What are the most important digital strategy skills for 2023?
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The digital world is constantly evolving, and so are the skills required to succeed in it. Whether you are a digital strategist, a marketer, a consultant, or a business owner, you need to keep up with the latest trends, tools, and techniques to create and execute effective digital strategies. In this article, we will explore some of the most important digital strategy skills for 2023, based on the current and projected demands of the market, the customers, and the technology.
One of the core skills of any digital strategist is the ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data from various sources, such as web analytics, social media, customer feedback, and market research. Data-driven decision making helps you to understand your audience, measure your performance, optimize your campaigns, and identify new opportunities. To master this skill, you need to be familiar with the tools and platforms that enable data collection and analysis, such as Google Analytics, Tableau, Power BI, and SQL. You also need to develop your critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as your communication and presentation skills, to convey your insights and recommendations clearly and persuasively.
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Moninder Kumar
Associate Vice President at Reliance Industries Limited
After knowing the algorithms of various digital marketing platforms, you need to know how to read the data and most important is to define the next actions basis the data, environment and foreseen challenges. So, definitely analytical thinking.
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Greg Newby
Email Revenue Optimizer | Digital Nomad | Part-time RVer
How users will respond should drive every decision you make in digital marketing. How do you understand that question? Data analysis. Gone are the days where you make a decision based off a "hunch" or "years of experience". Those things are great to build a hypothesis around, but just because YOU would respond a certain way or people have responded a certain way in the past doesn't mean everyone in your audience will continue to do so. Don't ignore the data! With the plethora of tools available and courses on how to use those tools, there's no good excuse to skip out on this!
Another essential skill for digital strategists is user experience design, or UX design. UX design is the process of creating and improving the interactions and emotions that users have with your digital products or services, such as websites, apps, or software. UX design helps you to create user-centric solutions that meet the needs and expectations of your customers, as well as the goals and objectives of your business. To master this skill, you need to understand the principles and best practices of UX design, such as user research, wireframing, prototyping, testing, and iterating. You also need to be familiar with the tools and software that enable UX design, such as Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD, and InVision.
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Riitu Chugh
user experience design tools are just that. tools. they are enablers. in order to craft a great user experience - put yourself in the shoes of your sweet spot consumer - try to think like they would - use the channels / platforms they would be using - use their language - think about the time frame in which they would be operating in order to get what they want - appeal to their needs with not just features and benefits - but ease of use and a smooth as silk interaction that makes things as quick and simple as A-B-C with zero or minimal effort. example - voice / chat activated solutions solve many customer support needs and rarely is a human required to solve the problem. all part of the evolving space of great user experiences.
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John Perkins
At wethepeople we build highly effective marketing programmes for global healthcare brands. Over 18 leading companies already benefitting from our unique approach.
UX design is a great skill. There are many experiences that fail from poor UX design, or indeed undifferentiated products which benefit from amazing UX design. Most important, of course, is having a deep understanding of your customer's needs.
Content marketing is another key skill for digital strategists, especially in the era of information overload and short attention spans. Content marketing is the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant, and engaging content that attracts and retains your target audience, and drives them to take action. Content marketing helps you to establish your authority, credibility, and trustworthiness in your niche, as well as to generate leads, conversions, and loyalty. To master this skill, you need to understand the types and formats of content that work best for your audience, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, ebooks, or infographics. You also need to know how to optimize your content for search engines, social media, and email marketing, using tools and techniques such as keyword research, SEO, copywriting, and analytics.
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Greg Newby
Email Revenue Optimizer | Digital Nomad | Part-time RVer
The operative word here is VALUABLE. If your content doesn't provide value to the audience you're trying to reach, it'll get lost in the noise and clutter up the internet, making it harder to find useful information. Another crucial point that so many get wrong about content marketing is that it shouldn't be about selling. You have product pages and a sales team for that. True content marketing helps lead people through the decision making funnel: Awareness > Discovery > Evaluation > Intent > Purchase > Loyalty Too many content marketing programs focus on the Purchase step and don't create any resources around the other steps. Don't fall into this common trap!
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Joseph Tarnowski
Creating B2B Content that Builds Brands, Drives Awareness and Generates $$$
Content has become an essential part of any company's marketing efforts. The ability to create content that delivers value — and engages your audience — is probably the most powerful way to build trust with your audience.
Artificial intelligence and automation are two of the most disruptive and transformative technologies that are reshaping the digital landscape. They offer new possibilities and challenges for digital strategists, who need to leverage them to enhance their efficiency, effectiveness, and creativity. Artificial intelligence and automation can help you to automate repetitive and mundane tasks, such as data entry, reporting, or scheduling. They can also help you to generate insights, predictions, and recommendations, based on large and complex data sets, such as customer behavior, preferences, or sentiments. They can also help you to create and personalize content, such as headlines, captions, or images, using natural language processing, computer vision, or generative adversarial networks. To master this skill, you need to understand the basics and applications of artificial intelligence and automation, such as machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and chatbots. You also need to be aware of the ethical and social implications of these technologies, such as privacy, bias, and accountability.
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Riitu Chugh
remember these are just media. the basics of user insights, creative expression, great user experiences all are now even more important than ever as media and presentation become increasingly sophisticated. brands will have to acquire a whole new level of "polish" in order to do create compelling interactions for their brands. virtual reality, anyone ?
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Robin Lau
Digital Strategist | Gaming and Entertainment Specialist | Data & Innovation | MBM
AI can take care of the repetitive, mind-numbing tasks, allowing us to focus on creativity and strategy. They're our data wizards, conjuring insights and predictions from the depths of complex data oceans. And they're the artists behind personalized content that speaks to hearts and minds. 🧙♂️📊🎨 To master this skill, dive into the world of AI, explore machine learning, deep learning, and chatbots. Uncover the secrets of natural language processing and computer vision. But don't stop there; also be a guardian of ethics, ensuring that AI respects privacy, steers clear of bias, and remains accountable. 🕵️♂️📜 AI and automation aren't just trends; they're the future of digital strategy.
The last but not least skill for digital strategists is collaboration and leadership. Digital strategy is not a solo endeavor, but a team effort, that involves working with different stakeholders, such as clients, colleagues, partners, and vendors. Collaboration and leadership help you to coordinate, communicate, and manage the expectations and contributions of each party, as well as to align them with the vision and goals of the project. They also help you to foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and learning, that encourages feedback, iteration, and adaptation. To master this skill, you need to develop your interpersonal and emotional intelligence skills, such as empathy, listening, negotiation, and conflict resolution. You also need to use the tools and platforms that facilitate collaboration and leadership, such as Slack, Trello, Zoom, and Google Workspace.
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Greg Newby
Email Revenue Optimizer | Digital Nomad | Part-time RVer
Collaboration is key. It's easy for everyone on a project to get buried in their specialization silo, and often the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. To have a fully-integrated digital strategy, you need buy-in and regular communication with all the stakeholders. Make sure your project team includes someone from all areas of your marketing team. From social media, to web development, to email, to the blog, and even leadership. Everyone needs to be on the same page and understands how each of the pieces will be implemented to achieve the overall goals.
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Ron S.
Entrepreneurship, Elevating Collaboration to Excellence
Collaboration and leadership are paramount for digital strategists. It's a team effort involving clients, colleagues, partners, and vendors. Effective coordination, communication, and fostering an innovative culture are crucial. Mastery requires honing interpersonal skills like empathy, listening, negotiation, and utilizing collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, Zoom, and Google Workspace.
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Elangovan Perumal, PMP®
LinkedIn Top Voice | Transformation, Consulting and Operations Leader | Your Path to Elevating Leadership & Visibility Start Here ✦ Book a 1:1 Now !
In the digital world, I believe Emotional Intelligence is critical when developing a Digital Strategy for business. 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 Every journey begins with a single step. Start practicing Emotional Intelligence (EQ) today and pave the way for fulfilling work and peace of mind
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Patrick Klotz
Digital Transformation Solutions for SMEs - Assessments | Consulting/Advisory | Customized Digital Solutions
I think the title is misleading. Are we looking for/describing 'digital skills' or is it about 'digital strategy skills'? Like skills to define, plan and execute a digital strategy? I can see none of these listed in the article, thus thinking it's about 'digital skills'. Skills employees need to cope with the digital advancements and future. If that's the case, I believe another important skill is missing in the list: "Digital Leadership skills"