Explore Courses
Liverpool Business SchoolLiverpool Business SchoolMBA by Liverpool Business School
  • 18 Months
Bestseller
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityMBA (Master of Business Administration)
  • 15 Months
Popular
O.P.Jindal Global UniversityO.P.Jindal Global UniversityMaster of Business Administration (MBA)
  • 12 Months
New
Birla Institute of Management Technology Birla Institute of Management Technology Post Graduate Diploma in Management (BIMTECH)
  • 24 Months
Liverpool John Moores UniversityLiverpool John Moores UniversityMS in Data Science
  • 18 Months
Popular
IIIT BangaloreIIIT BangalorePost Graduate Programme in Data Science & AI (Executive)
  • 12 Months
Bestseller
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityDBA in Emerging Technologies with concentration in Generative AI
  • 3 Years
upGradupGradData Science Bootcamp with AI
  • 6 Months
New
University of MarylandIIIT BangalorePost Graduate Certificate in Data Science & AI (Executive)
  • 8-8.5 Months
upGradupGradData Science Bootcamp with AI
  • 6 months
Popular
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutData Engineer Bootcamp
  • Self-Paced
upGradupGradCertificate Course in Business Analytics & Consulting in association with PwC India
  • 06 Months
OP Jindal Global UniversityOP Jindal Global UniversityMaster of Design in User Experience Design
  • 12 Months
Popular
WoolfWoolfMaster of Science in Computer Science
  • 18 Months
New
Jindal Global UniversityJindal Global UniversityMaster of Design in User Experience
  • 12 Months
New
Rushford, GenevaRushford Business SchoolDBA Doctorate in Technology (Computer Science)
  • 36 Months
IIIT BangaloreIIIT BangaloreCloud Computing and DevOps Program (Executive)
  • 8 Months
New
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutAWS Solutions Architect Certification
  • 32 Hours
upGradupGradFull Stack Software Development Bootcamp
  • 6 Months
Popular
upGradupGradUI/UX Bootcamp
  • 3 Months
upGradupGradCloud Computing Bootcamp
  • 7.5 Months
Golden Gate University Golden Gate University Doctor of Business Administration in Digital Leadership
  • 36 Months
New
Jindal Global UniversityJindal Global UniversityMaster of Design in User Experience
  • 12 Months
New
Golden Gate University Golden Gate University Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
  • 36 Months
Bestseller
Ecole Supérieure de Gestion et Commerce International ParisEcole Supérieure de Gestion et Commerce International ParisDoctorate of Business Administration (DBA)
  • 36 Months
Rushford, GenevaRushford Business SchoolDoctorate of Business Administration (DBA)
  • 36 Months
KnowledgeHut upGradKnowledgeHut upGradSAFe® 6.0 Certified ScrumMaster (SSM) Training
  • Self-Paced
KnowledgeHut upGradKnowledgeHut upGradPMP® certification
  • Self-Paced
IIM KozhikodeIIM KozhikodeProfessional Certification in HR Management and Analytics
  • 6 Months
Bestseller
Duke CEDuke CEPost Graduate Certificate in Product Management
  • 4-8 Months
Bestseller
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutLeading SAFe® 6.0 Certification
  • 16 Hours
Popular
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutCertified ScrumMaster®(CSM) Training
  • 16 Hours
Bestseller
PwCupGrad CampusCertification Program in Financial Modelling & Analysis in association with PwC India
  • 4 Months
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutSAFe® 6.0 POPM Certification
  • 16 Hours
O.P.Jindal Global UniversityO.P.Jindal Global UniversityMaster of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science
  • 12 Months
Bestseller
Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University MS in Machine Learning & AI
  • 18 Months
Popular
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityDBA in Emerging Technologies with concentration in Generative AI
  • 3 Years
IIIT BangaloreIIIT BangaloreExecutive Post Graduate Programme in Machine Learning & AI
  • 13 Months
Bestseller
IIITBIIITBExecutive Program in Generative AI for Leaders
  • 4 Months
upGradupGradAdvanced Certificate Program in GenerativeAI
  • 4 Months
New
IIIT BangaloreIIIT BangalorePost Graduate Certificate in Machine Learning & Deep Learning (Executive)
  • 8 Months
Bestseller
Jindal Global UniversityJindal Global UniversityMaster of Design in User Experience
  • 12 Months
New
Liverpool Business SchoolLiverpool Business SchoolMBA with Marketing Concentration
  • 18 Months
Bestseller
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityMBA with Marketing Concentration
  • 15 Months
Popular
MICAMICAAdvanced Certificate in Digital Marketing and Communication
  • 6 Months
Bestseller
MICAMICAAdvanced Certificate in Brand Communication Management
  • 5 Months
Popular
upGradupGradDigital Marketing Accelerator Program
  • 05 Months
Jindal Global Law SchoolJindal Global Law SchoolLL.M. in Corporate & Financial Law
  • 12 Months
Bestseller
Jindal Global Law SchoolJindal Global Law SchoolLL.M. in AI and Emerging Technologies (Blended Learning Program)
  • 12 Months
Jindal Global Law SchoolJindal Global Law SchoolLL.M. in Intellectual Property & Technology Law
  • 12 Months
Jindal Global Law SchoolJindal Global Law SchoolLL.M. in Dispute Resolution
  • 12 Months
upGradupGradContract Law Certificate Program
  • Self paced
New
ESGCI, ParisESGCI, ParisDoctorate of Business Administration (DBA) from ESGCI, Paris
  • 36 Months
Golden Gate University Golden Gate University Doctor of Business Administration From Golden Gate University, San Francisco
  • 36 Months
Rushford Business SchoolRushford Business SchoolDoctor of Business Administration from Rushford Business School, Switzerland)
  • 36 Months
Edgewood CollegeEdgewood CollegeDoctorate of Business Administration from Edgewood College
  • 24 Months
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityDBA in Emerging Technologies with Concentration in Generative AI
  • 36 Months
Golden Gate University Golden Gate University DBA in Digital Leadership from Golden Gate University, San Francisco
  • 36 Months
Liverpool Business SchoolLiverpool Business SchoolMBA by Liverpool Business School
  • 18 Months
Bestseller
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityMBA (Master of Business Administration)
  • 15 Months
Popular
O.P.Jindal Global UniversityO.P.Jindal Global UniversityMaster of Business Administration (MBA)
  • 12 Months
New
Deakin Business School and Institute of Management Technology, GhaziabadDeakin Business School and IMT, GhaziabadMBA (Master of Business Administration)
  • 12 Months
Liverpool John Moores UniversityLiverpool John Moores UniversityMS in Data Science
  • 18 Months
Bestseller
O.P.Jindal Global UniversityO.P.Jindal Global UniversityMaster of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science
  • 12 Months
Bestseller
IIIT BangaloreIIIT BangalorePost Graduate Programme in Data Science (Executive)
  • 12 Months
Bestseller
O.P.Jindal Global UniversityO.P.Jindal Global UniversityO.P.Jindal Global University
  • 12 Months
WoolfWoolfMaster of Science in Computer Science
  • 18 Months
New
Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University MS in Machine Learning & AI
  • 18 Months
Popular
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityDBA in Emerging Technologies with concentration in Generative AI
  • 3 Years
Rushford, GenevaRushford Business SchoolDoctorate of Business Administration (AI/ML)
  • 36 Months
Ecole Supérieure de Gestion et Commerce International ParisEcole Supérieure de Gestion et Commerce International ParisDBA Specialisation in AI & ML
  • 36 Months
Golden Gate University Golden Gate University Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
  • 36 Months
Bestseller
Ecole Supérieure de Gestion et Commerce International ParisEcole Supérieure de Gestion et Commerce International ParisDoctorate of Business Administration (DBA)
  • 36 Months
Rushford, GenevaRushford Business SchoolDoctorate of Business Administration (DBA)
  • 36 Months
Liverpool Business SchoolLiverpool Business SchoolMBA with Marketing Concentration
  • 18 Months
Bestseller
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityMBA with Marketing Concentration
  • 15 Months
Popular
Jindal Global Law SchoolJindal Global Law SchoolLL.M. in Corporate & Financial Law
  • 12 Months
Bestseller
Jindal Global Law SchoolJindal Global Law SchoolLL.M. in Intellectual Property & Technology Law
  • 12 Months
Jindal Global Law SchoolJindal Global Law SchoolLL.M. in Dispute Resolution
  • 12 Months
IIITBIIITBExecutive Program in Generative AI for Leaders
  • 4 Months
New
IIIT BangaloreIIIT BangaloreExecutive Post Graduate Programme in Machine Learning & AI
  • 13 Months
Bestseller
upGradupGradData Science Bootcamp with AI
  • 6 Months
New
upGradupGradAdvanced Certificate Program in GenerativeAI
  • 4 Months
New
KnowledgeHut upGradKnowledgeHut upGradSAFe® 6.0 Certified ScrumMaster (SSM) Training
  • Self-Paced
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutCertified ScrumMaster®(CSM) Training
  • 16 Hours
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutLeading SAFe® 6.0 Certification
  • 16 Hours
KnowledgeHut upGradKnowledgeHut upGradPMP® certification
  • Self-Paced
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutAWS Solutions Architect Certification
  • 32 Hours
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutAzure Administrator Certification (AZ-104)
  • 24 Hours
KnowledgeHut upGradKnowledgeHut upGradAWS Cloud Practioner Essentials Certification
  • 1 Week
KnowledgeHut upGradKnowledgeHut upGradAzure Data Engineering Training (DP-203)
  • 1 Week
MICAMICAAdvanced Certificate in Digital Marketing and Communication
  • 6 Months
Bestseller
MICAMICAAdvanced Certificate in Brand Communication Management
  • 5 Months
Popular
IIM KozhikodeIIM KozhikodeProfessional Certification in HR Management and Analytics
  • 6 Months
Bestseller
Duke CEDuke CEPost Graduate Certificate in Product Management
  • 4-8 Months
Bestseller
Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA)Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA)Executive PG Programme in Human Resource Management
  • 11 Months
Popular
Goa Institute of ManagementGoa Institute of ManagementExecutive PG Program in Healthcare Management
  • 11 Months
IMT GhaziabadIMT GhaziabadAdvanced General Management Program
  • 11 Months
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityProfessional Certificate in Global Business Management
  • 6-8 Months
upGradupGradContract Law Certificate Program
  • Self paced
New
IU, GermanyIU, GermanyMaster of Business Administration (90 ECTS)
  • 18 Months
Bestseller
IU, GermanyIU, GermanyMaster in International Management (120 ECTS)
  • 24 Months
Popular
IU, GermanyIU, GermanyB.Sc. Computer Science (180 ECTS)
  • 36 Months
Clark UniversityClark UniversityMaster of Business Administration
  • 23 Months
New
Golden Gate UniversityGolden Gate UniversityMaster of Business Administration
  • 20 Months
Clark University, USClark University, USMS in Project Management
  • 20 Months
New
Edgewood CollegeEdgewood CollegeMaster of Business Administration
  • 23 Months
The American Business SchoolThe American Business SchoolMBA with specialization
  • 23 Months
New
Aivancity ParisAivancity ParisMSc Artificial Intelligence Engineering
  • 24 Months
Aivancity ParisAivancity ParisMSc Data Engineering
  • 24 Months
The American Business SchoolThe American Business SchoolMBA with specialization
  • 23 Months
New
Aivancity ParisAivancity ParisMSc Artificial Intelligence Engineering
  • 24 Months
Aivancity ParisAivancity ParisMSc Data Engineering
  • 24 Months
upGradupGradData Science Bootcamp with AI
  • 6 Months
Popular
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutData Engineer Bootcamp
  • Self-Paced
upGradupGradFull Stack Software Development Bootcamp
  • 6 Months
Bestseller
KnowledgeHut upGradKnowledgeHut upGradBackend Development Bootcamp
  • Self-Paced
upGradupGradUI/UX Bootcamp
  • 3 Months
upGradupGradCloud Computing Bootcamp
  • 7.5 Months
PwCupGrad CampusCertification Program in Financial Modelling & Analysis in association with PwC India
  • 5 Months
upGrad KnowledgeHutupGrad KnowledgeHutSAFe® 6.0 POPM Certification
  • 16 Hours
upGradupGradDigital Marketing Accelerator Program
  • 05 Months
upGradupGradAdvanced Certificate Program in GenerativeAI
  • 4 Months
New
upGradupGradData Science Bootcamp with AI
  • 6 Months
Popular
upGradupGradFull Stack Software Development Bootcamp
  • 6 Months
Bestseller
upGradupGradUI/UX Bootcamp
  • 3 Months
PwCupGrad CampusCertification Program in Financial Modelling & Analysis in association with PwC India
  • 4 Months
upGradupGradCertificate Course in Business Analytics & Consulting in association with PwC India
  • 06 Months
upGradupGradDigital Marketing Accelerator Program
  • 05 Months

10 Killer Digital Marketing Skills You Must Have

Updated on 23 November, 2022

6.68K+ views
8 min read

Digital marketing is becoming one of the most attractive career prospects. Why is that not surprising? Well, with the millions of potential consumers now connected to the internet, everyone is discovering new products & solutions online. What’s more important, consumers have become smart, and they get their research from bloggers or Youtube influencers before they buy that make-up kit or that mobile phone or even that tax saving insurance policy!

All this means, as a Digital Marketer, is that you need to know where your potential consumers are, how to best talk to them and how to establish an everlasting relationship once they come to your website or app.

Digital Marketing is a blend of creativity, psychology and, what makes it unique from all other offline mediums, data.
Anshul Khandelwal, ex-Head of Marketing at UpGrad, talks about the top 10 killer skills required to become an ace digital marketer who everyone wants to hire.

Watch this video or check out the cool infographic below to know more about Digital Marketing:

1. Understanding marketing fundamentals

Now, this is an area which most digital marketers ignore. Understanding the marketing fundamentals means understanding the entire consumer decision journey. Understanding how a consumer thinks and buys a product. For example, the stages a consumer goes through while buying a product include awareness, consideration, and purchase.

Across each of these stages, the consumer goes through a complex thought process. It’s important as a marketer to understand the consumer at each of these stages, which we like to call the funnel.

2. & 3. Acing advertising channels

The first set of channels are the paid advertising channels. There are multiple paid advertising channels across the funnel: Facebook, Google, Remarketing, Email, Display, and many more buzzwords which you would have heard.

The second set of channels are the organic channels, which are the free channels. SEO, Content, Social, PR. All these channels are channels which you need to master for you to get free traffic on your website.

4. Understanding channel strategy

Now the next thing here is understanding the channel strategy. As a digital marketer you need to know which channels are expensive but at the same time will get you more results. While there must be some channels which are not expensive but give you the needed results, there might be some other channels which are really expensive but at the same time, they don’t have any ROI.

So these are the 3-4 pillars you need to understand for you to make a robust digital marketing strategy. If you want to go from a digital marketer to digital head, this is the most important skill required.

upGrad’s Exclusive Digital Marketing Webinar for you –

Webinar with Q&A Session on Digital Marketing

5. Communication

Communication is the X Factor in your digital marketing journey. You need to be an awesome communicator to become an awesome digital marketer.

Let’s take an example here of Nike. What do you see on Nike hoardings when you go out? It’ll shout out loud, saying ‘Just Do It’. What do you see advertised on the Internet? They will advertise their content. They’ll advertise fitness. They will evangelize running. What do you see when you go to the Nike stores? The most comfortable soles ever made. You see the difference here? Top of the funnel Nike talks about Just Doing It. Mid-funnel they talk about athleticism, fitness. Bottom of the funnel they talk about the actual product. This is how you need to think as a digital marketer. Different communication layers at different levels of the consumer journey.

6. Data

Data is the biggest tool in your arsenal on your journey to becoming a digital marketer.
First off, you need to understand where your data lies – there are multiple sources where your data will reside. It will reside in your Google Analytics. It will reside in CRM. It will reside with the sales team. There are many places where your data is being distributed and is present. As a marketer, you need to know where is the data which you’re looking for. Secondly, what data are you looking for? You need to be sure of the matrices you want to track and the points you want to capture. And number 3, once you get this data, the biggest thing of all is knowing how to analyze this data. What are the insights you derive from this data?

7. Technical skills

This is an area where most marketers struggle. For every small thing, you need to go back to your Engineering and Technology teams. For example, if you need to make a landing page you will have to go back to your designer to make the design of the page, to your front-end developer to make the HTML of the page, and to the engineering manager to develop the back-end for the page.
Now, if you are dependent on all these teams, it will take a lot of time for you to deliver a project. Hence, it’s important that you become self-dependent and learn basic technical skills such as CSF, HTML WordPress, SQL, etc., and it will take you a long way in your digital marketing journey.

8. Product marketing

When you read product marketing, you probably thought that this is not what digital marketing is all about, right? But think about it, what are you marketing at the end of the day? You are marketing a product. Hence it’s important that you understand the packaging of the product and the communication around the product as well.

You need to understand the four ‘P’s of marketing which are related to the product, which are the product features, price, place and promotion. If, as a digital marketer, you understand the product this well, it’ll really help you in making your campaign successful and outlast the other marketers.

9. Project management

Again, you would have heard project management is not a skill I need as a marketer. Have you ever thought how much time it takes for you to interact with your peers, conduct meetings, getting things done, getting all the operational stuff done when you are launching a campaign or running a campaign? It’s important that you understand the basics of project management, set your priorities right, know how to use your time, know how to interact with people, and get the most out of it. As a marketer, this would be another tool in your kit.

10. (Bonus) Experimentation and passion

As a digital marketer, you need to be really curious. You need to do a lot of experiments and you need to be very passionate about digital marketing. Digital marketing changes so much in no time that you need to make sure that you learn everything and keep learning. Hence, you need to be really passionate about it, you need to keep learning newer channels as they come. Plus, you need to really experiment with a whole lot of things, keep experimenting, keep doing things, and keep learning from them, but with control.

You can also check out Digital Marketing Course from IIT Delhi. IIT Delhi is one of the top institutes in India and also one of the oldest IIT’s and is always excelled in giving highly industry-relevant courses, Now IIT Delhi has partnered with upGrad to get these top IIT Delhi courses online. They have a variety of other programs like Machine Learning, Executive Management Programme in Strategic Innovation, Digital Marketing and Business Analytics etc.

Featured Programs for you – Advanced Certificate in Digital Branding & Advertising from MICA

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What are marketing fundamentals?

Many people hear the word marketing and think it is a synonym for advertising or sales. But ads and sales are just one tactical component of the marketing process. Marketing really is the process of determining the needs and wants of customers and delivering the desired benefits more effectively and efficiently than competitors to achieve organizational goals.
Marketing can be seen in action every day, in products and services customers love, ads on the television or the Web, promotions, end of aisle displays in grocery stores, promo e-mails, mailings, targeted ads, marketing is everywhere.

2. What is channel strategy?

Channel marketing strategy takes into consideration two things - who we are targeting, i.e., customers and why are we partnering, i.e., channel resellers. When considering who we are targeting, many factors have to be kept in mind, such as the basics of demographic size, industry, type of company, and available titles. Following this, we can move on to building out personas, figuring out who we are targeting from a personal standpoint, and paying close attention to the company's size.
In many cases, as part of a channel marketing strategy, there may be accounts that direct teams handle and accounts that need to be handled by the channel resellers. Any model can work; the importance is clarity for both the direct side and the channel side.

3. What is Product Marketing?

Although the role of Product Marketing has been around for quite some time, the term itself is relatively new. Product marketers are the driving force behind getting products to market and keeping them there.
When product marketers are set up for success, they represent the voice of the customer before, during, and after launch. They articulate a product's value in a way that resonates with the market and drives product adoption and advocacy.