Top four basic digital skills you need today

Over the past decade, companies across industries have digitized their operations and processes. Even now, businesses are employing artificial intelligence to streamline workflows and supply chains. As a result, today’s job seekers require specialized skills to help them stand out from the crowd.

While some colleges, universities, and training providers such as Indepth Research Institute have modified or expanded their curriculum to meet this growing demand for digital know-how, many educators are struggling to provide the essential skills students need.

In this article, we explore the top 5 key digital skills that are in demand in the current job market.

Also Read: The top 5 best Digital Marketing Agencies in Kenya

1. Contents

   • 1 Search Engine Marketing
   • 2 Analytics
   • 3 Email Marketing
   • 4 4.  Pay-Per-Click Marketing (PPC)

   Search Engine Marketing

Beyond social media, search engine marketing (SEM) is one of the most influential disciplines that marketers have come to rely on. To put things in perspective, more than 6.5 billion SEM results are carried out each day with Google accounting for 77% of that traffic.

SEM experience will be able to increase the visibility of a company’s website on a search engine (e.g., Google) primarily via paid advertising. By doing so, the business will attract valuable web traffic from the search engine results page.

Most companies are in the business of selling products or services. It is therefore imperative that their brand is easily found online amongst their competition. Job seekers need to have a working knowledge of search marketing if they can understand the bigger context of their job function.

2. Analytics

According to Forbes, only 22% of marketers claim that their data-driven marketing initiatives are achieving significant results.

The good thing Google and other platforms have enabled this to be possible through free and paid tools available.

Analytics typically go hand-in-hand with SEM. These two complementary skills work together to ensure a business understands what consumers want, and how best to attract and retain their attention.

The good thing if you don’t have knowledge of analytics you can hurry and enroll a short course on Google analytics.

3. Email Marketing

One of the best ways to obtain and retain leads is via a tried and tested method: email.

Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of direct marketing and still packs a punch in customer acquisition and retention. From startups to multi-national corporations, email helps launch many successful campaigns.

But make no mistake, email marketing is an art form in itself. An experienced digital marketer knows that each funnel stage has to be carefully planned. From the signup page—including its placement on a website—to the first welcome email, every step needs to be optimized in order to attract and retain users and build engagement.

People may change social media accounts or home addresses, but people aren’t prone to change their email addresses. That is why professionals that understand the power of email to connect directly with consumers are in high demand.

4.  Pay-Per-Click Marketing (PPC)

According to Deloitte, only 22% of businesses are satisfied with their current conversion rates. In addition, for every $92 spent on acquiring customers, only $1 is used to convert them.

As such, PPC is a popular way for brands to get traffic quickly. Companies with big budgets can easily get their search result to appear on Google’s first page, thereby guaranteeing massive search engine traffic. One popular PPC advertising model is Google’s very own AdWords program.

For the digitally adept jobseeker, understanding what impressions, reach, cost-per-click, and click-through-rates mean will immediately set them apart from their peers during interviews.