Top 5 Digital Skills You Need as An Entrepreneur in The Digital Age

It is a common misconception that only tech entrepreneurs need digital skills and competencies. Digital transformation is on the rise and disrupting every industry in an unimaginable way. The Covid pandemic has tremendously accelerated the need for digital skills among entrepreneurs.

The reality today is that every entrepreneur, whether they run a simple cupcake business or a large e-commerce venture, needs digital skills. Business is increasingly done through online and digital mediums from interactions with customers to networking with investors and mentors to engaging with partners and vendors. So, you need to be able to perform a whole host of tasks exclusively online to even keep your business running.

To thrive in the digital age, especially as a student entrepreneur with frugal resources, you need to have 5 key digital skills.

Top 5 Digital Skills Needed to Thrive as an Entrepreneur in the Digital Age

Social Media - it offers powerful avenues to

• find your tribe
• reach out to a wider audience
• connect with the target groups and customers at a personal level
• create community engagement
• build a strong brand image that connects
• drive greater traffic to one’s business
• promote two-way communication with customers
• build a personal brand
• drive more traffic to the website/ brick-and-mortar store and much more.

By social media skills, we don’t mean just posting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You need to understand the nuances of social media and the dynamic relationship between the brand, customers and influencers. You need to know social media branding, marketing and management in today’s day and age.

Based on your business goals, you should effectively strategize and leverage the multitude of social media platforms to your advantage.

Digital Marketing

The face of marketing has completely changed today. You don’t need to restrict yourself to generic ads and promotional campaigns on TV, print and radio. If you want to ensure business success and sustainability in the digital age, ?you need to understand digital marketing as a student entrepreneur.

And by digital marketing, we don’t mean just paid ad campaigns and paid marketing. There are several ways to boost your organic reach among your target audiences. With the wide array of digital marketing tools that are available, you can personalize campaigns at scale within shoestring budgets.

Within digital marketing, the critical skills to know today are:

• content marketing – offering engaging, relevant and authentic content to target audiences to get them interested in your brand and take action.
• SEO (Search engine optimization) – widening your organic reach and increasing visibility through higher search engine rankings
• marketing strategy – finding the right platforms and maximizing ROI from digital marketing campaigns
• storytelling – conveying your brand message clearly amid the increasing noise and clutter of the markets
• marketing automation – streamlining workflows and improving efficiency of campaigns

Analytics

Given the abundance of data created and available in the digital age, data is at the heart and center of modern business strategy. Data analytics collects, collates and analyzes the abundance of business data to unearth patterns, trends and actionable insights. It helps entrepreneurs to

• understand their customers
• competitors and markets better
• identify opportunities and preempt challenges
• improve business functions
• maximize value from various resources
• minimize wastage and strengthen weak spots
• effectively strategize for the future and much more.

Using these insights, entrepreneurs can take data-driven, smart decisions swiftly. They can pivot quickly to capitalize on opportunities in the changing markets. This is why this analytics is such an important skill for every entrepreneur in the digital age.

Strong Communication

Communication has always been a critically important business skill. In the post-pandemic era, its criticality as a digital skill has only increased. With so much of our communication (even networking and bargaining) happening online through emails, video conferencing and messaging platforms, your ability to communicate effectively will decide your business success.

As a student entrepreneur, you must hone your communication skills, written and spoken, to thrive in the digital age. You must be well-equipped to pitch to investors through virtual spaces, handle negative feedback from customers on public forums, bargain with vendors and partners through email and so on.

Cybersecurity

Conducting business online comes with a wide range of security risks. Even if your app/ website is unavailable for a few minutes, it brings you big losses and reputational damage. That is why, you need to have cybersecurity skills. You must be able to detect and report phishing scams, have a working knowledge of security tools and compliance necessities.

In conclusion…

Digital skills are not good-to-have things anymore; they are an essential part of every entrepreneur’s business toolkit.

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