The 6 Essential Skills for the New Digital Marketer

More than 90% of marketers suffer from a digital skills gap that directly affects their ability to market in an environment of rapid and accelerating change, according to a white paper from Grovo. To move forward, the report concludes, "companies need to develop their existing talent into digital marketers."

"The Future-Proof Marketer in 2015: Digital marketing's skills gap crisis and the new breed of marketer to solve it" highlights the six essential areas of digital competency for today's - and tomorrow's - digital marketers. Below are excerpts from the white paper.

1) Data gathering

Good analysis requires good data, so being able to obtain it is extremely valuable - especially if the data needs to be integrated from different silos. Here on the back end of data work, completeness and integrity are the goals.

2) Data analytics

In our big data era, you must be able to tell stories by analyzing an enormous amount of data. The front end of data work is to be able to take information and use it to identify targets, predict trends and behavior, and understand the market.

3) Content

There has never been more content available to distract consumers and dilute your messaging. Create content that captivates your target audience by being relevant and original. Content must provide real value to cut through a noisy environment and guide customers along an end-to-end journey.

4) Campaign management

A well-executed campaign begins with alignment between marketing and sales and adopts a variety of workflows depending on what your campaign requires. Implement a total campaign strategy: planning, management, execution. Test to determine what works, and adapt as necessary; don't stay married to anything if the data doesn't validate it.

5) Cross-channel

Customers interact with messaging in more different ways than ever before: on different platforms, in different circumstances (search vs. public advertisement), and along different points in the end-to-end customer journey. You must design content with the customer's perspective in mind and be able to fix it when necessary.

6) Future-proof

Marketing is ground zero for the changing ways in which customers interact with brands, content, and products. In the digital era, it isn't that the big beat the small, but that the fast beat the slow. The most important skill you can have is the ability to continually evolve your knowledge base, so that no matter what new skills you need, you know where to find them and that you're up to the task.

Download the full white paper free.

Grovo teaches Internet and modern professional skills with 60-second videos. With more than 4,500 video lessons and assessments covering 130 Internet tools, cloud services, and professional topics, Grovo makes it easy for people and organizations to learn critical skills needed to succeed in today's always-connected world. Learn more at grovo.com, 212-924-2606, or contact@grovo.com.