10 Key Communication Skills for Digital Marketers

Digital Marketing Skills are usually associated with fancy expertise such as data analysis and CRM skills. However, they don’t mean all that much if you’re unable to communicate effectively.

You might think we perceived it this way because of the nature of our job in the Digital Marketing Agency Industry. With these communication tips, it will come in handy for you even if you are working in a corporate company.

1. Ears Wide Open

The first thing you need to master is the ability to listen. Your client or your company’s needs differ. Digital marketers could present a well-prepared brief, but if it doesn’t resonate with their target well, they could feel like what you’re offering isn’t in line with their needs.

First, you need to listen to your stakeholder needs and concerns carefully.  Then, make sure that you took the right notes. Do not be afraid to keep asking questions until you are confident about what they are looking to improve.

This way, the next time you have to present your strategies, you can correctly address the issue they face while giving them the right way to achieve their goals.

2. Pivot!

The following digital marketing skill you might want to improve can pivot from your script while presenting your strategic plan.

After spending countless hours creating a digital marketing strategic plan and quite a few practices to get your point across during the presentation, you might have a specific idea about how your flow will be when you are presenting.

In reality, our clients or executives could cut us off as soon as two slides into the presentation. This is where your pivoting skill could help you. It is essential always to be prepared to get thrown off your scripted remarks.

The key to mastering this skill is quite simple. Just make sure to have the materials and objectives to point out during the presentation. Provide your clients or executives with whatever they request from you, then quickly but politely get back to your presentation flow.

3. A Simplified Brief

Feeling like your weekdays are filled with endless work? Well, the people you’re presenting your strategic plan to feel the same way about their job. People are generally quite busy, so it’s best to get your point across quickly.

The world has turned into a fast-paced, attention-deficit place. Getting to the point quickly matters more than ever. If you’re long-winded, you’ll lose people’s attention and get lost in the data deluge. This goes both for the words written in your strategic plan proposal and the way you’re presenting them.

Ironically, it takes time to make it brief; but trust us – it’s the time that you won’t regret taking. It’s probably easier to just mindlessly throw in all reasoning and complex strategies to your proposal.

Again, it all boils down to this question: What does the recipient of your communication need to understand for them to make a decision?

4.Avoid Wishy-Washy Explanations

When you present your strategies, you most likely want it to get approved, eh? I’d be the first to admit that we can get so engrossed in our world of digital marketing that we forget that it’s probably uncharted territory for some people.

Keep in mind that it will be challenging for decision-makers to approve a strategy they don’t understand. To solve this issue, take a few steps back and see the bigger picture.

If you were a digital marketing rookie, would you know the strategies you are proposing? Will you understand why you might need it? Find the answers, and you might have another helpful skill in your pocket.

5. Balance Confidence with Humility

Digital marketers need to project confidence when addressing their stakeholders. As you may predict, people would want to work on something that they believe you fully understand.

One way to bear in mind is to avoid making things up to look more credible when you are unsure about your strategy. Being honest about what you don’t know will help you gain your stakeholders’ trust, as they are confident that you’re transparent with them.

It’s also important to note that confidence does not mean arrogance. When your stakeholders have some input, listen to them and answer thoroughly. Especially when you’re having a virtual meeting when all the cameras are turned off, the humility in your voice is guaranteed to make a difference.

6. Rationally Defend

It’s easy to be attached to our works. As hard as we try to keep things professional when the fruit of our labor gets criticized or majorly revised, we tend to feel a certain way.

As a digital marketer, getting these kinds of challenges by our stakeholders is very common, and it’s very rarely personal. So, keep in mind to defend what deserves it without becoming defensive.

You can practice this by asking relevant questions. What makes your stakeholders feel like you’re not giving them what they want? If you still feel like you are presenting the right thing, you can reiterate your assessment of what to do from there.

7. Be Crystal Clear

As we mentioned before, your stakeholders are probably busy and not that familiar with digital marketing terms. Your communication should be crystal clear, especially when it comes to the things they might only partially understand.

For example,  you believe it’s a good idea to double the budget on a particular digital advertising campaign. If you don’t explain why all your stakeholders will be aware, they will have to spend more money. That’s why it’s pivotal to communicate your objective and reasons.

8.Be Solution-Oriented

Sometimes your stakeholders will come to you with an obvious problem like, “Our social media lacks engagement because we haven’t optimized it well.” One of the digital marketing skills you can add to your list is the ability to go even further than that.

When your stakeholders already know the cause of their problem, you can wow them by providing how they can solve it specifically. For example, if the case is presented above, you can tell them that they can optimize it by creating a better content pillar or even a sweepstake.

However, don’t forget that because an organization has an answer to something, it doesn’t mean they’re prepared to take action. It’s your job to interest them and guide them.

9. Repeat Your Point

Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself if you think it takes your stakeholders to get your point.

In a social setting, you probably think that repeating yourself might irritate your speaking counterparts, but trust us – it is often necessary when you’re a digital marketer.

10. Use Analogies

As we discussed before, digital marketing skills are not something that everybody has. When you communicate with your stakeholders, do not hesitate to educate them about the digital marketing world by using interesting analogies.

For example, this is what we usually tell our clients who are looking to revamp their website. Shh.. Keep this a secret from your colleagues, okay? Because t’s pretty amazing.

Building a website can be compared to the process of building a house. If the foundation is built without taking into account the need to eventually add an additional floor or an extension to the house, you may have to rebuild the entire house when it comes time to add on to it. Similarly, if a system is designed without taking future functionality into account, you may find yourself in the position of rebuilding from scratch to accommodate said future functionality.

 

 

Any Other Effective Digital Marketing Skills?

Do you have any digital marketing skills that you guarantee will make other digital markets life easier? Let’s share and discuss!