Five Simple Skills You Need For A Career In Digital Marketing

As the CEO of a marketing company actively hiring, I've had to inform many people that they have not been selected for an interview. Every “rejection” email I’ve sent has forced me to identify what it really takes to succeed in digital marketing.

It's been quite the process to figure out what success looks like in digital marketing, as I first had to figure out what success meant for myself. I started my digital marketing career by launching my first WordPress website more than a decade ago. While working as a financial auditor and social media manager, I learned about digital marketing but really refined my skills as a digital marketing freelancer. After getting my freelance site to rank on the first page of Google for the term, "digital marketing company," I ended up hiring people to officially form a company.

Following several hiring and firing experiences, I'm now confident about which skills are necessary for a digital marketing career. Here are those skills.

1. A Passion For Writing

The word "wrote" should consistently reappear on a resume when describing the previous work experiences of a digital marketer: Wrote SEO optimized blog posts. Wrote website copy. Wrote social media status updates. Wrote email campaigns. You get the idea. Digital marketers need to be comfortable writing an SEO optimized blog post, a client recap email and a witty status update.

Action Item: Write “x” number of words each day; the only way to improve your writing skills is to write frequently.

After some practice, showcase your writing skills through a customized cover letter. Only 10% of applications we receive have a cover letter. If you really want to stand out on an application, include a writing sample expressing why you are interested in the company.

2. A Love Of Numbers

Data drives decisions and actions within digital marketing. That's why I look for three common words in the description of previous digital marketing positions: optimize, customize, manage.

Interpreting analytical data enables a digital marketer to optimize an SEO blog post, customize a MailChimp email or manage a Google AdWords campaign. Spreadsheets, percentages and trends are your friends.

Action Item: At a minimum, get familiar with Google Analytics. Get access to an account with data to analyze. If you can’t get access, get certified through Google’s course. Then highlight any love for numbers in your skills, certifications or work experiences on a resume.

3. Communication Skills

There is a clear correlation between communication and success within a digital marketing career. Just look at two of our most important objectives in our digital marketing positions:

• Interface and communicate consistently with clients.

• Ensure marketing message clarity (in other words, target audiences “get” what you’re selling).

If you are a great communicator, you’ll be a great digital marketer.

Action Item: Pick a message and a medium, then communicate through that medium. That’s the formula. The ways to follow that formula to improve communication are endless. Create a Slideshare presentation. Give a speech. Write a post on Medium. Run a marketing campaign. Tweet. Pick up a phone and talk to a business owner. Blind email someone you’ve always wanted to meet. Then apply your communication style and approach to everything you do – including your resume and interview experiences.

4. Creativity

Digital marketing requires you to take a product or service and talk about that product or service in a unique way about 150 times a year (assuming you have three social media posts per week, the average number that we post on behalf of clients). Digital marketers need to look at a product or service and see what others don’t see. For a lack of a better term, you need to be creative.

Action Item: Pick any item and identify 10 different things you can do with that item. Use "duct tape" if you need a starting point. Then look at the company you’d like to work at. Identify three things that are unique about the company. Three things that could be improved. Three things that you could help with. Communicate those learnings to the company to express your creativity.

5. Time Management

The internet is a distracting place: Email. Notifications. Pop-ups. GIFs. Ads. Managing time to achieve results is critical for a digital marketer.

Action Item: Identify six things you will accomplish each day. Assign a time window to achieve each task. Then accomplish those things without getting distracted. Perfect time management and you’ll get results – whether it be a marketing campaign or launching a digital marketing career.

These skills are simple. But like any skills, they take time to accumulate. Prioritize the perfection of these skills and they'll accelerate your career journey within digital marketing.