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How to Become a Digital Marketer (Step by Step with Practical Insights)
The demand for digital marketing jobs will continue to grow year after year, and a career in digital marketing looks promising. There are many ways to learn about and become a digital marketer. In this article, you will find the steps and knowledge resources.
Updated Jul 16, 2024
How to become a digital marketer (step by step with practical insights)Intro
One of the most in-demand jobs nowadays is digital marketer, which is expected to scale with a CAGR of 32.1% by 2028, with a value of USD 24.1 billion. This happens because there will be close to 6 billion internet users by 2027.
On LinkedIn, there are over 400,000 open digital marketing jobs available worldwide. We have over 9,000 jobs with titles related to digital marketing, not counting other digital marketing positions like SEO, social media specialists, etc.
With this fact, the demand will keep growing year by year. Looks promising, right?
What if you don’t have any experience in digital marketing? Don’t worry, you still can achieve that dream job.
There are lots of ways to learn digital marketing and become it one day. In this article, you will find the steps and knowledge resources.
Gain a foundational understanding
As a beginner, you need to learn the basics of digital marketing first. Once you understand it well, you can continue to learn the advanced knowledge with less difficulty.
There are ways to learn the foundation of digital marketing:
Join courses
You can find free courses from credible resources to learn about SEO, SEM, paid ads, content marketing, email marketing, and social media, such as from:
Other than these resources, you can learn from the paid courses, like:
Both unpaid and paid classes will provide you with certification upon completion that will be useful for you when you apply for a digital marketing position.
Read books and articles
Many experts share their thoughts, experiences, and case studies that you can learn from. Some recommended blogs that will help you:
Based on Goodreads, the books below are the most popular digital marketing books that you must read:
- Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World (Gary Vaynerchuk)
- Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less (Joe Pulizzi)
- DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online (Russell Brunson)
- Digital Marketing For Dummies (Ryan Deiss)
Join webinar
Be active in finding digital marketing webinars. Typically, webinars are hosted by educational companies, digital marketing communities, or the speaker themselves.
Both free and paid, make sure you can learn something new from each webinar. If you have questions, do not hesitate to ask the speakers.
1-on-1 session with a digital marketer expert
Don't be shy about reaching out to some experts and asking for a 1-on-1 session. LinkedIn is usually the best platform to connect with them.
Tell them your story, why you are interested in digital marketing and what you would like to learn from them. Ask about their availability and propose your schedule. Be flexible if your suggestion doesn't work with the expert's schedule.
If possible, specify your questions in the 1-on-1 session proposal. That way, when the session starts, the expert can provide constructive answers and feedback.
Don't forget to record the session by asking the expert for permission first. This recording will be useful when you want to review what you learned in the session.
Get formal or informal education (boot camp)
If you are a high school or college student who wants to learn more about digital marketing, you can enroll in a university that offers digital marketing education programs.
Another option is boot camps. Unlike courses that rely on structured curriculum recordings for learning, a boot camp requires your physical presence online or offline at scheduled sessions where you can learn directly from an expert alongside other individuals.
In addition, boot camps are basically designed to help students land a job.
Boot camp allows you to ask questions and get clarifications on various aspects of digital marketing. You can also learn how to use digital marketing tools.
Get real-world practice
So now you have some theoretical knowledge about digital marketing. But that's not enough to get you started in the world of digital marketing.
Practical knowledge is essential to your growth. It's important to note that hands-on digital marketing experience is necessary to learn certain things.
How to do it?
Find internships
Internships allow you to practice on real cases. Not only do you learn, but you get paid for your work.
This experience can be put on your resume when you apply for a full-time position.
The duration of the internship is 3 to 6 months. If the company feels that your performance as an intern is outstanding, there is a possibility that you will be hired as a full-time digital marketer.
Help family and friends
Do you have a family member or friends who have a small business? Ask them what is their challenge in expanding their business, especially in their marketing strategy. From there, you know what kind of help that you can offer.
For example, your close friend has struggled to handle the social media content. You can offer them help to manage their social media account by creating an editorial plan, managing the content outputs, and helping the ads management if needed.
Volunteer
Join a volunteer can be one of the ways to practice your learnings. It can be volunteering in a university event, big concerts, non-profit organization, you name it, as long as you can gain experience from them.
Build your own project
Pick one brand that seems off for you from a digital marketing point of view. Dig dive the problem. Then, showcase your thinking process and solution in a case study.
You can create it in a blog or slides in PDF format. To gain some feedback, try to nudge some digital marketers in your connection. Explain your intention and ask about their availability to review your case study.
Revise your case study from the feedback. Then, you can use your case study for your portfolio.
Join boot camps
As mentioned before, usually boot camps give the students some homework to make the students understand more about the digital marketing practice.
Make sure to complete the homework assigned during the boot camp. Doing so can provide you with valuable experience and help you build your portfolio.
Develop a portfolio
Apart from submitting a resume and cover letter detailing your digital marketing experience and journey, the company would like to review your portfolio for work samples.
Your portfolio will provide them with insights into your work style and thought processes. Include your best projects from internships, freelancing, part-time work, or personal case studies.
A digital marketing portfolio typically includes these important components:
- An “About” section that reflects your personality and describes your experience and credentials
- Work samples that highlight your favorite campaigns and show off your strengths
- Contact information, including your email, phone number, and relevant social media accounts
- Your resume
There are some good insights from Brainstation. A portfolio is not just dumping your work samples, but a medium that you can showcase your teamwork, planning, and strategic thinking.
So, explain in the portfolio about your role in your published work. Show the impact by adding some data, for example: I grew the social media account followers by 100% in just one month.
Don’t forget to obtain consent from your clients or company before adding their content to your portfolio.
When it comes to formatting, you can look for some inspirations as benchmarks below:
Don't limit sharing your portfolio to potential job applications only. Take the bold step to share it on platforms like LinkedIn, too.
Sharing your portfolio can have positive impacts, allowing others to learn from you and provide feedback.
Furthermore, if people interact with your shared portfolio such as giving likes and comments, it will increase your visibility to a broader audience, expanding your connections. This exposure might lead to potential job opportunities when someone sees your portfolio.
Regularly sharing mini-case studies can help you establish a strong personal brand within your network. Through this, you can showcase your thinking process and how you approach a problem.
Build network
Network is the key to helping you pave the way to the digital marketing job. Aptitude Research Report in 2022 showed that 54% of new hires found their jobs through employee referrals.
So, here are some ways to do networking:
Connect with digital marketing experts on LinkedIn
When you engage with digital marketing experts, you will stand out. Increase your visibility by engaging with them on their LinkedIn posts. Share your thoughts on the topics they post.
It is important to also connect with digital marketers employed by large companies. Send them introductory messages and engage actively on LinkedIn. There's a chance that you could apply to those companies through their referrals.
Attend webinars and conferences
Not only learning about digital marketing, webinars and conferences can be ways to meet people with the same interests as you.
Prepare your business card to exchange it with them. Engage with the discussions, share your thoughts, and don’t forget to get along with them.
Join communities
Joining communities can help you stay informed about nearby digital marketing events, participate in discussions, stay updated on new developments, and learn about job opportunities.
Try to attend community meetings so you can directly connect with other members. Face-to-face discussions are more engaging and enjoyable.
Apply for potential roles
Once you have gathered everything mentioned above, including your resume and cover letter, you are ready to apply for various digital marketing positions.
Before submitting your applications, familiarize yourself with the role and the industry. Ensure that you have the skills required, and if not, be ready to learn them before and during your employment.
Understanding the industry will also provide insight into the long-term prospects and stability of your job.
Moreover, it will help you understand how you can assist the specific company in outperforming its competitors in digital marketing.
Don’t forget to connect with the potential users and hiring managers. On LinkedIn, some of the job openings show the person in charge.
Connect with them and tell them that you already applied for the position. This will help you to be noticed by them since they will receive more than a hundred applications.
Rinse and repeat
Regularly evaluate these steps with these questions:
- What is working well and can be retained for future practice?
- Which part I can improve it?
- Is there any new strategy to learn digital marketing?
Use these questions to assess your progress in learning digital marketing in a more organized manner.
After doing it, revisit the material and strive to acquire fresh knowledge, build connections, and identify opportunities each time you engage in a new learning cycle.
This cumulative experience will familiarize you with digital marketing and prepare you for a smoother transition into your role as a digital marketer.
There is no exact estimation of how long it takes to officially become a digital marketer.
As long as you are a highly committed person, have an ambition, have a growth mindset, and keep networking, that dream will become closer, closer, and closer. Have faith.
Further reading:
Popular digital marketing jobs in Singapore:
Ivana Livia Wibisono
SEO Content Writer
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