Digital Marketing Prerequisites

If you are thinking about learning digital marketing to switch to a new career, you may be wondering if you have the right background and prerequisites. Don’t worry! You can definitely start your digital marketing training without any prerequisites, but some skills make learning the field easier. An affinity for tech, working with numbers, problem-solving skills, and creativity are just a few of the abilities that can help you start a career as a Digital Marketer.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing uses online channels and tools to promote products and services. As the popularity of the internet continues to grow, digital marketing has become one of the most effective ways to publicize a business and help it succeed. Knowledge of digital marketing can be an asset to entrepreneurs and owners of businesses large and small, and many companies are hiring Digital Marketers to conduct research, build brand loyalty, and create community. Digital Marketers also analyze data collected from online marketing efforts to make a business more efficient and profitable.

Because it is based on data, digital marketing is highly targeted and measurable. With digital marketing, you can adapt and make changes in real-time to reflect your advertising. You can also create targeted ads to ensure products and services reach an interested audience.

Using analytics, you can quickly tell how many people see your ads, how they react, and what action they take. Measuring your success (and where you need to improve) can help overall strategy. Plus, digital marketing levels the playing field, allowing businesses of any size to compete for clicks. Additionally, there’s a low barrier to entry: you can start your paid digital marketing campaign for a minimum amount and build as the company grows.

Read more about what digital marketing is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Digital Marketing?

Marketing has changed drastically since the advent of the internet. While early ways to promote a business included yellow page listings, print advertisements, and ads on buses and billboards, many marketing efforts have now moved online. With digital marketing, you can adapt and make changes in real-time to reflect your advertising. You can also create targeted ads to be sure your products and services reach an interested audience.

Digital marketing efforts are highly measurable. Using analytics, you can quickly tell how many people see your ads, how they react, and what action they take. Measuring your success (and where you need to improve) can help you develop your overall strategy. Plus, organic digital marketing levels the playing field, allowing businesses of any size to compete for clicks.

Additionally, there’s a low barrier to entry to advertise with digital marketing. You can start your paid digital marketing campaign for a minimum amount and build as your company grows. Digital marketing offers the unique chance to control where you spend those crucial advertising dollars.

Is Digital Marketing Easy to Learn?

The answer to this question always depends upon your personality and motivation. Do you love having a passion project? Do you enjoy multitasking and keeping track of data? Is creating content for social media followers your idea of a good time? Then it probably wouldn’t be hard for you to learn digital marketing and change careers.

Most people find it easier to learn a new skill set by taking classes. Noble Desktop’s digital marketing courses teach skills that can help you start a career in the industry. Those ready to dive into the field can attend in-person classes at Noble Desktop’s New York City location or attend live online digital marketing courses from anywhere in the world. You can also find other digital marketing courses, bootcamps, and certificate programs in your area using Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool. Additionally, Noble Desktop offers more detailed courses for those looking to hone their skills with specific tools and channels, such as Facebook Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs & Twitter, and Video Marketing: TikTok & YouTube, among others.

Another Noble Desktop resource that can help prepare for a career in digital marketing includes its digital marketing blog, which has detailed articles about social media marketing, SEO, and other essential tools for digital marketers. Students can also watch Noble’s seminar on The Pillars of Digital Marketing Success, which is available on YouTube.

What to Know Before Learning Digital Marketing

While there are no formal prerequisites for learning digital marketing, there are some primary and secondary skills that will make the process easier. If you enjoy using technology, are comfortable working with numbers, and like interacting with people online, you will have an easier time learning digital marketing.

Primary Skills

The skills listed below are necessary for a successful digital marketing career, and students can learn these primary skills from classes and tutorials. You should be at least proficient in digital marketing software tools, paid and unpaid ads, content marketing, data analytics, and social media marketing before you set out on your career as a Digital Marketer.

Tech Savvy

If the thought of digging in and learning a new digital marketing software tool excites you, you are already on the road to becoming a Digital Marketer. Whether they’re posting on social media, researching the competition, or collecting data on website visitors, Digital Marketers spend most of their time online. Some of the most popular tools Digital Marketers use help them perform web analytics, keyword research, data visualization, and social media analytics. Tools enable Digital Marketers to create email campaigns, produce and schedule content, and manage paid and unpaid advertising. Digital Marketers also need to keep up with rapidly changing markets and emerging tools and platforms.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Digital Marketers use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to increase a website’s visibility in search engines like Google. SEO helps your website and digital content appear at or near the top of search engine result pages (SERPs). Digital Marketers accomplish this by researching and choosing the best keywords and phrases. SEO strategy and implementation use content, technical optimization, link building, and keyword research to ensure a website, product, or content appears high in the organic, or unpaid, search results.

While SEO describes methods to improve unpaid search results rankings, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) describes paid ads that improve the position of search results. Digital Marketers need to know when to use both strategies.

Content Marketing

Engaging content is the backbone of digital marketing. Talent for creating or choosing quality content to attract visitors to a company’s website is one of the most valuable skills a Digital Marketer can have. Content marketing refers to creating any written, visual, or audio media that can be posted online, downloaded, or shared with others. Digital Marketers use content marketing to share information, educate followers, and build relationships within an online community. It also helps improve brand recognition and loyalty, save advertising costs, and boost sales.

Data Analytics

Data analytics involves organizing and analyzing data to extract relevant information, trends, and insights. Digital Marketers use data analysis to see who is visiting their website, how long they stay, what they do there, and whether or not they make a purchase. Digital Marketers also study data from social media accounts. They interpret the data they collected and share insights with clients to help improve website and social media performance and the user experience. This data can describe a marketing campaign’s reach, reveal what kinds of positive (and negative) comments users leave, or how many people see and share posts. Knowing how to collect and analyze data can increase a company’s online engagement and sales.

Data Insight

While analyzing data is an essential skill for Digital Marketers, they also need to know how to act on their analysis. Data insights tell Digital Marketers if campaigns are effective and how to change them to reach marketing goals. After Digital Marketers collect and analyze their data, they often use data visualization tools to clarify and communicate their results. These tools turn data into charts, maps, and infographics to make the data easier to understand and incorporate into digital marketing decisions.

Social Media Savvy

Social media is one of the main arenas for digital marketing. Across the world, over 4.6 billion people interact with social media, and that number is expected to grow. Digital Marketers must be fluent social media users, understand how to navigate the different platforms, and choose the appropriate places to post content. Social media marketing is categorized into paid and unpaid advertising, and knowing when to choose one or the other is another important digital marketing skill.

Secondary Skills

In addition to the skills above, Digital Marketers can benefit from other abilities like design, video editing, and writing. Personality traits can help you land a digital marketing job as well. If you are a successful multitasker, good at tackling problems, and a creative thinker, you have a good chance of succeeding in a career in digital marketing.

Design Skills

Design skills can be a plus for Digital Marketers. User experience or UX design focuses on what users need, what they value, and what their abilities and limitations are. Designers need to conduct research to find out what users are experiencing as they try to use an app or website. They use that data to create user personas and then design a product that meets the needs of the users and the business. They also test the product or website to see if it works as expected, and the process begins again. Designers are always looking to create the best user experience possible. This skill can be helpful for Digital Marketers trying to get products to customers who want or need them.

Video Production and Editing

Another valuable skill for Digital Marketers is video production and editing. Video is a powerful marketing tool, and the ability to create content in this medium will put you in a good position when you are looking for a job.

Writing and Editing

Many companies want Digital Marketers to have strong writing and editing skills. Any experience that a candidate has with content creation like blog posts, emails, or web page content is a plus.

Influencer Marketing

Partnering with a social media influencer can make a big difference for a brand. Many companies will be interested in you if you have experience recruiting and working with influencers.

Multitasking

Digital marketing demands the ability to keep up with several tasks simultaneously. Whether running analytics, scheduling social media posts, or researching the competition, Digital Marketers must track several tasks simultaneously.

Problem-Solving Skills

Along with multitasking, Digital Marketers need to be able to take care of problems as soon as they happen. Things happen quickly on the internet, and the ability to put a lid on situations before they become serious can make you a valuable candidate.

Creativity

Creativity is an essential characteristic for anyone involved in sales, and Digital Marketers are no exception. Digital Marketers who can create engaging content, craft social media posts that build community, and put together a successful email campaign have a definite advantage.

Key Insights

Switching to a career as a Digital Marketer is easier if you take classes to learn some necessary skills like:

• Tools for data analysis, SEO/SEM, and data insight
• Social media marketing
• Content marketing

Some other skills that are useful for digital marketing are:

• Design skills
• Video production and editing
• Writing
• Influencer marketing
• Multitasking
• Problem-solving
• Creativity

Learn Digital Marketing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop’s digital marketing courses teach skills that can help you start a career in the industry. Classes are small, with expert instructors, and you can retake a course for free up to a year after you take it. Those ready to dive into the field can attend in-person classes at Noble Desktop’s New York City location or attend live online digital marketing courses from anywhere in the world.

Noble Desktop also offers more detailed courses for those looking to hone their skills on specific channels. Students can take individual classes on Facebook Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs & Twitter, and Video Marketing: TikTok & YouTube. Students can also study for a Digital Marketing Certificate and learn a comprehensive set of tools and skills for digital marketing. Another Noble Desktop resource that can help prepare for a career in digital marketing includes its digital marketing blog, which has detailed articles about social media marketing, SEO, and other essential tools for digital marketers. Students can also watch Noble’s seminar on The Pillars of Digital Marketing Success, which is available on YouTube.