Last updated on Novemeber 23rd, 2021 by Maggie Ma.
What is Digital Marketing?
Well, simply put, it’s every ad you see everytime you go on the internet or social media. From the non-skippable ads you inevitably have to sit through when you’re watching YouTube videos to the mouth-watering burger ads you see on TV, digital marketing is an inescapable money trap.
The worst part?
It only gets more and more effective as technology continues to advance day by day.
The better part?
You can learn to harness said powers of digital marketing by developing 3 basic skill areas: Social Media, Design skills, and Persuasive Language.
The best part?
Companies are starting to prefer employees with digital skills which means students who have some basic digital marketing skills are likely to stand out because everything runs on digital power now.
Keypoint: Digital marketing skills = higher pay
With that said, here are 3 basic digital marketing skills that can be easily acquired by students who have little to no experience with digital marketing.
1. Social Media is King
Instagram, snapchat, facebook, twitter etc etc… The list of social media platforms is far from little.
Hence, it should be no suprise that social media marketing is one of the most effective and popular options digital marketers prefer to use because of its universality.
Imagine, with just simple preparations and a few clicks, advertisements can be widely spread to people all over the world in an instant.
Almost everyone, if not everyone, knows how to use or have experienced some kind of social media platform. If you’ve never, well, then you probably live under a rock and wouldn’t be reading this blog anyway.
Back to the point, if you know how to post a post or even like, comment, share something on social media then congratulations! You already possess one of the three basic skills of digital marketing!
If not, then a simple YouTube video here and a google search there of how to use the social media platform of your choice will do!
Check out this video:
2. Design Skills feed our eyeballs
Humans are visual creatures, even the simplest change in text colour can mean the difference between catching attention and being ignored.
Take the previous lines for example, the text in red caught your attention didn’t it?
That’s because of a little thing called contrast, an elementary design technique. Contrast simply uses the difference in colour to make certain things pop. The larger the difference, the more they stand out.
Simple right?
If you’re still a little iffy on unleashing your inner artist then good news, there are a tons of free resources out there to get you started!
Check out this link to learn the very basics of design 101!
But maybe you wanna try practicing designing things yourself? Well, no need to fear free graphic design softwares are here!
3. Persuasive Language is the music to our wallets
Ever heard of the Pied Piper? The story of the Pied Piper luring out rats and children with his magical pipe music, never to be seen again?
Yea, that one.
Persuasive language is just like that! Well, albeit a little less grim and kidnappy but still basically the same. Kind of.
Think of it like this.
Imagine you were the Pied Piper and the music you played was instead the persuasive language you speak to lure people into buying what you’re selling.
See? The same.
Marketing is all about persuading your audience to become your customer but just digital, hence the name Digital Marketing.
Wow, much sense. Very mind blowing.
So where to start?
You could start off by learning the basics of persuasive language (DAFORESTI) first. Check out this video:
To change how you speak? Well, this might seem like a daunting task. However, you might not notice it but we use persuasive language all. the. time.
Here’s a great video for that!
Okay, for example, rhetorical questions such as ‘Why choose one when you can get both?’ Doesn’t that make you feel more tempted to spend more money and buy more?
Boom, persuasive language achievement unlocked.
So, now that you’ve learned the 3 basic skills of digital marketing, you are not ready to explore the world of digital marketing!
But now what? Well, all that’s left for you is to keep practicing of course!
After all, practice makes perfect!