You’ve been in the marketing industry for long enough to know that online marketing is a constantly changing landscape. Thanks to the power of the internet and social media, consumers have more choices than ever before when it comes to finding and buying products. This makes it increasingly difficult to keep up with all of the new digital marketing trends. That’s why we’ve gone ahead and curated this detailed guide that’ll teach you all of the essential skills you need to market successfully online. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or simply want to gain a new skill set, you’ll find all the information you need in here.

Digital Marketing Is A Moving Target

Although the field of internet marketing is relatively new, it’s already undergone several paradigm shifts. When Google first launched its ad platform, AdWords, in 2001, there was hardly any content to speak of on the web. Back then, websites mostly consisted of a few pages with some text and a few images. The idea of someone finding their way to your product simply because they knew what it was is a little crazy, right?

Obviously, the field of digital marketing has changed significantly in the last 15 years. Back then, people mostly used to visit websites to get content. Now, they use their phones to discover products and businesses they might like. Thanks to the internet and social media, Google Ads are still thriving, but the field is much more versatile than it was back in the day.

Understand Keywords And How to Use Them

You might be surprised to learn that your product’s name doesn’t necessarily have to be in your ad to succeed. In fact, one of the simplest yet most effective ways of attracting potential customers is through keywords. To put it simply, when someone searches for a particular product on Google, the results will include websites and articles that contain that product’s keywords. Essentially, the more words you can include in your keywords, the better.

On the other hand, broad terms are another great way to attract potential customers. These are words or phrases that, when used in an advertisement, will trigger a wide array of searches. Typically, broad terms are accompanied by a series of specific keywords to provide more accurate results. For example, if you were to search for “kids’ sportswear,” you’ll get results that include websites referring to kids’ sweatpants as well as sneakers. While broad terms can be useful, they lack the specificity of keywords.

Use Analytics To Your Advantage

It’s impossible to accurately track how many people are actually clicking on your commercial, but with a little bit of analytical software, you can get a ballpark figure. Analytics will provide you with information about the number of times a particular commercial was viewed, as well as how many people clicked on it and eventually wound up on your site. Of course, not all of these people will become paying customers, but you’ll be able to determine whether or not this ad campaign was profitable based on these figures. This way, you can always find out whether or not this digital marketing tactic was worth your time and effort.

Set Up A Cost-Effective Ad Campaign

In the early days of digital marketing, online advertising was pretty expensive. You had to pay per click or per mile, depending on the type of ads you were running, and this could get pretty pricey. Thanks to the introduction of Google Display ads and Amazon Affiliate ads, which we’ll get into later, the cost of online advertising decreased significantly. Now, you can set up a Google Ad campaign for less than $1 a day, which makes it a very cost-effective choice. Especially since you’ll start to see results almost immediately.

Use A/B Testing

In the world of digital marketing, A/B testing has become a standard practice. This simply means that you’re testing different versions of an ad to see which one is most effective. To put it in practical terms, you’ll reach out to a marketing agency or one of the big four accounting firms and ask them to perform an online marketing A/B test on your behalf. The results of the test will then be implemented and you’ll continue to receive the benefits of the new version of the ad.

Utilize Performance Marketing

If you’re not familiar, Amazon Advertising supports a system called “performance marketing.” Essentially, Amazon takes a small slice of the revenue generated from the shopping cart to pay for online advertising. This system encourages shoppers to keep on exploring the site and looking for new products. So, if you’ve got a store or brand that benefits from a high volume of traffic, performance marketing might be the ticket to obtaining more shoppers. Basically, the more you contribute, the more you’ll see in return.

Avoid The Blackhole

One of the biggest problems that face all marketers is avoiding the blackhole. Blackholes are basically places on the internet where, for whatever reason, there’s no apparent organic search results. Essentially, these are places where your ads will never be seen because no one is searching for your products or services there. For example, if you were to search for “kids’ clothing,” you’ll see fashion suggestions, reviews, and other items that are irrelevant to your business. You’ll then need to check the other search engines to find the products or services that your customers are actually looking for.

Now, you might be thinking that this is simply a problem that exists on the internet and that you don’t have to worry about it. After all, you’ll only ever advertise on the most prominent and well-known platforms like Google and Facebook. But, the fact is, even if you’re only running ads on these platforms, you’ll still have a portion of your traffic fall into the blackhole. That’s why it’s essential to have a digital marketing strategy that takes into consideration every aspect of online marketing, including SEO, SEM, and social media. If you want to get the most out of your online marketing efforts, the most effective thing you can do is to develop a detailed strategy that takes all of the variables into consideration.

That’s the main reason why we’ve gone ahead and curated this list of essential skills. No matter what stage you’re in your career, we’re sure that you’ll benefit from gaining knowledge in these areas. So, if you’ve got a career in digital marketing and want to continue growing and evolving, keep reading.