With 2019 just around the corner, it’s time to regroup and prepare for another year of engaging and delighting our clients. But it’s also a time to take a step back and assess ourselves.
With the list of skills growing for digital marketers year after year, it’s important to analyze how desirable your skill set is to remain competitive and on top of trends in the new year.
Here are seven digital marketing skills you need to have in your repertoire to dominate 2018.
 1. Data Analysis
The world today is defined by the digital era. Every day we are uploading more and more information about ourselves and downloading equal amounts about the people around us.
Digital marketers with data analysis skills who can exploit all this information and turn it into meaningful actions will be head hunted in 2019.
Businesses need their digital marketing teams to be able to tap into all this information and convert it into meaningful ROI. This includes creating targeted marketing campaigns, generating hyper-engaged leads and improving customer retention.
2. Content Marketing
With the rise of SEO comes the rise of content marketing. Businesses have turned to content as a way to attract quality leads, move potential clients along the buyer’s journey and solve their customer’s problems.
It comes to no surprise that 72% of marketers say it is their preferred SEO tactic to increase traffic to websites, improve search rankings and generate more leads.
Digital marketers will need to keep their content marketing skills sharp in 2019 by creating content that will engage customers and meet their clients ROI demands.
3. SEO
SEO can make or break a business in the digital era. If you are not visible on search, how will your customers find your business?
According to Christian Nell, marketing manager from Vancouver SEO Services, this is why companies are assigning bigger budgets to their digital marketing teams to become more visible and rank on the first page of Google.
If you are not up to date with the latest search engine algorithms, make it a high priority on your task list for 2018. A solid understanding of title tags, meta descriptions and how to write keyword-rich content are SEO skills that every digital marketer needs in 2019 and beyond.
4. WordPress
With 74,652,825 websites depending on WordPress, knowing how to operate the site in the backend is an essential skill. If you are not familiar with the platform already, do your career a favor by taking the time to learn it. It will look better on your CV than Microsoft Word and will help you become a valuable member of any marketing team.
5. Basic HTML / CSS
An understanding of basic code is a simple, yet powerful skill for digital marketers. It bridges the gap between other departments while helping to meet small website admin and visual design tasks.Whether you are updating the backend of a WordPress site, uploading a blog post or creating an email campaign, a little bit of HTML and CSS knowledge can go a long way.
If you don’t already have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS, pen yourself in for a class in 2019. With all the free available tutorials on sites like W3Schools, it’s easier than ever to make you are on top of this skill in the New Year.
6. Graphic Design
The essence of a digital marketer’s job is to attract potential clients and convert them into paying customers. One of the ways to do this is through visual content creation. However, all that time and effort will be worth nothing if the content is not visually appealing to customers.
This is why basic graphic design skills in digital marketing are increasing in demand. With people reading less and being more stimulated by visual elements, businesses want someone who can turn out an infographic or social media graphic that will require an action from the customer.
Whether it’s to sign up for a course, share the post with their friends or buy a product, digital marketers need to know how to design a visual aid that converts.
7. Marketing Automation
With over 4000 marketing automation solutions available, marketers need to know how to use them. While it’s unrealistic to expect you to have a working knowledge of each of them, you need to be familiar with the ones in your niche.
Research which ones your clients most often use and set time aside in the new year to pass the free certification courses platform like Hubspot and Hootsuite offer. It will make you a more valuable asset while improving your skill set at the same time.
To be successful digital marketer, you need to be adaptable. The more skills you can learn the better you can differentiate yourself. With 2019 here in only a few short days, it’s time to schedule in some career-improvement time and brush up on these seven essential digital marketing skills.