You’ve read all the blogs, gone through the courses, and scoured Google for ways to begin your Digital Marketing career. But you’re no closer to starting a Digital Marketing career.
That ends now by reading this blog post!
We will introduce you to the transferable skills framework you can use to understand the skills you have already, that you can use to pivot to a Digital Marketing career and convince employers and hiring managers of your potential – so they take a chance on you… regardless of your experience.
For you specifically, this is a tool you can use to understand your skills and how they can translate to a career in Digital Marketing.
Furthermore, you will learn about the technical skills needed to land a Digital Marketing job, how to build them, and the most relevant certifications for a Digital Marketing career.
What Skills Do You Need To Be a Digital Marketer?
A lot, it turns out!
And that’s because the tools and approaches used in marketing are evolving ever faster, challenging Digital Marketers to keep these skills sharp through continuous learning and certifications.
Combining these technical and soft skills will make you a rockstar Digital Marketer for any company.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Getting a business’s offerings seen by a defined target audience is core to a Marketer’s job. Digital Marketers use SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to optimise their website’s search engine ranking, ensuring that their website is visible and appealing to search engines so that it may attract organic (and therefore free) traffic.
Keyword research, content optimisation, link building and website optimisation are key skills for a Digital Marketing Specialist; they demonstrate your ability to drive traffic to websites and generate business results.
Marketing Analytics
Modern marketing is as much about analytics and numbers as it is about creativity. Proficiency with Google Analytics and other data analysis tools to:
- Understand your traffic sources
- Obtain keywords people use to find the solutions your company offers
- Identify the most popular times of day to post
- And collate invaluable data on your audience’s age, gender, and location breakdown – is essential for becoming an effective Digital Marketer.
Social Media Marketing
Now makes up a massive Digital Marketing segment in which you can develop expertise because of its complexity. Understanding what content works and on which platform is essential, as well as knowing when and what to post and how to adjust the tone of your posts to resonate with the different segments of your audience.
Social media is not just about posting content; it also includes social listening, live-streaming, direct messaging, and hashtagging – and should be considered holistically as part of a larger strategy.
Pay-per-Click and Social Media Advertising
You’ve noticed them, too, right?
The ads that seem to follow you around all over the internet?
Thank Digital Marketers for that!
Digital Marketers run paid ads on various websites, Google, and other search engines to drive traffic to websites and landing pages. Using paid advertising to generate leads and sales is one of the skills expected of Digital Marketers to help companies get noticed amid the increased competition online.
Email Marketing
Every year, Email Marketing’s demise is predicted. And each year, it proves to be an impactful marketing channel.
Email is a challenging skill to master because sending out effective emails – ones that generate business and money – is hard.
Email Marketing is an essential Digital Marketing skill. And while not as sexy as social media and other marketing tactics, 80% of business professionals attest to the power of email in driving customer acquisition and retention.
Storytelling
Whether creating a social post or writing a long-form blog post for your company – Digital Marketers must have sharp storytelling abilities.
You will be telling stories to build trust with potential customers and clients. Storytelling is about communicating ideas as clearly as possible in a way that also feels compelling to the people you want to attract (this often through writing, editing, and visual storytelling).
Basic Design Skills
While not expected to be wizards with Photoshop, Digital Marketers should know how to use image tools to manipulate photos in their daily work.
Creative Problem-Solving
Problem-solving for Digital Marketers is about trying to achieve your goals through innovative and out-the-box thinking that your competitors haven’t picked up on. It is about your ability to devise solutions to the problems likely to appear during the workday and uncover solutions for grabbing and holding people’s attention.
Sales and Persuasion
The ability to persuade and sell by creating consistent messaging and copy; and through powerful branding is an essential skill to develop. Generating sales is the goal of all the work that you do. Also, it is essential to persuade people – including your colleagues and bosses to get buy-in for your ideas and plans.
Project Leadership
Leadership skills for Digital Marketing professionals are about seeing multiple projects through to successful completion, through numerous phases, across various channels with diverse deliverables that involve the contributions of others.
Strategic Planning
Finally, at their core, Digital Marketers are strategists and planners who develop multi-phase plans – deployed over weeks and months. Intense planning and understanding of how to build strategies that work matter for these plans to succeed.
Professionals with an insatiable curiosity about people and how things work are those who succeed and do meaningful work in their Digital Marketing careers.
Important Statistics To Know for Your Digital Marketing Career
1. Facebook Is the Most Popular Social Media Platform.
94% of B2B and B2C marketers use Facebook worldwide for marketing. Increasing your knowledge of how to use this platform for marketing will increase your value in a Digital Marketing career.
2. Websites Are the Second Most Used Marketing Channels After Social Media.
A website is where Digital Marketers drive online traffic too. Companies share valuable content and information and present their offers on websites, making them an essential business tool.
3. A Popular Tactic Used by Marketers Is Social Listening.
It is spying. But done online by brands and Digital Marketers! Digital Marketers utilise tools to understand people’s opinions and perceptions of certain products, companies, and industries.
The goal is to gauge gaps and opportunities to serve a particular customer segment better than your competition – social listening as a tactic becomes useful.
4. Mobile Devices Account for 60.9% of Organic Searches on Google.
How people access your content will be crucial during your Digital Marketing career! It will likely be through mobile, according to the latest figures into users’ online search habits. 63% of organic searches on Google in the second quarter of 2021 came from a mobile device. Mobile devices accounted for 55% of the global market share, with desktops falling behind at 42%.
Your secret weapon: What Are Transferable Skills, and Why Do They Matter for Digital Marketing?
Transferable skills are the complementary skills you have gained from previous employment and roles that you can use to position yourself for a new role in an entirely different sector.
They are developed, in large part, through professional work experience; transferable skills are skills you can use throughout your career, beneficial if pivoting into Digital Marketing is something you’re interested in.
Employers hiring for Digital Marketing roles value people with transferable skills who can add value to their teams and campaigns, contribute ideas, and help refine a company’s Digital Marketing Practice.
Consequently, selling yourself becomes easier when articulating why and how your previous experience fits your desired role.
Next, let’s use the matrix to identify some of your skills (from this list of 17 transferable skills) and grade yourself from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) – indicating your level of competence in each one.
Once complete, note the five skills with the lowest score – or five skills you think you should develop – and consider room for improvement. This transferable action plan will help you better understand what complementary skills you have that translate well to a career in Digital Marketing.
What Are the Traits of a Successful Digital Marketing Professional?
Love a Challenge
Unrelenting consumer and technological changes mean the Digital Marketing industry is always in a state of change.
Something new to learn always comes up. A new approach or tool to better target and segment or engage users. Therefore, people who enjoy untangling problems in various aspects of life are likely to thrive in this career.
Passion for Learning
The evolving nature of the sector requires keeping up to date with the latest information, tech, and best practices. They include:
- Attending conferences,
- Building a solid network with other Digital Marketing professionals,
- Keeping updated on industry news,
- Taking refresher courses on current Digital Marketing tactics,
- Learning new skills like web design, content creation, copywriting, and analytics.
An Interest in Helping Businesses Grow
A Digital Marketer’s job is to help their companies gain exposure, find new leads, build their brands, increase conversions and sales, and grow their companies.
To excel, a strong desire to generate results is imperative; to do this requires increasing your competence and skills and applying creative and analytical problem-solving to challenges.
Are You Interested in Pursuing a Digital Marketing Career?
Here is your opportunity to enter the UK’s ever-growing and always-hiring Digital Marketing sector!
Skills for Digital Marketing careers are learnable, regardless of your employment history or the skills you have.
Let us show you how!
Become a Digital Marketing Specialist – The ITonlinelearning Digital Marketing Career Programme
Think of the ITonlinelearning Career Programme in Digital Marketing as a “hold you by the hand” training and support programme where we first – help you become qualified in core Digital Marketing Qualifications, then provide you with recruitment support to find your first entry-level role in Digital Marketing (guaranteed or your money back)!
There’s more – during your training with us, we’ll assign you a specialist mentor to help guide and provide support so you complete – and pass your exams.
This career programme focuses on helping you get qualified AND get placed into the industry you want to work in as quickly as possible!
This is what makes it different! It is why previous students (now working professionals) recommend it so much.
Why Choose ITonlinelearning?
Learn with confidence knowing that your training is approved at the highest level. We help candidates build Digital Marketing, Project Management. Business Analysis, Management and Cybersecurity careers!
How This Career Programme Is Structured
Your journey to becoming a Digital Marketing professional begins with becoming DMI certified. They are a globally recognised accrediting body that validates the skills and knowledge of professional Digital Marketers.
Your journey will start with the following:
1. Complete the Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing.
Introducing the world’s most recognised Digital Marketing Diploma. Upon successful completion, you will be armed with the know-how, experience, and insights to work and speak with authority in this fast-paced industry.
In short, you will become a skilled specialist capable of building Digital Marketing strategies from scratch.
2. Complete the Professional Diploma in Social Media Marketing
Build your Social Media Marketing expertise across ten interactive content modules such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube, and Instagram.
Access ten modules focused on every aspect of social media marketing. The DMI Social Media Marketing certification specialist is the most comprehensive Social Media Course available.
3. Complete the Professional Diploma in Search Marketing.
Develop the skills to work in Search Marketing.
Learn about search engine optimisation, paid search, digital display advertising, and the latest platforms, including Google Ads, Microsoft Ads (Bing Ads), and Google Analytics.
Study using a dynamic mix of interactive lessons, videos, and downloadable tools. Included with this are live sessions on the latest trends and channels. You will receive the globally recognised DMI Search Marketing Certification and a badge of completion from world-renowned Digital Marketer Neil Patel.
4. Receive Recruitment Support.
You’ve passed all required exams. Congratulations, you are qualified in Digital Marketing. Our recruitment team will now help you prepare for interviews and help you land the job you want.
Your study package includes:
- 3 official DMI Diploma exams
- 3 official DMI Diploma courses
- Six months of access per Diploma
- Module quizzes, final quizzes, and exam preparation
- Student support
- A qualified Mentor to provide support.
Become a Digital Marketing specialist!
With ITonlinelearning’s Digital Marketing Career Programme, NOW YOU CAN!
We are the only career programme that helps you gain the qualifications for the career you want AND finds an entry-level job in your desired sector.
Guaranteed or your money back!
Accredited by DMI – the global certification standard in Digital Marketing education, producing more graduates trained to a single digital standard than any other certification body.
Our career programmes are 100% quality content, recognised and endorsed globally by practising professionals.
Interested but require financial assistance? Ask us about the option to spread your payments affordably – at a 0% interest rate – over a 6 to 12-month period with Omni Finance.
Unleash the Potential of your Digital Marketing Career today!
With ITonlinelearning, we are your one-stop solution for Digital Marketing training excellence.
Accredited by the Digital Marketing Institute (DMI).The standard for professional digital marketing qualifications!
Become part of the 62% of people who have gained these Digital Marketing certifications and have seen higher earnings as a result of upskilling.
