Digital Marketing is a fast-paced, evolving industry with a lot of challenges but plenty of gains, which includes a potentially lucrative income. With most companies turning to the internet to generate sales, the scope of digital marketing has become more prominent.

To have a footing in the digital marketing scenario, not even a formal marketing degree is required. Just training to operate the necessary digital marketing tools and knowing the basics of digital marketing functioning can be of greater use.

Here’s how you can get started in your Digital Marketing career:

• Make an impressive online presence: To get a job in any field, today, a strong online presence always works wonders. It is truer for digital marketing for obvious reasons. In the hunt for an eligible candidate for a vacancy, a prospective employer always looks at online profiles of applicants to learn about their strengths and weaknesses.
  An applicant who fails to have a strong online presence fails to grab the attention of the recruiter. Hence, it is always a good idea to have your own blog, social media accounts that are linked to websites you have built, portfolios, etc. to show people what you are capable of.
• Know the recent trends: In the digital world, things move really fast. Being an industry whose needs vary over time, it is important to keep updating yourself with the latest trends, or else replacements are everywhere to be found. While one of the best real-time sources of news is Twitter, LinkedIn Pulse is a great way to stay on top of industry trends.
• Strengthen your network: Networking helps you get your name out there in the best possible way. More than virtual networking, it is always better to have strong in-person networking. Hence, to strengthen your network is to make great connections that can help you in various ways throughout your career. Networking might help you in learning about things unknown, providing you a lead on a great job, learn from people’s experiences, and gain a list of experts you can later use to put together a great team.
• Create an appealing resume: It is always advisable to develop a creatively dynamic resume that showcases your valuable skills. An appealing resume is sure to stand out from the rest of a creative industry like that of the digital marketing industry, as it would reflect your level of creative mind. Of the many resumes available online, make sure to draft the best resume for yourself to help you fetch the job.
• Understand analytics and how it works: Understanding analytics helps you know how successful a marketing campaign is. Analytics tell us how well or how poorly a campaign has been performing and helps us figure out better strategies for the next time. Understanding the basics of social media metrics and Google Analytics is a must to know if you are into digital marketing as it demands you evaluate performance and report key facts and figures and know what it means and where to go to get the information from. Google Partner program is a free marketing program that teaches the basics and is useful for building a blog too.
• Take some trusted certified courses: Although a career in digital marketing might not necessarily demand a formal degree, candidates getting the best positions are only those who have a certification in digital marketing. Getting yourself certified if at all you are serious about digital marketing as a career, would definitely make you stand out in a crowd of digital marketers who may be experienced but not certified.
• Some experience will count: Just as experience counts in any field of career, it is no different for a career in digital marketing too. Even having to do some unpaid jobs is worth the time invested in the long run. Helping friends and community organizations with projects using the skills you acquire or taking side jobs will give you a lot of experiences that you can later draw on while applying for long-term digital marketing jobs.
• Learn to Code: One might not be an expert in web development but knowing the basics of HTML and WordPress will help you stand out from the crowd. Knowing your way around the admin panel of a blog or website and be able to make minor updates, can save you a lot of time and help impress employers too.
• Decide on agency vs industry: A career in Digital Marketing has two main paths. Either you are an in-house marketer for a company working in a specific industry or you work for an agency dealing with lots of different clients. Although there is nothing as such that you cannot switch later, but deciding where you would like to focus can give you an advantage.

Published by: cwt