Various digital & social media platforms are influencing customer’s decisions throughout the buying cycle, raising brand awareness and are a new media for customer care and support. Therefore, not embracing digital poses a serious threat to your business as well as your marketing career.

Here are three benefits of building your digital skill set irrespective if you are a CEO, business owner or marketing / sales professional:

• Greater efficiency

• Better sales

• Be more employable marketing / sales professional

1. Be more efficient

In today’s World, it is no longer important that you are working late. What is important is that you work smart.

Therefore, leveraging various digital tools can help you to enhance your efficiency and achieve more in less time.

For example if you are running or managing social media marketing, using a social media management tool such as Buffer or Hootsuite  can massively help you to schedule all social posts for a whole week in just couple of hours on Monday or before departing for the weekend on Friday for the following week or that well deserved holiday.

With their built-in analytics, these platforms allow you to track your posts performance and readjust your strategy if necessary.

2. Show real results

Can you accurately report on your Return on Investment (ROI) from that last billboard and radio campaign? Probably not.

As much traditional marketing tools have a place in most marketing plans, small business owners cannot afford such luxury. Digital tools on the other hand are not only much more affordable but also timely and provide real-time data so you can quickly decide which digital and social media platforms are best for you and your business. This in turn allows you to focus on things that work and bring you more sales.

In today’s digital era no business should go without a company website and monitoring of its performance on a at least weekly basis. Invaluable tool such as Google Analytics  gives you a detailed insight how many potential customers visited your company website, how they have found it, as well as how long have they stayed on your website reading information you provided about your products and services.

It is imperative to take the time to learn and gather this data and provide regular reports that will not only help you to maximize your personal performance, but also bring tangible results and benefits to the business.

3. Enhance & future-proof your career

Did you know there is a Global shortage of digital marketers around the world including the whole of Africa?

Digital Marketing Institute recently published their Digital Skills Report is where they raised awareness of the global shortages of digital marketers. They also found that over two thirds of marketers in the USA and UK feel they will need to improve their digital marketing skills to remain competent in their current role in the future. For Africa, this figure must be in upper 90% as more and more traditional marketers are embracing digital and developing their skillsets to incorporate digital advancements.

Remember that improving your digital skills isn’t only essential for staying successful in your existing marketing or sales role, but it is absolutely necessary if you are considering to progress your career and business!

Are you a digital/social media marketing professional or you just starting to embark upon a digital upskilling adventure? Let us know, in the comments section below how digital is impacting your career and what further steps you feel you need to undertake to stay ahead.