The Top Skills of Digital Marketing Rock Stars

Content, social, analytics, automation, personalization, responsive design, UX, conversion, the funnel, the journey – and so much more is on our plates as modern digital marketers. The demands on our skill set are growing as fast as the technologies are evolving.

We have to be insightful, creative, inspired and inspiring, we have to be designers and coders, and – bottom line – bring home the bacon . . . the leads, that is.

So what does it take in today’s dizzying world of digital marketing hyper-speed? In this blog post on marketing portal Marketing Land, Jim Yu lists the “7 habits of highly effective digital marketers.”

Of the 7 “hybrid skills” discussed in the post I’d like to share my thoughts on three:

1. “Content-centric”: if we were to boil it down to two main pillars, when it comes to digital marketing it starts with content, continues with content, and ends up as conversion. Content is our beacon. It’s what brings prospects to engage with the brand, deepen their interest, solidify consideration, and ultimately go from marketing qualified lead to sales qualified led. Great content is our marketing equity.

2. “Data-driven”: with big data and the Internet of Things permeating every aspect of our personal and professional lives – we can’t be responsible, accountable digital marketers who bring value to the organization without being data driven. Data is what separates the Mad Men from digital marketers.

It’s all about the numbers. If we can’t measure it – how do we know we’re doing it right? If we can’t put it on a spread sheet – how can we prove the value of our programs and campaigns?

We can’t.

Even if we’re not going to be the ones putting a script onto our landing pages to track the lead source, at the very least – we need to have basic Google Analytics capabilities. The basics are straightforward; and for the parts that are not you can go to the Google Analytics Academy.

3. “Results-focused”: this last one is dear to my heart. We don’t do things for the sake of doing them. We do them because they serve a strategic business objective. In our case, as digital marketers – it can be raising awareness, bolstering our thought leadership position, or – my personal favorite, and the one that counts the most – lead conversion.

To read about the other 4 habits, and what Jim has to say about these 3, go the Marketing Land blog post.

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