Digital marketing has never been more in demand. So, whether you are looking to kickstart your career as a digital marketing manager or employ one for your business, it is vital that you know what skills it requires.

A digital marketing manager is responsible for planning digital marketing campaigns and implementing strategies effectively. From identifying and utilizing the best tools to make the campaigns more effective, to leading the entire digital marketing team, there are many different skills and qualities that a good digital marketing manager requires.

Every job is unique and requires a certain skill set. Here are some of the qualities a good digital marketing manager needs in the modern workplace.

1. Data analysis

A digital marketing manager should be able to use a range of analytics tools. A lot of marketing involves trying out different strategies and tools to see which produces the best results. Therefore, if you can’t navigate even the most straightforward tools, such as Google Analytics, you will struggle to know if your marketing endeavors have succeeded.

Audience insight can make a massive impact on the success of your marketing campaigns. If you can’t read and interpret data, adjusting a campaign based on real-world feedback will be challenging. That can mean the difference between success and failure.

If you’re running a webinar, you need to monitor and optimize the conversion rate on your sign-up form. You’ll track engagement on the webinar and identify issues to address if you repeat the webinar again. Finally, you need to decide what to do with those leads.

As you can see, there are a lot of data points to track and analyze. That’s why data analysis is such an important skill set for digital marketing managers.

2. Understanding of paid marketing

Many businesses rely on paid advertising for lead generation. Now, you might not be responsible for running the ad budget directly, so not every manager needs to know how to run ads. However, you need a basic understanding of how to run paid ad campaigns.

That requires a good head for numbers.

You’ll need to know your CLV, CPA, and many other industry terms as a marketing manager. You also need to keep track of industry trends. For example, which paid channels provide the lowest Cost Per Acquisition, so you can allocate your marketing budget most effectively.

---

---

3. Excellent communication

Good communication skills are essential for digital marketing managers. As a manager, you will be required to collaborate with people from different departments, your superiors, and marketing agencies while keeping your team organized. To do this effectively, you need to communicate your goals and needs to these different groups.

You may be wondering what excellent communication is and what it looks like in the first place.

Excellent communication must be concise, clear, and consistent. You want people to leave a meeting with a clear understanding of what needs to be done.

You should never underestimate the importance of teamwork either. A good communicator can get things done and align priorities across a company.

Excellent communication is not only an essential digital marketing manager skill in terms of their working relationship with others in the team. You also need great people skills.

Good communicators get along with people. You are more likely to achieve your goals, and run a team that excels, if you have the respect and trust of your colleagues.

4. Content marketing

Content marketing comes in many different forms, from blog posts to email marketing, web content, and social posts. It can also include e-books and videos. Basically, it is anything that conveys a message or information to your audience.

Given the scope of what you need to deal with, it won’t surprise you to learn that most great marketing managers are generalists. They have a good understanding of lots of different marketing channels because they are forced to use them.

For example, if you run an SEO campaign, you’re forced to master blogging, guest posting, and networking. Then there are the more technical points. For example, picking the right email newsletter software for a campaign or testing email templates to see which version gets the most opens.

As you might expect, content marketing takes considerable time and resources. You need an understanding of many different channels and skillsets. Don’t feel overwhelmed, though. You’ll find yourself picking up many of these skills on the job.

5. Strategy-driven thinking

At the top of the digital marketing skills list is strategic thinking. There are many ways you can use marketing to grow a company. Your goal as a marketing manager is to figure out the best approach for where a business is at a certain point in time.

A digital marketing manager needs to research, design, and create a multi-phase plan that can take weeks or months to deploy fully. The best results are often yielded over ongoing projects, and it is also impossible to see results straight away.

Therefore, a smart digital marketing manager should be able to use strategic thinking skills to plan a relevant and unique strategy. Then, you need the confidence to run with the campaign.

You need to keep in mind any emerging trends that could impact the success of your campaign. Trends are changing all the time, especially in digital marketing. That means digital marketing managers are also adaptive. They can adjust a campaign to take advantage of emerging trends.

Staying up to date takes consistent and dedicated learning. You’ll probably find yourself reading a lot of books, watching videos, and attending seminars to keep on top of things.

---

In Closing

A wide range of essential digital marketing manager skills is required to fulfill the role correctly. However, in an industry that is always evolving and with new trends constantly on the horizon, the specific skills required can change over time.

Therefore, beyond the five skills discussed above, a good digital marketing manager also needs a hunger for knowledge. With the right skills, and a flexible approach, a great digital marketing manager can help a business grow quickly.

---