Digital marketing could be the ideal career if you enjoy creating various types of content and your work is engaging enough to connect with a wide audience. You might also enjoy a role in this dynamic profession if you have a passion for software and can design user-friendly interfaces, as well as websites that people enjoy exploring.
Any promotions and campaigns that are rolled out to electronic devices, such as phones, tablets and desktops, are part of this field. Digital marketing specialists use them to promote various messages and also to measure the level of success of their work, in terms of impacting the customer journey.
Broadly, digital marketing is content that’s designed for an online environment. It can be campaigns that are delivered through adverts, social ads, online videos and social media posts. This is why digital marketing is such a huge industry, and experts work in several specialisms, including public relations, blogging, social media management and web design. As there are so many career paths to consider, you may want to test out a few before focusing on the one that most appeals to you and improve your abilities further.
Develop your digital marketing skills
At the forefront of innovation, digital marketing is a very fast-moving field, and people in the industry constantly need to find out more about new trends. To prepare for this, it’s best to start as you mean to go on, by learning more about the key technical aptitudes associated with this career. Employers prefer marketers with an excellent general knowledge of digital techniques and skills, so you’ll have the advantage if you put in the groundwork at an early stage. Along with your creative abilities, technical skills such as SEO writing, video production and Photoshop will be useful. You should be able to promote a brand and explain more about what it has to offer, through a digital form of communication. Once that’s done, you will need to keep the brand’s target audience engaged and maintain the brand’s public image.
Mainly, digital marketers will accomplish this by creating great content that grabs an audience’s attention and makes blogs, newsletters and websites more interesting. However, an employer will also expect you to understand how SEO works to reach the most possible people and boost brand awareness. Another technical skill to master is social media management, across a range of platforms. From Facebook to Instagram, platforms all work in different ways and have strengths and weaknesses when it comes to marketing. To stay ahead of other digital marketers, familiarize yourself with social media sites, and learn how to use them to reach out and interact with customers.
Upskilling is hard on your own, and if you have other personal or career commitments, enrolling in a course in further education can seem impractical. However, if you want to balance a qualification with your other responsibilities, you could consider an online program of study.
Universities such as St. Bonaventure have developed remote digital marketing courses that allow working professionals to gain the knowledge and training they need without having to attend a physical classroom. The Online Master in Communication program at SBU is aimed at bachelor’s degree graduates from various educational backgrounds. The curriculum focuses on providing students with solid interdisciplinary skills, and there is the option to choose a specialism in either content marketing or integrated marketing communication.
Candidates who have an MA in digital marketing can demonstrate that they have gained a good level of knowledge in their field. They will have a genuine understanding of the theories behind digital campaigns and know how to apply their skills in ways that support a business’s goals.
If you are a graduate, even if you have an unrelated degree, you could consider a postgraduate qualification. These advanced courses can make you stand out in a crowd, and help you get to the front of the pack when it comes to job applications.
Find a niche and build your specialty
When you are the go-to provider for a certain type of digital marketing campaign, the competition will struggle to keep up. By establishing yourself as an authority, you can also charge more, and clients will come to you, rather than you having to seek them out. If your efforts tend to be focused in one direction, over time your expertise will grow and grow, but there will be plenty of groundwork to get on with. Spend time learning about your chosen niche in depth, looking up the way that other people in this field operate, what the commonly used terms are, and who the customers tend to be. It takes time, but once you have this knowledge base, you can reuse the general themes in multiple campaigns, instead of having to learn about a new niche every time you take on a new client.
Establish a strong online presence
A solid internet presence makes it easier to get noticed and means that people can find you when they want to discuss new work opportunities. Most people begin this process by creating a good, basic website. It should be easy to use, load swiftly, and be optimized for various devices. Fill this with content such as videos, rich images and interesting articles that provide a distraction for your audience and keep them entertained. Don’t forget to update it regularly to keep people coming back for more and link it to your social media pages. This allows you to post content from your website, respond to comments and queries, and gain more followers.
Once you’ve got all this in place, keep tabs on your reputation online. Some tools will alert you to new reviews or social media activity that relate to you, as well as changes in your website traffic. It won’t happen overnight, but if you’re dedicated and stick with it, you’ll eventually develop an online presence that helps you connect with a wider audience.
Keep up with trends that are impacting the digital marketing world
Whether you sign up for a digital newsletter, read marketing content on news websites or follow experts on social media, learning from professionals can be a huge asset. This is a constantly evolving landscape, and to stay ahead of others in your field, you’ll need to try out new strategies and adapt your services. Moreover, if you don’t find out about new trends and technologies, you won’t know how they could be of use when it comes to finding more customers and boosting your reputation.
Get real-world experience in digital marketing
You could take an internship, but if you’re already working full-time, that’s probably not the best way to learn more about the industry. A more practical option could be volunteering for a few days a week at a local business or charity that needs assistance with its digital offering. You could offer to do some work on their content, social media and email drops, just to get a taste of the work. Alternatively, you might want to consider setting up an independent project, something along the lines of a blog or a public social media page. Use this to showcase your skills by filling it with ideas for work and projects. You can learn what people like and what needs work from the comments your followers leave, and you can also build up an impressive portfolio of content to present to an employer.
Once you’ve built your confidence with solo work, you can offer to complete a campaign for one of your friends or family. Anyone who owns a business, runs a community group or wants to publicize something they care about might be a good first client. Moreover, most people don’t know where to start when it comes to marketing their project and would be grateful for the help of someone who does. Working for little or no pay may not seem like the best way of getting started, but it can give you the chance to build your practical experience in the early days.
Even though these early projects are likely to be unpaid, you should still treat them as professional pieces of work and focus on getting results. Take a look at what happened after you posted the campaign or specific elements of it. Consider the growth it brought to the project and record any other statistics or data that is relevant to show how your work produced great results. Also, add any projects you do at this early stage to your virtual portfolio, as they can eventually be shown to an employer to illustrate how motivated you are to succeed.
You can further boost your career prospects by asking for recommendations and reviews from the people you have helped. Asking for a testimonial may be awkward, but it’s worth remembering that as a professional marketer, you will have to communicate with clients, teams and managers to get the job done – so, you might as well get started early.
Build your network and show up at industry events
Networking is an essential part of working in the digital world and marketers who want to become more successful should use it to learn from their peers and seek out opportunities. Nevertheless, in the early days especially, it can be difficult to know where to start, so what’s the best way to go about creating good professional relationships?
Before you even begin, think about what you are hoping to achieve and what you want to get out of your networking activities. Are you hoping to expand your client base, do you want to find a business partner, or would a mentor be a better choice at this point? Perhaps there’s a skill that you feel unsure of or a new niche you’re hoping to move into. Some people will be hoping to branch out of their local town to reach a more global network, while others will prefer to concentrate on connecting with people closer to home. Whichever option is right for you, know what you are aiming for in advance. This will ensure that your resources and time are focused on finding the right people through the right channels.
Once you’ve started in the process, don’t let the momentum drop off. Networking takes dedication and continuity, so you’ll have to continually renew your efforts. In your interactions with marketers who have already been in touch, reply quickly, be helpful, and comment on the things they post. You could also share the insights they provide with your followers or ask them to explain more on specific points, to give them a chance to elaborate. Furthermore, you can initiate online discussions by starting a conversation. This could be as simple as asking for advice or presenting some of your work and asking for feedback. Be responsive, polite and keen, and you’ll soon be seen as a reliable and trusted part of the online digital marketing community.
Stay in touch
Networking is not about one-off conversations or requests – if you want contacts that can help you and keep you informed throughout your career, then you should also take the time to follow up on every interaction. Even if you did not achieve what you hoped for from the connection straight away, you could be able to help them out, or they could help you, in the future. This is why even though it can be a challenge when you’re busy, you should work to keep relationships alive. This could be through following people on social media, sending the odd email, and linking up at events. Also, if you do make any promises about introducing someone to a contact of yours or reviewing their service, always make good on that commitment. This shows that you are true to your word and can be relied on.
Nurture and expand your network
Networking is a process that has to be nurtured, and if you’re to make the most of your contacts, you’ll need to make an effort. Use social media to post updates on your projects and aspirations, support and celebrate the work of others where you can, and show that you have value. To create the most useful, diverse network of people you can turn to for help, expand your horizons by joining new platforms, reach out to new people, and also attend industry events.
Go to conferences and marketing events
With so much information available online in the form of webinars and podcasts, it can be tempting to bypass real-world events altogether. Nevertheless, investing the time and money in attending regular events and conferences that are geared toward marketing can offer unique benefits. Conferences bring together industry experts from across the country and the globe. They are attended by marketing professionals from numerous specialisms and are ideal for gaining insights into what the upcoming digital marketing trends might be.
When you first start looking for conferences to attend, it can be difficult to figure out which ones will provide the most value. One way of narrowing a search is to consider the topics that are mentioned in the promotional materials, the experts who will be speaking, or even the focus, whether it’s a local or a national event.
The social aspect of networking cannot be overlooked, because as you interact with people, you’ll be able to tell immediately if you gel or not. You could find new contacts, fresh perspectives on something that you are unsure about, or even a mentor to guide you through the early years of your career. Conferences attract lots of business owners of all types, as well as people who are new to the digital marketing scene and entrepreneurs who are on the lookout for talent. Although many will have blogs or podcasts online, they are also actively working in digital marketing. Therefore, the ideas they share are inspired by the strategies they have discovered while in the industry, and this means that they could be useful.
These people are either in the same situation as you are, at the start of their career, or they have been through the same challenges as you in previous years. By connecting at a conference, you can learn from their years of experience and offer your skills if they have a position available. Some will remain as business contacts for many years to come, while others may eventually become friends. Everyone in digital marketing is trying to get ahead and many are highly ambitious. Being around people like this can be inspirational; they are great collaborators and can drive you to do more. This is especially true if they are working in the same area of digital marketing as you, or if they are aiming to reach the same target market.
Developing a successful career in digital marketing
The experience you gain, the network you build and the portfolio you develop will all give you more confidence and familiarity in the digital marketing industry. Doing all the hard work at the start will ensure that you have more success and enjoy great autonomy over the projects you work on later in life. As a result, you will have more freedom to follow a career path that aligns with your interests and develop the skills you want to explore.
