The world of digital marketing never stands still. Cutting-edge tools and niche specializations always emerge, helping brands attract customers and reach new audiences.
For digital marketers, every new development represents a learning opportunity. But while it's exciting to be in such a dynamic profession, the sheer range of upskilling options can be daunting. Should you sharpen your writing skills? Or would a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) certification give your resume the pizzazz it needs? Should you leverage new blog platforms or abandon text altogether in favor of video? Is automation the future? If so, how can you become a part of it?
To help you navigate these and other dilemmas, here are insights into the skills and qualifications digital marketing leaders seek, broken down by specialization.
Email Marketing Careers
Despite all the innovations in social media, automation, and advertising technology (aka adtech), email remains one of the cornerstones of digital marketing. Companies look for empathetic email marketing specialists who can put themselves in their subscribers' minds and craft personalized and compelling campaigns.
The most sought-after candidates for email marketing roles think as profoundly about numbers as they do about words, tracking key performance indicators to better understand the successes and shortcomings of their campaigns.
Three tips for an email marketing career:
Brush up your HTML — "Experience in HTML a plus" is a common bullet point on job postings. With a few hours of instruction and regular practice, you can create appealing, customized templates optimized to evade spam filters and work across mobile and desktop devices.
Learn about SMS marketing — SMS has much higher open rates than email, so many marketers run SMS campaigns alongside email. Even if you don't intend to become an SMS marketing expert, it's vital to understand how it works.
Obtain a certification — HubSpot Academy and Simplilearn offer popular online boot camps for rookie and advanced email marketers.
If you think you got the right skill to advance your career in the email marketing realm, you can ask for help from our recruiter so that they can help you find the proper role that best fits you.
Social Media Careers
To thrive as a social media specialist, you'll need to develop specific soft skills. Marketing leaders seek individuals with a collaborative mindset who can work with software engineers and celebrities.
Organizational and time management skills are also essential since you'll be responsible for calendar planning and content workflows. Are you flexible enough to coach on-camera talent in the morning and report to leadership on monthly metrics in the afternoon? Are you agile enough to engage in real-time opportunities for raising brand awareness based on trending topics? If so, you're well on your way to success in social media.
Three tips for a social media career:
Champion emerging channels — It's not enough to talk about Facebook and Instagram. You'll grab the attention of hiring managers if you can explain the potential of social audio apps like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces or augmented reality platforms like Oct.
Hone your project management skills — As the importance of social media grows, so does the likelihood that you'll be tasked with leading a cross-functional team. Look for opportunities to shadow or be mentored by a team leader in your organization.
Get comfortable with video — The average person now watches 100 minutes daily, and social media specialists must know how to reach these viewers. Invest some time in learning the ins and outs of platforms like Instagram Reels and video-making tools such as Adobe Spark, Canva, and Animaker.
Are you looking to start a career in digital marketing? See this post on how to succeed at finding entry-level digital marketing jobs.
Marketing Automation Careers
If you're unsure whether you're a techie with a creative side or a visionary with tech skills, marketing automation could be your spiritual home. Using one side of your brain, you'll roll out campaigns via customer relationship management (CRM) software and use data analytics to measure their success. Using the other, you'll come up with big, bold ideas for engaging your audience.
To develop your career in marketing automation, stay abreast of the latest technology and look for opportunities to work on unique campaign ideas where risk-taking is encouraged.
3 Three tips for a marketing automation career:
Become a T-shaped marketer — In other words, someone with deep expertise in their core domain and more general knowledge of several other areas. For example, in addition to mastering the tools of your trade (email and automation software), you could acquaint yourself with e-commerce platforms, tag-management solutions, and lead-generation tools.
Take a marketing automation course — These range from free classes on segmentation and lead management topics to advanced certifications for platforms like Salesforce Pardot and IBM Marketing Cloud.
Learn to prioritize — Marketing automation professionals sometimes correct typos in email copy when they should be working on higher-value tasks. If that’s you, use project management tools or ask for guidance from people you trust to become more of a strategist and less of a firefighter.
What are some of the hottest hiring areas in marketing this year? check out marketing jobs
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SEO Careers
How do organizations stay ahead of search trends and Google’s algorithm updates? Hiring SEO managers is one way, of course. Still, leaders are also looking for copywriters, content strategists, and other digital marketers who can craft the perfect meta description and conduct their keyword research.
SEO specialists must go much deeper, leveraging microdata markups, keyword clustering, and other advanced strategies to help company websites feature prominently in search results.
Three tips for an SEO career:
Go to SEO School — In addition to its popular SEO platform, Semrush offers free online courses and certification exams on several SEO topics. While Google doesn't provide SEO certifications, courses like Advanced Google Analytics can help you understand how the search giant collects and processes data.
Identify your skills gaps — SEO specialists come from various backgrounds, including computer science, editorial, and general marketing. As you grow into the role, you'll need knowledge in all those areas, so keep an open mind and learn from experts with different backgrounds.
Become a bridge builder — As an SEO professional, you'll need buy-in for your strategies from sales, administration, marketing, and other divisions across the business. Developing soft skills like collaboration and active listening will help you persuade colleagues that great SEO is in their best interest, too. RYLEM STAFFING is an employment firm that renders recruiting solutions to candidates and clients. We are in the business of people and know that people are much more than just a resume. We’re grounded in the belief that finding an exact fit involves the dynamics between individual and culture. At RYLEM, we resolve business challenges with people's power. We take the time to listen, learn, and deliver the best talent to our clients.