A career in digital marketing can be lucrative, and it doesn’t necessarily require a formal degree. Even so, it does require a certain skill set and it’s critical that anyone who truly wants to find success in digital business has those skills.

Let’s take a look at the top 4 skills that will help your career kick off with a bang.

Analytics

Analytics may be the most important skill that you have if you want to work in digital marketing. Anything else that you might know how to do is relatively useless if you’re unable to analyze the results of those actions and know whether or not it was effective.

Analytics isn’t just the result of what you’ve done, either. It’s also running tests and tracking data. It’s being able to take what you’ve learned from previous marketing campaigns, improving on them and figuring out how to make them more effective.

There are plenty of tools to help you analyze data, but you have to know how to use them. In addition to plenty of tools, there are also plenty of online courses, tutorials and more to help you learn how to use those tools and even how to analyze data without the use of those tools.

SEO

SEO is another top skill that will boost your digital marketing career. Some people think SEO is dead, and those people are likely missing out. Did you know that 70-80% of people ignore paid ads, and instead focus on organic search results? Or how about that 93% of online experiences start with a search engine? Considering that three-quarters of users don’t go past the first page of search results, SEO is more critical than ever.

SEO is much more than just keywords. It’s also guest blogging, content marketing, local SEO such as claiming your Google business page, and much more. Keeping on top of SEO trends, and being able to show clients that you’re at the top of your game will not only increase your income, but your client list, too.

Social Media Marketing

Email marketing is still an enormous portion of digital marketing, but social media is growing rapidly. With the number of users on social media, and the plethora of platforms, you simply cannot ignore it as a viable channel for marketing.

Social media marketing isn’t simply sharing a post on Facebook or sending out a quick tweet. A good social media campaign includes things such as figuring out how to connect with the target audience, which platform to use for a particular campaign, and using social media to do market research and see what the competitors are sharing and offering. You won’t be copying their content, but knowing what they’re offering and when can help you determine how to offer something better and when to offer it.

HTML, CSS and Coding Skills

While you want to develop a fairly broad base of skills so that you can offer the most flexibility and options to your clients, specializing in one or two particular skills can give you an advantage.

Specializing in HTML, CSS, and coding can also give you a leg up on other marketers. You’ll be able to create or edit landing pages without assistance, create, install and configure WordPress themes, and better analyze other websites. It will help you create more responsive campaigns that translate well across all screens and browsers, and shows clients your dedication to outstanding service.

There are plenty of skills that you’ll need over the course of a solid career in digital marketing. This list is barely even a beginning. But with the skills on this list, you’ll be able to get started, providing quality marketing services to clients while you grow the rest of your skills to become a comprehensive and talented digital marketer.