Top In-Demand Digital Marketing Skills to 10X Your Career in 2022

Digital marketing skills are crucial to the success of any business in the 21st century.

In the wake of the pandemic, in March 2020, thousands of businesses went through rough waters as a result.

In a study by Goldman Sachs, 75% of small business owners in the United States said they were sure to be out of business in three (3) months due to plummeting sales.

Now, here’s the plot twist.

Although thousands of businesses were folding up, a report on Forbes showed that the pandemic was fuel for the entrepreneurial boom we have seen in recent months.

With the rise of disruptive innovation across all sectors of the economy, startups are springing up every day.

What could be the difference?

Why the contrasting reality under the same circumstance?

Don’t think too far. It all rests on one thing:

The ability of a brand to leverage up-to-date digital tools and strategies for business growth.

Yes, it is as simple as that.

If a brand understands how to maximize digital tools to achieve its goals, the pandemic would be a platform for growth.

Where a brand fails to apply these tools, they can as well prepare for hard times.

Of all digital tools that are required for business growth in this season, Digital Marketing happens to be pivotal.

Not every brand needs a Full-time Software Engineer or Cloud Computing Expert, or even a Data Analyst.

But the brand without a strategic marketing plan is best prepared for a shocker.

As COVID-19 restrictions are being relaxed globally, there is a spike in the demand for Digital Marketers.

Brands need to put out their message in a way that helps them achieve the maximum results.

The message has to be engaging, yet compelling.

It takes one with Digital Marketing skills to fill in the obvious gaps.

The average salary of a Digital Marketer in the United States is about $60,000 per annum.

So, in this article, you will see the 5 In-Demand Skills to 15X Your Digital Marketing Career in 2022 (+ Free Tools to Help You Get Started).

1. Content Creation

Content is the currency of the internet. In Bill Gates’ famous words, “Content is King.”

Your ability to create content that conveys a brand’s message in a way that compels the attention and loyalty of their target audience is your asset.

Anybody can create written and audiovisual content, but that doesn’t make them a Content Creator.

There are four important things that make a Content Creator:

1. Your ability to understand the target audience of a brand
2. Create content that can grab and retain the attention of that audience
3. Know what platforms are best suited for a brand
4. Understanding effective distribution of content

If you can master these four skills, you stand a chance to choose the kind of brands you want to work with, based on your ability to deliver results effectively.

Every content you create must do one of these three things:

1. Inform
2. Educate
3. Entertain

And you must do this in a way that places the user/customer/client/audience at the center of the message as the beneficiary.

Here are 3 Content Creation Tools:

1. Content Calendar: Hubspot
2. Scheduling: Buffer and Hootsuite
3. Writing: Google Docs
4. Editing: Grammarly
5. Graphics Design: Canva

2. Content Marketing

By now, I’m sure you are wondering what is the difference between Content Creation and Content Marketing.

Don’t worry. I will explain.

Let’s use this simple analogy.

Content Creation is production while Content Marketing is the marketing of the product.

Do you understand?

Content Creation focuses on the quality and quantity of content whereas Content Marketing focuses on purpose, relevance and strategy for utilizing content to meet targets.

A Content Marketing Expert deploys content to achieve marketing objectives.

Is it clearer now?

A Content Marketing Expert must possess the following skills:

1. Content Research
2. Competitor Research
3. Content Creation
4. Strategic Thinking
5. Analytics

You must know the ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’, ‘to who’ and ‘how’ of deploying content.

Content Marketing is more than just sharing content.

You have to understand what type of content works for both the brand and the audience.

Also, you should know how to work with data, to assess what is working and needs improvement.

Here are three (3) free tools to boost your Content Marketing:

1. Keyword Research: SEMRush
2. CMS: WordPress and Hubspot
3. Analytics: Google Analytics
Bonus: Other Content Creation Tools listed above.

3. Search Engine Optimization

In 2022, organic reach has reduced drastically.

Most brands rely on paid advertising to spread their message, and this is a two-sided opportunity for the Digital Marketing Expert.

You can handle PPC advertising for brands, and get paid for that or you can help them improve their organic reach through effective SEO strategies.

The goal of every business is to be the go-to brand in their industry, and the way to achieve this is through strategic positioning.

What better positioning than ranking for relevant keywords in your industry?

Effective SEO achieves this at almost zero cost.

According to Neil Patel, “quality SEO can reduce the cost of customer acquisition by 87%.”

That’s the kind of results you can create for brands!

If you can save them 87% of the customer acquisition budget, why won’t they give you 30% of it?

You just have to put in the work to become the expert that can generate such results.

As an SEO Expert, here are ten (10) skills you must master:

1. Link Building
2. Keyword Research
3. Backlinking
4. Creating engaging content
5. Local SEO
6. Off-Page SEO
7. On-Page SEO
8. Up-to-date SEO Strategies
9. Improve on-page ranking
10. UX Design

To help you get started, here are some SEO Tools you can use:

1. Local SEO: Google My Business
2. SEO Optimization: Yoast
3. Analytics: Google Analytics
4. Research: Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, and SEMRush.

4. Social Media Marketing:

Notice that I didn’t say ‘Social Media Management.’

The responsibilities of the average social media manager involve posting content, engaging with the audience, and sending reports to their employee.

For a Social Media Marketer, it is more than that.

As a Marketing Expert, your job is objective-oriented.

Everything you do is geared towards achieving your marketing goals.

It is more strategic, data-driven, comprehensive, and analytical than Social Media Management.

There are certain skills you must possess, as a Social Media Marketer which includes:

1. Creating Engaging Content
2. Creating User/Customer Persona
3. Conversion Tracking
4. Understanding your platforms and their algorithms
5. Use of Hashtags
6. Collaborations
7. Competitive Analysis
8. Analytics

Here are seven (7) tools to improve your Social Media Marketing Career:

1. Facebook Business Manager
2. Facebook Ads Manager
3. Research: BuzzSumo and Facebook Ad Library
4. Post Scheduling: Buffer, Hootsuite, and Facebook Creator Studio
5. Hashtagify
6. Analytics: Google Analytics

5. Email Marketing

Despite the exponential growth of social media in the past decade, email still remains a crucial marketing tool for brands.

87% of B2B marketers and 77% of B2C marketers say they use email to nurture their prospects.

There are two categories of brands when it comes to email marketing:

1. Those who are not getting the desired results from their email marketing effort
2. Those who don’t know how much impact effective email marketing can have on their business.

In these two categories lies an opportunity for digital marketing experts to explore.

Despite the fact about email marketing, most brands still struggle with it, creating more value for email marketing experts.

As an Expert, you must understand:

1. Copywriting
– Create Attention-Grabbing Headlines
– Create engaging and compelling content
– Use Powerful Call-To-Actions
2. Lead Generation
3. Lead Nurturing
4. List Building
5. Automation
6. Email Design and Visuals
7. List Management and Segmentation
8. Email Protection and Authentication
9. Strategic Thinking
10: Analytics and Testing

Here are five (5) FREE Email Marketing Tools to Boost Your Career:

1. Hubspot Email Marketing
2. MailChimp
3. ConvertKit
4. Benchmark Email
5. EmailOctopus

Conclusion

Digital marketing skills best position you to profit from the vast potential of the industry.

You can start your digital marketing career with any of the five (5) skills mentioned in the article.

I encourage you to master as many as you can, but what matters most is that you can get the job done when it matters most.

If you need digital marketing training, you can check out some of our digital marketing courses here.

If you need close guidance and mentorship as you start your digital marketing career, send us a mail today at info@mylbdigital.com.

We have a comprehensive program that walks you through each of the five (5) skills and guarantees you a three-month internship program in one of the leading Digital Marketing agencies in Nigeria.

That sounds like what you need, right?

Hit us a mail at info@mylbdigital.com to get started today.