A Digital Marketing Career Guide 3.0 : How to Get Started

A Digital Marketing Career Guide 3.0 : How to Get Started

By Jim Raychrudhury 

A revolution has happened in advertising and marketing. The traditional methods that businesses of all types use to promote themselves and their services have become almost completely usurped by online marketing via a range of digital media platforms. The way companies are able to reach their target audiences and analyze the results have developed rapidly in tandem with developments in technology and the ubiquity of social media.

This has opened up an entire industry, with a huge amount of career opportunities suddenly available and a high demand for talent. If you think you’ve got what it takes to make a move into the digital marketing industry then read on – whether you’re a rookie or a seasoned advertiser – here are some tips to get you started. 

Open Your Eyes 

It’s easy to scroll past ads on Instagram or Facebook or whichever your preferred social media platform is. Sure, occasionally one will catch our eye and we’ll investigate further. But make it a habit to look at the way in which different brands advertise, the kind of copy they use, the sort of images. Tone is very important also – the tone of a clothing brand will be very different from the one which is selling insurance. Read the ads, take note of what you think works and what you think doesn’t. If you’re going to break into the market you need to learn the market – and what better way to do that than as a consumer? 

Branding Yourself

OK, so you’ve started to take more notice of the structure and strategies of brands you see popping up all over the place. Now it’s time to think of yourself as a brand. As the market becomes flooded with potential digital marketers you’ll be up against some stiff competition. The key to success in this field is to make yourself stand out to potential employers and clients, to rise above the others floating about in the sea of digital marketing.

Think about what a company’s demands are going to be – be prepared to pitch ideas and strategies. It’s useful to take the time to learn about social media marketing – there are online resources to help you boost your skills and give you an awareness of the different roles that are available within the industry. 

Creativity vs Tradition

Whether you’re setting yourself up as a brand manager, a copywriter or social media strategist you’ll want to project a level of creativity to any client, customer or business you target for work. Fresh branding is key to a campaign or promotion’s success, so you need to be seen as an ‘ideas person’ – a fountain of creative solutions and suggestions.

But on the flip side of this, you don’t want to completely reinvent the wheel – many products have solid strategies and techniques used to appeal to their demographics, and you may want to limit your creativity to stay within the parameters that have already been established. This is definitely a skill worth mastering – both clients and their potential customers relish a new approach but with a degree of familiarity that doesn’t alienate them from the service or product on offer. 

Online Presence

What better way to appeal to clients than to have a professional-looking online presence? This could be as simple as having a sophisticated and detailed profile on a platform such a LinkedIn or Upwork, but your own website is also a shrewd way to show yourself off in a more streamlined way, and really boost your online standing.

List a selection of clients you’ve worked with, show off your work – a blog helps tremendously here, both to show off your writing skills and to put on display your areas of expertise. Twitter is also a great way to appeal to potential clients – set up a business account and add companies and brands you think you’d be well suited to. Retweeting them or replying to their posts is a good way to get noticed, or even direct messaging can work – just make sure you keep the tone professional, concise and assured – you’ll be judged on every communication you make! 

Understanding data 

A huge part (and problem) of advertising has always been gauging the audience’s response accurately. As we enter the digital age there are more and more ways to optimize content to boost hits and views and to get metrics back more quickly than in the past. As this technology moves so quickly it’s good to stay abreast of changes in analytics and data management systems – this way you won’t seem like a rookie when it comes to discussing marketing strategy and feedback with your client base. 

With the rise of digital marketing came a flurry of new and desirable jobs. The competition for these jobs is fierce, but with know-how, study, motivation and overall awareness of the industry you can find yourself a potentially lucrative new career that feels fresh every day.

Jim Raychrudhury / Freelance Writer and Blogger

jim.raychrudhury@gmail.com

Contributor, BIZCATALYST360.COM and COLLEGERAPTOR.COM

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