With a growing number of businesses around the world, competition in almost every industry is fierce. Effective marketing is becoming the key to thriving.
Among all marketing channels, digital channels are the top priority today. With billions of internet users, making your product familiar and a favorite among customers hardly has a substitute path to pursue.
With this growth, the job market in digital marketing is expanding. Job titles like Digital Marketing Manager, Search Engine Optimization Manager, and Social Media Marketer are entirely new in the history of the world. No other generation has had these titles before.
Until now, everything may sound very romantic, but the reality can be harsh. With no or minimal industry barriers, the number of digital marketing job aspirants is many times greater compared to other industries and the number of available jobs.
Without knowing exactly what needs to be done to land your first job as a digital marketer, the world of billions of internet users may seem like a cruel desert. However, some simple and effective tips and tricks can change the game entirely.
There are a million similar blogs. Trust me, some of them really work, and some of them are just blogs published with SEO goals. But this blog will stand out because we will talk about feasible steps and how to execute them one by one. Let’s jump straight into the steps.
Step #1 : Digital Marketing has Many Channels Choose Yours First
Digital marketing uses digital channels to successfully create awareness and drive sales for a business. Imagine where you have seen or learned about a new company in the past 7 days. At the first few seconds, it may seem difficult. Let me remind you to remember.
Inside a YouTube video, you have seen a person talking about a product or service. When you were scrolling Facebook with a warm cup of coffee, you have seen a clothing brand trying to establish or just showcase why you should buy from them. Or simply, just remember last week’s search about AC repair.
There can be many other things similar to these scenarios. These all were advertisements and part of digital marketing. This is just a tiny part of the story. The other part that you may not have seen as an advertisement also plays a crucial role. Remember the podcast talking with a person about finance, you may not have seen that guest ever before, but now you have that face in your brain (incidental encoding).
So essentially, we are seeing that we are living inside a world of marketing and advertisements; hence, the number of digital marketing channels is many. For your ease, we are listing channels here, but remember, memorising these channels doesn’t help you. Rather, try to understand the channels, as that would be your first step. If you are already familiar with these channels, bravo! the sections coming next will be much easier for you compared to an entirely new person.
Understanding Digital Marketing Channels
SEO as Career
The internet is loaded with information. There are 500 million websites, but how can anyone know which website has the most updated and trustworthy information? And if you don’t know which website to visit, you literally have no use for these 500 million websites. To solve this problem, a computer programme that understands your query and finds the website most relevant to it is the best option. It is not a new idea; in fact, it is a 30-year-old concept the idea of search engines.
Search engines help their users find the most relevant publicly available pages on the internet. Now, for example, maybe you are looking for the pronunciation of the word “Digital Marketing.” There are millions of online dictionaries that have this information. Which one should appear at the top of the results of your search? Depending on which search engine you are using, like Google or Bing, there are criteria. Understanding and making webpages compatible with these criteria is called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.
This is one of the most prominent digital marketing channels because, just like information, people search for products or services using search engines. The higher a business appears in the results, the more they can sell. The more a business sells, the more revenue they generate. So if you learn SEO and can do it effectively, this can be your channel to make money.
Social Media Marketing as Career
Social media platforms are websites where users can create their accounts and share their ideas, images, queries, etc. And who doesn’t want to get a little bit of social presence? Nearly everyone; hence, many social media platforms have millions of users. Marketers adopted the idea that if millions of people are visiting these platforms, they can talk about their services or products on these platforms.
The advantage is that when anyone is willingly searching, you get the chance to appear, but on social media, people are coming by their choice. You are just posting things that help you build your business stronger by selling more. Social media marketing is more effective than search engine marketing, especially for things that are lower in price and easy to deliver. The setback of a career as a social media marketer is that, as the majority of products marketed through social media are low in price, they generate lower revenue compared to search engine marketing, and hence companies are less likely to pay higher for social media marketing.
Email Marketing as Career
Imagine that you are a homeowner, and I am an exterior painter. Now I have seen that your walls are not looking great, as the paint has faded, so I wrote you a letter and left it in the mailbox standing in front of your house. The letter says, “I am your neighbour. We have a painting business. You may have been looking for one. If you are interested, just reply to this mail or call me directly on the mentioned number.”
This is the concept of email marketing. People gather prospects that share specific criteria and send them strategic emails that make the receiver take an action that helps the sender make money. Email marketing is not working great because emails are not supposed to be used for making sales. Email marketing has a lower conversion rate and is often just used as a secondary tool to keep the audience informed about a company, service, or product.
Step #2: Once You Have Chosen Your Channel, Gather Certified Knowledge
Suppose that you are buying a new house. Would you ask your car repair garage about what can make this purchase good, or where to find a good property? A very low percentage would. Rather, you should ask a certified realtor. Marketing works in the same way. No matter how much you know about the favorite marketing channel you have chosen, if you don’t have any certification, companies are less likely to hire you.
Depending on your age and financial capability, certification can vary from university degrees to free online courses. The higher it costs you, the more it is trusted. This is the rule of thumb. It may sound a little bit capitalist, but this is true.
Step#3: Make Your Digital Marketing Resume and Portfolio
People often mix up resumes, CVs, and cover letters. They are different things. If you are going through a course already, skip this part as there will be clear instructions in your digital marketing course. If you are not, then understand that a digital marketer’s resume should have information about who you are, where you have learned, and who you have marketed for.
In your portfolio, you will feature the brands or companies you have worked for as a marketer and what you have achieved with them.
Your cover letter is the letter you send or submit when you are applying for a job.
To have an impressive portfolio, use clear information. To make your resume acceptable and scannable, feature your certifications and experience with clear wording.
Step#4: Apply for Digital Marketing Jobs
If you have a course done, now it is your time to apply for jobs. Below are the platforms where you may regularly find digital marketing jobs.
- Upwork Jobs – With millions of users and businesses looking for digital marketing talent, this platform can be your leading source.
- Fiverr Jobs – Less trusted for long-term hires compared to Upwork, but still, with more users, it is also a good option.
- LinkedIn Jobs – The main setback of LinkedIn is its GEO barrier. If you are living in the USA, you may see jobs available only within the USA.
- jobs.smarthires.ai – The main advantage is that this platform brings thousands of digital marketing jobs posted on different platforms into one place.
- Indeed – Famous, but often just publishing for publishing.
Step#5: Prepare For The Interview Job Interview
Read the digital job description before you apply. If you are working in the same field, just keep things natural no one is looking for a superhuman. But if you are applying as a fresher for entry-level positions, list out the areas of marketing work you will be involved with, and revise the course materials, blogs, or other resources you have used while learning.
Final Thoughts on Landing a Digital Marketing Job
There are millions of professional digital marketers working in this industry. If you are new, there is nothing to be worried about everyone started once. And if you have a few years of experience in digital marketing, you already know that it is always about selling yourself as a good product.
