Digital marketing has become a necessity for the simple reason that when the vast majority of your customer base is online, businesses can’t afford to be missing out on marketing in that space. And that’s put digital marketing skills in high demand for most companies.

Because there are so many different and important digital skills to master, it can be difficult to know where to start, especially if you have a small team (or if you are the entire team).

To help, we’ve highlighted the 5 skills we believe are the most important digital skills to build in your marketing team, along with a few course suggestions on where to start.

Skill 1: Analytics

As the old business saying goes: you get what you measure.

And it’s especially true when it comes to digital marketing: if you want to continually improve your online performance, you’ve got to be skilled at measuring it. Without being able to successfully track and measure your results, you’ll only ever be taking shots in the dark.

The upside is that it’s possible to get very detailed and accurate when measuring your digital marketing efforts, so the payoff is guaranteed. Unlike traditional marketing where much of the measuring and attribution is guesswork, digital marketing is pin-point accurate.

As a result, being skilled at analytics means you can get insights into how your customers behave online, where and how to improve your online marketing campaigns, which channels to focus on, how to  spend your budget intelligently, what demographic you could be targeting, how your website is underperforming, identify opportunities – and more!

Getting clued up on analytics may seem like an odd place to start your learning, but in our opinion, it’s the best place to start! Any time improving your analytical skills is time very well spent.

Where to start:

We’ve completed many analytics courses over the years, but we’d recommend to get you started with these.

• Digital Marketer’s Analytics and Data Mastery course. Skill level: beginner.
• Market Motive’s Advanced Web Analytics course. Skill level: intermediate – advanced.
• Google’s own Analytics Academy.  Skill level: beginner – advanced. Or thier Google Analytics Individual Qualification.  Skill level: Intermediate – Advanced.
• CleverClicks customised analytics training. Skill level: Customised.

 

Skill 2: Content Marketing

You cannot grow as a brand without excellent content. With every new Google update announced and every new social media algorithm implemented, the importance of content marketing becomes clearer.

From your website copy to your blog to your videos to your social media pages; all of them rely on great content to both get found and to convert traffic into leads.

The theme of content marketing is very broad, but we’d suggest starting off by learning all you can about content strategy, which will give you a solid grounding for all the rest.

One last note: video has become more important than ever before, so it not a bad idea to spend a little extra time learning some video skills, if you can.

Where to start:

The great news is, a lot of really good content marketing courses are free. Here are a few of our top picks:

• Coursera’s content marketing strategy course. Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate.
• Hubspot’s free content marketing course.  Skill level: Beginner. (Note: this is more valuable if you use Hubspot. If not, perhaps try the others first).
• Market Motive’s content marketing training. Skill level: Intermediate

Skill 3: SEO

There is just so much opportunity you miss out on if your SEO skills are lacking.

Learning to maximise traffic and maintain the health your a website is critical to overall digital marketing success.

Even learning to get the basics of SEO right will stand you in good stead, no matter what your overall digital marketing goals. At the very least it will give you the ability to ensure that your SEO agency is up to scratch and focusing on the right things at the right time.

Where to start:

Good SEO training can be difficult to come by, but these are 3 names we trust.

• Moz’s SEO Bootcamp training. Skill level: Beginner
• Digital Marketer’s search marketing mastery course. Skill level: Beginner
• Market Motive’s advanced SEO training. Skill level: Intermediate
• CleverClicks customised SEO training. Skill level: Customised.

Skill 4: Conversion Optimisation and UX

No matter what you do, converting leads is how your business stays alive.

You could currently be very happy with the traffic you’re getting, or how well your website/s are currently converting, bt you’d be shocked at how much you can improve those numbers by sharpening you conversion optimisation and user experience (UX) skills.

We’ve seen websites where changes as simple as repositioning some elements on the homepage, or changing the way the copy was structured boosted conversion rates by almost 50%! Imagine almost doubling your conversions with a simple change – that’s what good CRO training can do for you.

Where to start:

• FreshEgg’s free CRO training course Skill level: Beginner
• Hubspot’s free conversion rate optimisation courses Skill level: Beginner
• CXL institute’s CRO Masterclass Skill level: Intermediate

Skill 5: PPC

There’s no question that Adwords is a powerful digital marketing tool. Google’s advertising platform is, without a doubt, one of the most effective marketing options that exist.

Businesses love it because when done correctly it offers relatively quick wins, however, it’s also a minefield and a budget burner if you’re not properly skilled.

Getting (and staying) up to date with best practices and learning how to optimise and re-optimise your campaigns is vital.

Where to start:

• Lynda.com’s Adwords training courses Skill level: Intermediate.
• Google’s own Adwords certification courses. Skill level: Intermediate.
• CleverClicks customised PPC training. Skill level: Customised.

Building these 5 skills into your marketing team will make you more valuable to your clients, or, if you’re in-house, it will revolutionise the performance you’re able to deliver to your company.

Whether you run a small team of marketers, or you’re a one-man marketing show, brushing up on the digital skills above will do you, and your business, a world of good.