The Importance of Training in Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is all about getting your business seen online, raising awareness and driving traffic to your website. Whilst it may sound like a simple task, digital marketing requires skill, knowledge and training. With the industry continually evolving, marketers have to be on the ball and always stay up to date with the latest trends. In such a fast-moving digital world, learning and training is essential to keep your business ahead of the game.

Marketing Methodology

Marketing includes engaging with your audience through social media; creating regular blog content; optimising your website for search engines; and pay-per-click advertising. In today’s modern world data is a fundamental part of marketing. These skills need to be taught so that the marketer understands the value and importance of the data. Once they have the foundations in place, they will then be able to understand how this information can then be used to help drive the marketing campaigns forward.

Marketers also need to have knowledge of the basic fundamentals of marketing – in a traditional sense. It is all very well and good at being proficient in social media marketing, but if the marketer doesn’t understand the core principles of marketing there will be little direction behind the campaigns.

Technology Can’t Fill The Gap

Whilst marketing is becoming more and more automated, there is still a need for people within marketing departments. It can be tempting to think that with the growth of marketing technology, bespoke programmes could fill the gap in your businesses marketing strategy. However, marketing is becoming more and more about the people behind the brands.

You need to create content that resonates with your audience, and helps to build their trust. This means that when they move further down the buying cycle they will purchase from your business as you have taken the time to build that relationship with them. Automated marketing technologies can’t help with nurturing your customers through their buying journey.

Continued Development of Skills

A study carried out by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) revealed that senior marketing professionals lag significantly behind their young contemporaries, particularly with PPC, SEO and data analytics. As professionals move up the career ladder training often goes out of the window as they gain more responsibilities. In the world of digital marketing regular training is key otherwise it just provides an opportunity for your competitors to sneak in and get ahead of you!

Planning Marketing Training

A good training programme needs to include all team members, and help to improve both their skills and their shortages. Before even sending staff on marketing training the best thing you can do is a skills audit. You need to know exactly where you are starting from so that you can select the right training for each individual. Whether you ask staff to complete a self-assessment form, or have a skills review meeting with your senior management team, it is important to identify any knowledge gaps. Once these have been investigated, you then need to map out the skills required to fulfil your marketing strategy.

You will be able to clearly see which skills your team are lacking, and which are essential in order to keep your marketing campaign moving forward. For example, if you are wanting to drive more sales through email marketing, but your team are struggling to understand the email software, something needs to be done.

Research what training courses or workshops are available, and construct a detailed training plan for your employees. Not only do you need to make sure this training is adhered to; you also need to review your training schedule on a regular basis to make sure your marketing team are always learning. Setting goals and KPIs are a good way to keep your team motivated.

If you are in the early stages of introducing a marketer into your business, a Digital Marketing Apprenticeship is a great place to start. For more information on this, and how to get staff enrolled, please give the team at Brooks & Kirk a call on 01205 805155.