When we hear online marketers converse and throw industry-specific jargons at each other such as SEO, SEM, CRO and what not, the first thought that comes to mind is: specialist.
On the contrary, to be a good online marketer you need a vast array of unrelated skills. If you?re already in the online marketing industry, you know exactly what?s being said here. If you?aren’t?and you want to be, then you?ll find this article very useful. Although as with other professions, there are a great number of necessary skill-sets, below are the top 5 must-have skills and characteristics to become a great online marketer.
- An Analytical Mind -?Believe it or not, never-mind that there is the word ?market? in online marketing; it?s not as hard-sales as you would think. In fact, if you love numbers, you think in sequence and processes, then that?s one point for you. You?re going to need this when it comes to successfully launching search engine marketing campaigns as well as manipulating market data analysis.
- Good Language Proficiency -?Yes,?analytically?thinking sounds a bit like arithmetic while Language sounds like the arts. So why do you need language skills. Quite obviously, the internet is all about content. From the very first moment that the information superhighway appeared, it has always been about content. Thus, the better you are at writing persuasive, clear, concise and enticing pieces, the more online readers you?d likely capture and the higher chance of getting them to buy your products.
- Highly Adaptable and Flexible -?This is about characteristic and attitude. Search engines exist because people use their services. Remember Lycos? Excite? For most, probably not. These search engines were not as fast to change their search algorithm as were Google and Bing to satisfy internet users? search quality expectations. So, as an online marketer you need to really be on the go at all times; changing your marketing tactics to always be on top of any shift in trends. For instance, first there was web 2.0, and then people started talking about web 3.0. A while back, Panda gave the online world a heart attack followed closely by Penguin. The online marketing world is very volatile and is definitely about the survival of the most flexible.
- Tech Savvy -?Well, in a nutshell, it really all comes down to Bits and Bytes. You don?t have to have the technical skills of a programmer or system administrator to be able to take online marketing by the horns; but you do need to be a rather advanced tech user. You?ll definitely need to understand that ?cookies??aren’t?edible but are used to keep track of your actions on websites and is related to the term ?sessions?. You?ll probably need to understand some html to understand the importance of <h1> tags or what the <nofollow> tag does.
- Lastly, you Must be Friendly and Good-natured?– This is an easy one here. Take care to note that it?s not because the environment is amicable but the exact opposite. You?re going to find yourself getting penalized by Google and instead of screaming at them, you?re going to have to ask for re-inclusion considerations favors. Ever heard of affiliate marketing, co-opetition (cooperative competition) and community management? They?re all sub-areas of online marketing that together makes the strategy behind successful campaigns. All of which requires a certain level of friendliness.
So if?you’ve?got the 5 points we discussed here in this article, and you want to give online marketing a go, then why not? Most likely you?ll do just fine. Concepts and jargons can be learned; it?s a never-ending process. Online marketing?isn’t?rocket science and with a good level of diligence, passion and determination, newcomers will find that the barrier to entry?isn’t?that bad.
And a very good place to start learning is here at Syndacast. If you meet the above criteria, don?t hesitate to drop us a line at any of our South East Asia offices. For more information about Syndacast, visit www.syndacast.com.
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