There has never been a better time than the present to break into a digital marketing career. With the global economy currently growing at a very rapid rate and digital marketers in higher demand than ever before with excellent career security, salaries, and growth to enjoy, the digital marketing industry is bigger than ever. Whether you want to find work as a digital marketer, campaign coordinator, marketing data analyst SEO specialist or in another role, more and more roles are expected to become available as digital marketing continues to grow in importance.
As a modern career choice that has plenty of options for freelancing, remote working, starting a business of your own, or working for some of the top companies in the world, it's no surprise that digital marketing is a top choice of career for those who are interested in the modern business industry. Whether you already hold marketing qualifications, are currently working in marketing, or looking to change your career, here are some of the best things to do to kickstart your digital marketing career and get noticed by employers.
Be Willing to Learn More
Digital marketing is an industry that is not only growing at a very rapid rate, but is also constantly changing. New technologies that are used in digital marketing, changes to key search engine algorithms, and new and improved best practices for digital marketers are constantly being revealed, changing the way that the work is carried out and creating the need for digital marketing professionals to constantly be ready to adapt and learn something new.
Because of this situation, employers looking for digital marketing professionals tend to be looking for people who do not want to get stuck in a rut. Demonstrating your eagerness to learn new things, challenge the status quo, and try different ways of getting the best results will help you stand out in a cut-throat industry where creativity is valued. Along with getting a respected and recognized qualification like a masters in digital marketing, bear in mind that employers are looking for candidates that have a wide range of relevant skills including critical thinking, excellent communication skills, the ability to quickly adapt to change, and thinking outside of the box.
Build Your Professional Network
Networking is important in every aspect of the business world, and the connections that you make with other professionals could become pertinent to your future career. In the world of digital marketing, who you know often makes all the difference to your opportunities, so spend plenty of time making key connections with people who could be influential in your future. Networking today is more accessible than ever before thanks to sites like LinkedIn, where you can meet with various professionals online and put yourself out there. Regularly attending local business fairs, conferences, and digital marketing events will also help you meet and build relationships with some of the most important people in the industry and improve your chances of finding work whether you're looking for employment or starting your own agency.
Build a Portfolio
Regardless of whether you're looking for digital marketing employment, freelance work, or the opportunity to start your own business, working on personal projects to build your portfolio can be a huge help to kickstarting your career and demonstrating what you are capable of. Don't rely on what you are being told - instead, test everything and see if you are able to come up with better, new ways of doing things that you might be able to bring to the table with a future employer or client. There are still many gray areas in digital marketing and lots of strategies are yet to be uncovered; taking the time to put in the trial and error with your personal projects could help you get noticed in the industry for all the right reasons.
Build a Personal Brand
If you are interested in finding freelance digital marketing work or want to start a digital marketing agency of your own, it's important to work towards building a strong, recognizable personal brand. Bear in mind that many businesses who hire digital marketing freelancers or agencies do so because they know that they are not the expert in the field and want to partner with somebody that they can trust to get the best results on their behalf. Building your own personal brand will involve positioning yourself as the expert in your field through content marketing and demonstrating your knowledge and skills to your potential clients. Using your own digital presence and digital marketing techniques, you can demonstrate to potential clients just how you might be able to help their business in the future.
Work on Your Online Presence
Once you have created and started building your personal brand, it's important to remember that your own online presence for yourself as a freelance digital marketer or your agency is going to be the first thing that many of your potential clients are going to judge when deciding whether or not they want to partner with you for their digital marketing needs. Since you will be using many of the same techniques and strategies for yourself and your future clients, this is the perfect opportunity for you to demonstrate to them just how skilled and knowledgeable you are.
Don't skip working hard on your own brand. A modern, well-designed website will make a lasting impression on your guests and potential clients will feel reassured when they can find you easily online with a strong, visible online presence made up of video content, social media content, blog content and more. Regularly engage with your clients and prospective clients online and ask them for feedback that is clearly taken on board and used in future decisions. When posting online content, take every opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and showcase your expertise.
Get to Grips with Data
A digital marketing career might seem very creative and glamorous to those looking in from the outside; however, those who work in the industry will tell you that it's often very technical and data-driven. A solid understanding of data is now required for anyone working in digital marketing. Data is often used at every step of the process to enable marketers to make better and more informed decisions on the campaigns to run, how to run them, when to run them, who to target and much more. As a result, employers and potential clients tend to be looking for marketing professionals who have a strong understanding and grasp of the data that businesses are collecting more and more often, how to analyze it, and how to use this information to inform future marketing decisions. An understanding of common data gathering and analysis tools is often a minimum requirement for anybody looking to get started in a digital marketing career.
Consider Additional Certification
While there is certainly no shortage of business degrees that focus on digital marketing at every level today, you might also want to impress future employers or clients further by gaining additional professional certification in digital marketing. There are many certificates and qualifications that focus on digital marketing as a whole, or certain factors of the work, that you can earn to help yourself stand out even further in the industry and make a better first impression. There are very few barriers to entry when it comes to getting a career in digital marketing, so the more highly qualified you become, the easier it will be for you to make employers notice and beat the competition when it comes to landing higher-paid, well-respected positions. Although many digital marketing jobs do not require you to have an advanced college degree or additional certification, investing your time and effort into further qualifications can help you skip the entry-level positions and start your career higher up on the career ladder.
Be Prepared for Continuous Learning
As mentioned earlier, digital marketing is an industry that is subject to constant change. What works today might be old news tomorrow when it comes to digital marketing, meaning that the experts and most successful people in this field need to be prepared to constantly learn new things and stay ahead of the curve. Staying up to date with the latest developments in digital marketing is going to be absolutely essential to a successful career; if you are not prepared to continuously learn new things and refresh your knowledge, you are running the risk of offering a digital marketing service that is stuck in the past, and nobody wants that. Since strategies and tactics can go out of date quickly in the digital marketing field, professionals need to be prepared to dedicate a large portion of their time to learning about and adapting to new ways of doing things.
Today, digital marketing is essential for success of businesses in every field, meaning that professionals in this industry are highly sought-after. Digital marketing offers a wide range of career opportunities whether you're looking to find employment, work as an independent freelance contractor, or start your own agency.
