Krista Neher is the CEO of Bootcamp Digital , a 6X best-selling author, international speaker, and recognized leader in digital marketing.
With over 56% of budgets for digital spend, marketers can't help but understand digital technologies and implement them strategically. While most marketers rely on agencies to manage digital efforts, I believe marketing teams need a clear understanding of how to scale and measure campaigns.
For example, I recently worked with an agency that was struggling to implement an effective digital advertising campaign. The client has only defined a business goal of "increasing sales" without any strategic direction or marketing objective. A junior media buyer follows the guidelines, but must figure out which ad target to choose and how to optimize that ad. The brand did not provide sufficient strategic direction for the agency to function properly, and as a result did not achieve what it was looking for.
When I spoke to brand representatives, they were unsure of what level an agency would need to successfully execute a campaign. They don't have a deep understanding of digital advertising metrics, so they struggle to understand the results.
Digital technology is complex and constantly evolving. Marketers need to understand the tools necessary to develop and evaluate effective strategies for their business. Relying on agencies simply won't do the best digital execution.
The following steps will help marketing departments create powerful digital experiences to support current and future growth.
Step 1: Assess your current skills
Start by assessing where your skills are now and where you want to be. This step involves understanding the organization's current capabilities (at my company we use the Digital IQ test for this). And compare them to the skills needed today and in the future to drive growth.
The assessment phase provides a roadmap for development. It also allows you to measure the investment and impact of your digital skills training programs.
Step 2: Determine your organizational level
The first step in developing digital skills and abilities is to establish organizational standards. This means unifying everyone's understanding of standards and improving digital efficiency across the organization.
My team's comprehensive marketing skill set typically includes digital marketing strategy, social media, websites, SEO, website analytics, digital advertising, email marketing, CRM, and digital measurement. Creating a broad knowledge base allows teams to speak the same language.
This can be achieved through in-person workshops, online certification, or both. I have worked with organizations where each marketing department has had an in-person two-day workshop to create a shared understanding. Other companies prefer asynchronous training methods and we have created custom online certifications. Multiple delivery methods can produce results if the entire organization implements them simultaneously.
Step 3. Attract leads
It is important to involve all stakeholders in digital capacity planning. In particular, managers and leaders need to be involved and lead by example.
Marketing managers and leaders need to have a strong understanding of digital technologies to empower their teams and ask the right questions.
Include personal training for leaders and give them safe opportunities to ask questions and develop their understanding of digital technologies. Seasoned leaders often started their careers in traditional marketing and lack deep digital experience. It is important to improve the skills of managers to implement digital technologies in organizations.
Step 4: Develop mastery and depth
Basic knowledge is needed to get organizations on the same page, but deep knowledge is needed to make digital a reality. For example, if a company spends millions of dollars on digital advertising, it needs more knowledge on this matter. If they publish a lot of content, they may need a content optimization workshop.
Most traders have the ability to drill down to key areas. We recently held a series of workshops for marketers focused on applying and deepening knowledge. We begin with a strategy workshop to clearly and collectively define our growth plan. We then held a content strategy workshop to improve the content reporting and review process. We then conduct a content enhancement workshop where clients practice giving feedback to improve digital content. Finally, we delve deeper into the analysis and examine the agency's reports and results to improve our understanding of marketing. These intensive workshops develop deep knowledge.
Marketers need a deeper understanding of the areas that drive business growth the most. This enables them to collaborate with partner agencies to drive best-in-class strategy and execution.
Step 5: Continue to learn and innovate
Digital technology is constantly evolving and a culture of continuous learning is essential to an organization's long-term digital marketing success. Augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning and digital environments are areas that are rapidly changing the way marketers communicate. To stay ahead, marketers must keep learning. My company works with our clients by creating email newsletters, monthly webinars, short videos, podcasts and executive emails.
Final thoughts
A digital training plan is essential to ensure your organization remains at the forefront of digital marketing. Digital technology is becoming more and more important, so the sooner you start, the sooner you will see the results.
The marketing teams I've worked with are strategically positioned to improve digital marketing results. The five-step method described above provides a sustainable and systematic way to improve skills.
The Forbes Coaching Council is an invitation-only community of leading business and professional coaches. Am I eligible?
