Industry Insights

This blog is contributed by Burtch Works’ digital and web analytics recruiting expertsAs digital platforms have been playing an increasingly important role in the customer journey, the demand for analytical professionals who can optimize performance of and derive insights from digital marketing sources continues to increase.Our team has been working on a variety of analytical roles specifically in the digital marketing space, and wanted to share some of our observations on skills that have been in high demand for many of the teams we’re currently recruiting for.

In-Demand Digital Analytics Skills

1. Tag management

While tag management skills have long been desired for digital analytics hires, lately we’ve been seeing roles that focus on this area even more heavily than in years past. Tag management uses a variety of snippets of code across different web pages to track the consumer experience and enable a multitude of different technologies (such as personalization, customer experience tools, web analytics platforms etc.). This enables a more comprehensive view of all the components of your digital ecosystem and their performance, so that companies can determine whether their campaigns are performing as intended, if their SEO is improving, and to be able to track the customer journey from page to page.

2. Multi-touch attribution

Since many customers will interact with or be exposed to a variety of marketing campaigns from a single brand – how do you determine which piece of the puzzle actually converted the customer? Multi-touch attribution aims to measure the value of each touchpoint along the customer journey, to not only figure out what led to their conversion, but also to evaluate how each point along the way contributed to that conversion. Professionals who are adept at this method of measuring marketing effectiveness are highly in-demand.

3. Omnichannel marketing

The key differentiator between multichannel and omnichannel marketing is that an omnichannel presence seeks to unify the customer touchpoints across marketing channels to offer a consistent experience. Multichannel marketing may include offline channels such as direct mail or call center data, but digital analytics roles specifically focus on the digital channels, including social media, organic search, paid media, mobile apps, and more.Since many companies are using a plethora of digital and offline channels for their marketing, being able to measure and compare how they are performing is important, especially when it comes to evaluating where further investments would be best spent. Omnichannel marketing may also include an emphasis on consistent style across platforms as well as aiming for seamless communication and integration between marketing channels. The rise of MarTech tools and services has led many digital teams to wonder if they’re truly capitalizing on their marketing potential, so they’re looking for professionals who are skilled at the science of omnichannel approaches and able to offer a 360 degree view of the customer journey.

4. A/B testing

As they continue to gather greater and greater amounts of data, more companies are using research methods to evaluate user experience and marketing campaigns. This can include testing campaign performance to determine which option is ideal for launch, as well as improving the customer experience.

5. Delivering insights based on digital data

Being able to interpret data and present findings is an excellent start, but being able to translate your findings into insights and a course of action for the business is what really sets digital analytics professionals apart. This is the difference between the descriptive “here’s what’s happening” and prescriptive “here’s why it’s happening and what we should do next”. This consultative ability is often a key differentiator for digital professionals during the hiring process, so we always recommend looking for ways to show your experience with this skillset either on your resume or during the interview process.

6. Client-facing skills

This is usually more of a requirement for agency jobs, since being able to deliver digital solutions to a variety of clients often involves more presentations and the ability to sufficiently explain approaches and methodologies. Any digital marketing professional, including those with more analytical roles (and not just those in strategic roles) should expect that strong client-facing skills will be a requirement for success. Agency roles in particular often require digital analytics professionals who can bridge the gap between technical skills and consultative insights.

7. Adobe and Google analytics

Working in the digital and web analytics space, having some experience with Adobe or Google Analytics is going to be a key part of almost any job description. Whether it’s being able to dive into the data yourself, or being able to work alongside web analytics professionals who are working with web data, this is a crucial element to digital roles.

8. Acting as a liaison with internal teams

As internal teams are working more closely together than ever, there has been an increasing need for digital and web analytics professionals who have significant experience in the digital space, but who can also work closely with the engineering team and product managers. Whether this means translating the needs of the digital team to engineers or working with product managers to make sure projects are kept on schedule and meeting business needs, having strong communication skills and an understanding of the concerns of other business units is a highly desired skill.With the digital space only continuing to expand, the need for professionals who can measure and evaluate the performance of digital marketing efforts will only continue to increase. The more you can strengthen your technical abilities while also being able to keep in mind the broader picture of marketing and business goals, the better equipped you’ll be to deliver exactly what the business is looking for – and likely secure better job prospects along the way!