Digital marketing is an increasingly more popular career choice - for those entering the career ladder, as well as those established who are considering a more viable career longer-term, for example, those working in environments where automation is reducing the requirement for as much human interaction as they once did.
Digital marketers are just one part of the marketing family, alongside designers, content writers (sometimes also known as copywriters), strategists and PR and comms folk.
What does a digital marketer do?
Digital marketers are ultimately responsible for brand building and lead generation within a business. This takes form across multiple channels, such as websites, social media, email marketing or paid ad execution across any number of digital marketing channels.
In larger organisations, digital marketers may specialise in a specific area, i.e., CRM (customer relationship management), PPC or SEO. In smaller organisations, digital marketers are far more likely to be in a more generalist role (working across multiple specialisms, having a good understanding across the board.
The digital marketing remit covers:
- Website management; updating websites, reviewing user journeys and mapping out conversion optimisations
- SEO; getting your website page(s) at the top of Google and Bing. SEO involves informed optimisations to keywords, content, page structures and other elements that drive search visibility
- PPC; using search engines to drive engagement through paid ads across search, or display advertising
- Organic social; managing corporate accounts to create greater awareness of products or solutions. Social media management typically also includes reacting to messages, comments, etc, as well as proactively engaging with your target audience
- Paid social advertising; using social platform such as (but not limited to) Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn to drive awareness and conversion
- Email marketing; quite often grouped under a CRM banner, this involves communicating with target audiences through ad-hoc (manual) sends or automation
How to become a digital marketer
If you're considering becoming a digital marketing manager, there are a number of ways to cut your teeth. Here are a few of the more obvious and easier-to-do options:
Study
There are plenty of ways to get into marketing these days, but one of the most obvious routes is to study. Gaining a qualification (when you don't have any practical experience) proves you have a level of theory, that you just need to put into action in a practical way. This is quite good for employers as you'll likely come off as committed to the cause.
Studying digital marketing could be at a university degree or college level. It all depends on your unique set of circumstances. As a hirer, qualifications are not the main factor behind CV sifting and progressing candidates to interview - we look for experience.
Get your hands dirty
If you haven't got any practical paid experience, there are so many other ways to prove you can do a paid role. Here are a few:
- Create a blog, teach yourself SEO and drive organic traffic to it
- Set up a social media profile and build an engaged audience
Make sure you properly understand digital marketing
Research is key to everything. But make sure you fully understand what the world of digital marketing is and includes. If somebody is taking a punt on you (particularly if you have little to no experience), show your ability through your knowledge. Being able to talk confidently about specific areas of digital marketing will set you off against other candidates, who may have more experience on paper but struggle to talk confidently.
Complete digital marketing training
There are plenty of short courses out there to help you understand what digital marketing roles include. Here are a few to get you going:
- HubSpot's Academy
- Google Garage
Complete a short course
Organisations such as Fearless Academy offer short courses, aimed at getting you employment-ready, giving you a solid foundational knowledge of digital marketing and linking you in with industry experts, as well as potential employers.
Get yourself out there
Networking is still a very effective way of bolstering your career prospects. You'll meet people who are either recruiting or can refer you into somebody is. Networking gives you an opportunity to sell yourself; whether that's work experience or enthusiasm.
Tailor your CV to opportunities
Be sure to tailor your CV to a specific role. A couple of pages of A4 paper is never enough to sell everything you've done, so pick out the best and most relevant bits for a role. For example, if you're applying for a PPC executive job, go easy on email marketing, content or organic social media. They're good skills to have, but not overly relevant for the PPC role you're applying for.