The digital marketer's mix
What makes a great digital marketer? Let's explore...
With the world becoming more and more reliant on internet communications, companies can no longer ignore the importance of investing in excellent digital marketing. E-commerce and web-based service providers especially need full-time attention to be paid to their online image and presence.
While traditional marketing conveys an image or a message about a brand, digital marketing creates an experience. This being said, more companies are employing experts specifically to monitor their digital marketing efforts. But what does digital marketing entail, and what kind of person do you want to spearhead an online brand-building initiative?
Any digital marketer wants to convey knowledge of a product, create a need for it on a psychological level, and convert interest into sales. To achieve these goals using an online platform requires a wide skillset.
The tools that build a successful digital marketer
The great advantage and scary truth about digital marketing is that no single credential can make you an expert. The tools necessary for spearheading a successful digital campaign are diverse, but can be summed up in four attributes.
An eye for design
Creating a brand image means conveying the look and feel of a particular company across different media such as websites, social media networks and online correspondence. You want to maintain a particular identity that suits the product, yet is not so repetitive that it becomes boring. To achieve this you want a marketer with finely tuned taste and a gut feel for design.
A way with words
While a well-designed website looks impressive at a glance, high quality content is what will keep the client’s attention. Writing top quality copy is a honed skill that creates a voice for the brand. The value of copy also comes into play with maintaining a high standard of SEO, so make sure your marketer is proficient in both aspects of content writing.
Business knowledge
While marketing has always been an integral part of business strategy, it is also important to have a firm grasp of business skills to achieve successful marketing. A marketer must know what they want to achieve, how and why they need to tackle this challenge and what it would mean to the company.
With digital marketing creating a new openness between a brand and its clients, a company’s business goals also becomes a shared dream that can be incorporated into marketing campaigns. Grasping how a company operates is integral to creating its identity, therefore a marketer should have invested in business skills and management courses until they feel comfortable talking on behalf of a workforce.
An analytical, technological and sentimental approach
The channels digital marketing rely on are mostly internet based, and can be monitored. The technology and information made available by these channels is ever-evolving. The digital marketer has to stay abreast with technology and analytics to cover all bases.
Basically a capable digital marketer should be as up to date with technology as he is in touch with humanity, and as analytical as he is able to appeal to your emotions.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (source)