Basic digital marketing skills are a must-have for any entrepreneur in today’s business environment. Studies show that the greatest growth seems directly related to a company’s investment in digital advertising and digital marketing strategies.
Let’s take a look at the 4 basic digital marketing skills every entrepreneur should be familiar with – and why.
1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
According to a HubSpot blog updated in 2016, 75% of searchers won’t go past the first page of Google search results. No doubt that percentage is even higher today – and the biggest reason that SEO cannot be ignored as a vital advertising tool.
Yet, as important as search engine optimization is, it is often overlooked by entrepreneurs, usually because of a lack of skills or a lack of time.
The bottom line is this: You can’t afford to ignore SEO – so, at the very least, get help with your content optimization as soon as possible.
2. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
This is the practice of acquiring traffic through the use of paid advertising to ensure your products or services are highly visible in Google Search.
While paid ads have helped many businesses to position themselves on the first page of Google, such results have recently become a point of contention for Google as they have led to legally filed complaints accusing the dominant search engine of illegally monopolizing the roughly $250 billion U.S. market for digital ads.
3. Social Media
If you’re an entrepreneur, you likely don’t need social media explained to you. However, you may benefit from a deeper understanding of how social media can work FOR you – while you enjoy the benefits of connecting and networking.
As of this writing, the use of social media as a preferred marketing tool for elevating brands is only expected to increase.
Social media, well executed, can be time-consuming and properly managing your social media efforts requires strategy and planning to ensure getting your message to the right audience, at the right time, and in the right place.
If you can’t do it yourself, do yourself a favor and invest in the right social media management team to do it for you.
4. Design
Design can be used in a variety of ways to impact the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts.
In branding, it may seem obvious that the creation of a recognizable visual identity (logo) to attract and engage potential customers is necessary, but what about the visually impaired customer?
In digital marketing, the user experience is critical to your success, and that means EVERY potential client or customer desires, and deserves, the best customer experience possible.
It can be equally appealing to use sounds, and for the visually impaired, today’s digital marketing can offer the ability to become engaged with a brand in ways that didn’t exist previously. This means brands must become more astute at using sound along with other design software, employing it creatively and consistently to improve the overall user experience at every level.
Deciding how you use your time and continually evaluating how you spend your time can be one less skill you have to worry about in your digital marketing efforts. If you’re short on time and long on ideas…try teaming up with those who have more than just the basic digital marketing skills – and grow your business with less stress and more consistent success.
Skilled, reliable, affordable virtual assistants make great additions to your digital marketing efforts.