If you run a business within the digital marketing space you will no doubt be aware that finding skilled people is hard. This is a global problem, with some reports citing that most businesses’ digital skills are at 35% of what they should be. Besides understanding Google and Facebook advertising, the most desired skills in modern marketing teams are quantitative and qualitative data analytics; data-driven CX design; and data privacy and governance. Add the introduction of AI and ChatGPT to the mix and that’s no small ask.

This is a new risk facing many businesses. Companies which do not invest in digital skills, and rely on third parties to deliver their business transformation, risk losing relevance and their competitive edge in the digital landscape. And while in the last number of years, there has been much discussion about the digital skills challenge, there is still a massive issue about shortages in the pipeline of this talent being fed into the workforce.

But skills can be learned. With a layered approach to constant up-skilling, it is possible to keep pace with the changes in a specific area. For example, despite the pace at which social media marketing is evolving, a specialist will get better at it over time. As a marketer and author Neil Tambe put it, a skill is “something you learn to do and go do it. You repeat it over and over and get better at it.”

In order to stay ahead in the game, businesses need to take this risk seriously and look at ways to up-skill their existing marketing teams. This will of course look different for every company, but a few ways to do this include using in-house and external experts, sponsoring employees to courses and seminars, utilizing mentoring, offering lunchtime seminars, creating training guidelines, encouraging micro-learning, and using technology to make the learning experience interactive.

By using the right experts, tools, and methods, you can improve your team’s productivity and maximize the ROI of your investments.

Onwards and upwards!

Daniel Gross