If you’ve been looking to venture into the digital economy, now is the perfect time to do so. Research shows that the digital economy is growing at triple the pace of the United States‘ GDP. Additionally, employees in the digital economy earn on average $114,275 per annum, which is more than what 72% of American workers make.
Herein we’ll delve into our top tips for any aspiring digital marketer who wants to kickstart a career in the digital marketing space.
- Be Eager To Learn
The digital marketing industry is fast-growing, dynamic, and highly competitive. With the standards so high, businesses can easily distinguish between candidates eager to learn and those who are there just for the ride. You need to have a desire and passion to succeed in the digital marketing industry.
- Stay Updated
A big part of being a digital marketer involves staying abreast with the latest development in the industry. As such, you need to follow influential and authority figures in the digital marketing space as well as major marketing sites. Major platforms, including Google, Bing, Facebook, and Twitter, tweak and change their paid ads algorithms and platforms. You will find being an effective digital marketer difficult, if not impossible if you don’t stay updated.
Below are some of the best websites you should start following:
- For SEO – Search Engine Land, Moz, SEOGadget, Distilled
- For Social Media – Social Media Today, Social Media Examiner
- For PPC – Search Engine Land, PPC Hero
- For Content – Hubspot
- Networking
As is the case with any other industry, you should surround yourself with people more knowledgeable and experienced than yourself. Ensure you meet people in the industry who can be your ongoing support when you encounter problems. Additionally, mentors might help open doors to opportunities you never knew existed or you’d never otherwise find.
Attend industry conferences and meetups near you to build relationships with experienced digital marketers as well as improve your skills by participating in in-depth presentations and workshops.
While you should follow industry authorities, trying out your own ideas is essential. Don’t treat the opinions of industry leaders as gospel. In the digital marketing space, everything is not black and white. There are many grey areas between industry best practices and what you can actually do to get results for a client.
Every digital marketer should engage in personal projects to test their theories and grow their experience in different areas of the digital marketing space (such as PPC, SEO, Social Media, Content Marketing, and much more). Personal projects will help you take accountability for your final project’s success.
- Learn Industry Terminology
As a digital marketer, you should be comfortable with industry terminologies such as SEO, SEM, PPC, etc. As you’d expect, all these terms mean a different thing, and a misunderstanding of the terms indicates a novice marketer needing further training. Additionally, ou ability to analyze a marketing campaign and understand the bits and bobs that worked or not is highly reliant on understanding industry jargon.
- Build And Nurtur A Personal Brand
You cannot consider yourself a digital marketing expert/ hotshot if you have no meaningful online presence. Suppose you want to show your employer that you can build their company’s visibility. In that case, you need to show that you have the capacity and capability to develop your own personal brand and online presence.
A solid online brand could help distinguish you from your competitor when applying for the same job/ project. If you are looking for social media marketing jobs.
- T-Shaped Marketer
This is a term commonly used by Moz’s Rand Fishkin. It refers to having a minimum understanding of multiple digital marketing disciplines but specializing in and nurturing one or two marketing skills.
Given the cross-channel marketing approach used in today’s digital marketing, it is common for companies to find value in candidates with broad digital marketing skills. This approach will also make you better equipped to choose a specific path to focus on and specialize in.