Invincible Affiliate Hero Vol 2
Hard skills are no longer so important – only develop soft skills! Today you can hear from every corner, from every guru and coach, who urge you to quickly run to pump your “muscles” and buy their training program, otherwise – hasta la vista.
Let’s figure out what these skills are? How are they different from good old skills, if they are different at all? Which of them will be useful between clicking the “start campaign” button and executing the “withdraw affiliate income to the card” function? Is it worth developing them? Or are they trying to sell us a well-known truth in new packaging at a high price?
01
An excursion into history - where the definition came from
The terms “hard skills” and “soft skills” were coined in 1959 during the development of a scientific approach to military training in the United States. In practice, it was noticed that not only professional skills, designated as “hard skills,” are important for military personnel, but also universal competencies, expressed as “soft skills” - skills of interacting with people, working with emotional intelligence and documentation.
Later, these terms began to be widely used in economics, psychology and management technologies, having undergone significant changes.
The rapid spread of concepts is due to the analogy with computer terminology “hardware” and “software”.
02
Hard skills
“Hard skills” or “hard, technical skills” represent professional and practical qualities, abilities and knowledge that ensure the performance of tasks characteristic of a particular profession.
For example, having a driver's license for a taxi driver, going through medical school and internship for a doctor. Technical knowledge can be effectively demonstrated through the presentation of a license, diploma, work samples or answers to technical questions.
Developing and improving technical skills is understandable: if you have a category B license, you can study for a category C license, thereby improving and expanding your driving skills.
The same applies to pilots, doctors, mechanics, translators or programmers who, in addition to one programming language, learn another one.
03
Hard skills that will be useful in affiliate marketing
- Knowledge of the theoretical foundations and understanding of the principles of traffic arbitrage and marketing. Understanding of designations, metrics, principles of operation of offers, advertising campaigns, etc.
- Experience working with different traffic sources and advertising platforms.
- Skills in working with spy services.
- Skills in programming and landing page development.
- Copywriting. Skill in creating selling texts for advertisements and landing pages.
- Experience with graphic design programs.
- Technical understanding of the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Ability to effectively use and implement AI technologies into affiliate marketing traffic strategies.
- Data analysis skills and understanding of campaign performance metrics.
- Knowledge of foreign languages (or skill in using a translator).
04
Soft skills
“Soft skills, or “flexible” skills, are completely opposite to hard skills. They are directly related to a person’s personal qualities, character and mental characteristics, emotional intelligence, creativity, stress resistance, leadership qualities and communication skills. These skills can be beneficial regardless of profession .
Most of them are difficult to check for and recognize immediately; most often this happens in practice, in the process of communication. Nevertheless, they can and should be improved and perfected.
05
Soft Skills that will be useful in affiliate marketing
- Communication: Effective interaction with advertising partners, team members, managers, freelancers, etc.
- Ability to make quick and effective decisions in a rapidly changing environment.
- Risk Tolerance: Willingness to accept risks and experiment with new strategies.
- Stress resistance.
- Time management: Effective distribution and optimization of time for productive work, including multitasking situations (you can’t live without it).
- Adaptability and assimilation of new information: The ability to quickly adapt to changes in advertising platform algorithms and market trends.
- Creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.
- Discipline and self-control.
- Teamwork and/or delegation skills.
06
What's more important
For example, 15 years ago, if you didn't know English, German or any other language, you 100% needed a translator. Then Google Translate appeared, the translation quality of which left much to be desired, but today you just need to enter the text into ChatGPT.
20 years ago, if you couldn't draw, it was difficult to become a designer. Now neural networks, such as Midjourney and analogues, video editors, etc. create such incredible images that it's hard to believe it's all AI.
Nowadays, many technical skills can be replaced by written programs or AI.
Are we trying to say that technical skills are no longer needed? No. There are professions, such as surgeon, where technical skills and knowledge play an undeniably more important role than anything else.
Affiliate marketing is one of the industries where it is necessary to combine both of these groups of skills. Be able to handle different sources of information, understand how the process works technically, and at the same time be creative and disciplined.
07
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is interesting and exciting, also because it requires a combination of many skills, both technical and personal. In what other profession can you find such diversity?
Therefore, the answer - diversified development in our rapidly changing world - is extremely relevant.
What skills do you consider most important for success in affiliate marketing?
