skillshop, and practice with small paid campaigns.

Content Marketing and Copywriting

Content marketing and copywriting skills are essential for engaging audiences and driving conversions. They’re needed to enhance other technical skills, including both SEO and paid media, and as stand-alone capabilities. Content marketing and copywriting require knowledge of effectively creating and distributing content such as blogs, infographics, emails, videos, and podcasts to audiences to deliver maximum impact to an organisation’s goals.

These skills can be developed by writing frequently, reading actively, and studying successful campaigns. Surprisingly, AI tools can help you improve these skills as well by acting as another person to bounce ideas off of, provide feedback, and even analyse data to make informed decisions for developing content plans.

Social Media Strategy and Management

Social media strategy and management capabilities are highly sought when hiring digital marketers. Social media platforms are valuable for organic and paid marketing tools. Additionally, in the digital age, it’s expected that organisations have a social media presence—whether they’re a governing body or a small business. As a digital marketer, you should be well-versed in strategies and best practices for various social media platforms and how to track trends, inspire community engagement, and understand analytics.

Studying successful campaigns and enrolling in courses like those offered by HubSpot can help you develop and refine these social media skills.

Data Analytics and Marketing Metrics

Analytics are essential in many professions because they allow decisions to be made based on evidence and data rather than guesswork. Digital marketing is no exception, so digital marketers must develop expertise in analysing marketing data and metrics. This requires using tools such as Google Analytics and Meta Business Suite to effectively guide analyses and decision-making. These skills can be developed through practice and enrolling in Google Skillshop and LinkedIn Learning courses. 

AI-Driven Marketing and Automation

In marketing, AI tools assist with analysing data, shaping personalised customer experiences, automating tasks, and optimising campaigns. Common AI-based tools marketers should know include Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Salesforce. Understanding how to efficiently use these tools to optimise your workflow and maximise campaign effectiveness is essential. Additionally, taking the time to experiment with AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Jasper, can help you stay updated on the advances of AI and how to use them to enhance your work.

Digital Marketing Soft Skills

While technical skills are vital, soft skills play an equally crucial role in a marketer’s success.

Creativity and Problem-Solving

Digital marketers must be creative in creating content and ads that stand out. Creativity adds a competitive edge to marketing efforts, making it an important skill. It also pairs well with problem-solving, another essential skill for developing campaigns. Campaigns need to respond to various needs and be adjusted to address their performance analytics, which involves responding to problems as they arise with creative solutions. Studying the work of other marketers and experimenting with different creative formats can hone these skills.

Adaptability and Continuous Learning

Digital marketing relies on frequently evolving technologies and audience preferences and adhering to changing advertising policies. Marketers must quickly adapt to changes and be open to continually learning and expanding their technical abilities. Enrolling in courses, attending industry events, joining marketing communities, and following marketing blogs are ways to stay on top of changes, adjust quickly, and demonstrate your commitment to continuous learning to potential employers.

Communications and Collaboration

Digital marketing tasks aren’t done in a vacuum. They rely on many people to be completed, from designers and content creators to developers and sales teams. Digital marketers must be strong communicators and collaborators to succeed. Tools like Slack or Trello can assist with these skills, but practising and learning to improve them is also valuable. This might involve attending seminars, taking courses, or reading about the subject.

How to Develop and Showcase These Skills

Taking courses related to these skills demonstrates your commitment to your work and will improve your ability to apply them effectively in work situations. Just as platforms like Casinos.com help players navigate the best gaming options, mastering these key digital marketing skills using platforms like Google Skillshop, HubSpot, Coursera, and LinkedIn Learning will ensure you stand out in a competitive job market. 

If you’re just starting your career, internships are a practical way to gain experience and build your portfolio. Meanwhile, taking on personal projects and freelance work can help add to your portfolio, giving you real examples of where you and your skills have excelled and help you land your first digital marketing role or move up to a more senior one.

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