How To Become A Digital Marketer
Digital marketing is a field that involves helping promote businesses and services in the online space. Becoming a digital marketer means stepping into this niche in the marketing space to create digital media marketing campaigns. These campaigns are typically focused on various digital channels, including email marketing, website, social media platforms and live chats.
Becoming a digital marketer may open doors to joining a marketing agency, working in the marketing department of a business or company, consulting or doing freelance work. Learn how to become a digital marketer, common skills and education requirements, and why you should do so.
Job Description Of A Digital Marketer
The job responsibilities of digital marketers are to help create awareness of and interest in the company’s products or services. This may be done via a website or social media channels, mobile devices and even emails. Besides creating marketing campaigns (and their components), digital marketers may also do market research and analyze data to establish which marketing efforts are performing well or where they need to make adjustments.
They may also be involved in the financial end of the marketing spectrum, such as establishing marketing budgets and ensuring that they are complied with and developing pricing strategies for products or services.
To understand what digital marketing is, it’s also important to know some common areas of digital marketing:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Pay Per Click (PPC)/Paid Search Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
- Marketing Automation
- Email Marketing
- Digital Public Relations (PR)
- Inbound Marketing
- Sponsored Content
Qualifications For Digital Marketing Managers
To excel in the field, professionals must be knowledgeable of digital marketing best practices and industry standards. Additional qualifications include knowledge and mastery in the following areas.
Step One: Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
Since the roles and duties of a digital marketing manager span a wide range, students of different backgrounds and interests can pursue the career path. Digital marketing managers typically have at least a bachelor’s degree in a related field, such as marketing, digital media, communication, website/graphic design, English, or liberal arts. While these professionals most often manage digital content, some may direct and develop team members.
Step Two: Choose Your Path
The digital marketing field is broad, so students should strive to select a specialty that suits their interests, qualifications, and abilities. There are several paths a digital marketer can go down; two examples are SEO marketing and PPC marketing.
Digital marketing managers who focus on search engine optimization (SEO) continually assess search engine methodology, including algorithms, to achieve optimum search engine outcomes.
PPC digital marketing managers employ internet marketing practices to direct web traffic and user attention to certain websites or specific website pages. This specialty requires familiarity with and proficiency in all aspects of digital advertising, website analytics, and conversion rate optimization.
Digital marketing managers who are responsible for an organization’s social media presence help maintain healthy relationships — both online and offline — between clients, customers, and brands by developing an overall social media strategy. Digital marketing managers may also oversee a social media specialist who usually carries out the organization’s day-to-day social media tasks. Some digital marketing managers are active in posting content themselves, or responding to comments or questions from the organization’s followers.
Step Three: Practice Continuing Education
Continuing education and professional development are also hallmarks of success for digital marketing managers. New technology and business approaches are continually emerging. As a result, it is essential to prioritize ongoing professional development by conducting personal research, attending workshops and seminars, networking with industry professionals, and attaining advanced education.
Also, some technical certifications may be necessary. Depending on a digital marketing manager’s niche, certification may pertain to the following:
- SEO
- PPC
- Data analytics
- Website programming (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, for example)
- Social media
- Content management systems (CMS)
- Content creation
Aspiring digital marketing managers should also hone certain soft skills:
- Flexibility
- Personality ― interpersonal communication
- Storytelling
- An eye for design
- An understanding of the “sales funnel”
- Project management
Since a comprehensive set of both hard and soft skills influence the success of digital marketing managers, a master’s degree in management and leadership may also be beneficial.
Employment Outlook for Digital Marketing Managers
As a result of society’s increased personal and professional reliance on technology, the outlook for digital marketing managers is healthy.
The BLS predicts the demand for marketing managers, in general, will increase by 8% between 2018 and 2028. As more users turn to conduct their banking and shopping activities online, the need for adept digital marketing managers is likely to continue to increase in the coming years.
How To Get A Job As A Digital Marketer
1. Get advertising experience.
Gaining experience in Facebook Advertising and Google AdWords may take some time, but it’s well worth it. If you have even a little extra cash, try to practice AdWords for a family member’s business or your own professional offerings. Just remember that there’s a fine balance between spending all of your money learning and becoming a true AdWords or Facebook Advertising with real brand experience. Learn as much as you can from online tutorials first, then try to practice in any way that you can.
2. Learn everything you can, and then keep learning.
The digital marketing industry is all about knowledge. Marketers must gain expertise in their field, but they also must respect the fact that marketing best practices are constantly changing. What works one week may not work the next. In addition, you should commit yourself to learning the following by heart:
- The beginner’s guide to SEO by Moz
- Neil Patel’sguide to Content Marketing.
- The Ultimate Guide to Landing Page Optimization by Oli Gardner
3. Offer your work for free, or take a low-paying trainee position.
Nearly everyone has to start at the bottom. You might not currently have the skills that your dream job requires. Instead of spending all your time searching for a high salary and high-level position, structure your finances so that you can offer your work for free for a limited time (say, 30 days), or apply for an internship or entry-level position. By doing this, you will:
- Add to your resume and earn a great recommendation if you do your job well
- Learn from your colleagues and make connections with colleagues in the marketing industry
- Work with larger clients than you would be able to land on your own
4. Start a blog.
If you don’t have a website, or especially a blog, it’s a great way to start building your reputation as an expert marketer. Today anyone can create a WordPress site with very basic technical skills. A website will also allow you to practice your SEO, social media, design and overall marketing skills. You don’t have to be an expert to start writing, either. Doing a large amount of research on any topic gives you a starting point. It’s how you learn from the real experts, consolidate what you’ve learned and present it that will help you create a great post. Here are a few more great reasons to start a blog:
- It’s free, or very low-cost if you purchase a domain
- Your site will be available via Google for recruiters to find
- You’ll have a place to show off your portfolio and résumé. (If you don’t have real-world experience with marketing campaigns, create mock campaigns)
