How to Start a Career in Digital Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide

Arghya Dutta

16 May 2024

286

Are you planning to enter the field of digital marketing? Or, want to choose digital marketing as a career? If yes then this article is perfect for you. I’m not hesitant to tell you that, having worked in the field for more than 10 years, I can attest that it is never too late for newcomers to learn about digital marketing, regardless of their background.

Although there are many possibilities, the good news is that you can learn digital marketing without pursuing a degree in the field at a college or university.

By using internet resources to get the necessary skills and working from home to serve clients worldwide, you can start a career in digital marketing.

Let’s see how to Start Digital Marketing

To get started with digital marketing, you can take the following actions:

1. Learn The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
2. Create Your Own Website as a Portfolio
3. Upskill yourself in SEO
4. Become Certified in Google Ads
5. Become an expert in Facebook ad marketing
6. Become An Expert In Google Analytics
7. Get a Freelance Job in Digital Marketing
8. Do a Digital Marketing Internship
9. Stay Updated on New Trends And Keep Learning
10. Discover How to Use Tools for Digital Marketing

1. Learn The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing:

   The first logical step for anyone, who is new to digital marketing needs to familiarize themselves with the term and the primary elements that comprise it.

   This method of marketing over the Internet is referred to as “digital marketing,” or “online marketing,”. It offers a variety of channels covering every facet of internet advertising. It’s important to realize that numerous processes within this discipline can be involved in a digital marketing strategy.

   Specifically, the following channels are available for digital marketing:

   • Search Engine Marketing – learn the methods of paid search advertising which is known as search engine marketing. It is a technique for promoting your website on search engines.

   • SEO – It is a technique to rank a website on the search engine for a long-term basis.

   • Content Marketing – ways to use several contents for your online advertising campaigns.

   • Email Marketing – It’s a process of selling goods or services through email. Also a very useful method for lead nurturing.

   • Social Media Marketing – advertising on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter and others

   • Mobile Marketing –  Mobile marketing is when you promote on the different app stores (App Store, Google Play)

   • Video Marketing – When you do marketing through videos on Vimeo, YouTube, and other video platforms

   • Affiliate Marketing – the process of generating revenue by endorsing the goods of others and earning an affiliate commission.

   The ability to operate with all of the above-mentioned channels should be possessed by a competent digital marketing professional.

   Avoid being anxious. It’s not necessary to learn everything on day one.

   You’ll have the opportunity to work with a variety of methods, tools, and technology as your career in digital marketing develops, and ultimately the puzzle will be solved.

2. Create Your Own Website as a Portfolio

   The next stage is to get your hands dirty and begin practicing digital marketing when you have mastered the fundamentals. Creating your own website is one of the best methods to put various digital marketing strategies into practice.

   Digital marketing is an extremely quantifiable and useful method for marketing in this new digital era. it is not a theoretical concept. Understanding the philosophy underlying social media and SEO is insufficient. You must be able to put the various strategies into practice. In digital marketing strategy is the main thing.

   You will be required to promote various website types during your career in digital marketing in order to either boost their sales through PPC and social media advertising, or search engine optimization.

   Create your own website that combines both ideas in order to get the requisite knowledge and self-assurance. Start differently, start a blog, focus on improving your search engine rankings, and simultaneously develop a product or locate one to advertise and try to sell.

   No doubt that this process will require time, and that there will be a high learning curve for beginners, but there is no other way to lay a strong basis for your professional future.

   In addition to teaching you new ideas, a personal website can serve as a portfolio to win over potential clients or employers and help you land a lucrative contract or employment. And you will get messages like “We look for candidates who can demonstrate their expertise”. When companies hire new digital marketing specialists, they prefer hands-on experience from them. The ideal way to do this is to have a website with strong search engine rankings and plenty of visitors. Though it’s not so easy.

3. Upskill yourself in SEO:

   If you are not proficient in SEO, you cannot begin a career in digital marketing. Prior to developing other talents, you must be a master in SEO.

   You may utilize SEO to build user- and search-engine-friendly websites, and you can use the same techniques to enhance your Facebook and Google Ads (paid ads).

   Develop your SEO career step-by-step, and go on to the next step after you believe you have mastered SEO.

4. Become Certified in Google Ads

   As a digital marketing specialist, one of your duties is to use Google Ads to advertise goods and services or to promote your business on the different Google domains and websites.

   Obtaining the Google Ads certification is the quickest way to gain the required expertise. You may become a Google Ads Expert with the aid of a plethora of online tools, and obtaining a certification is an excellent method to demonstrate your qualifications to clients or prospective employers.

5. Become an expert in Facebook ad marketing

   Starting with social media marketing, especially Facebook Ads, is the next stage. Although you will be spending most of your time and campaign budget on Facebook and Instagram, you as a digital marketing specialist should familiarize yourself with the workings of other social media channels, such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

   In addition to being a fantastic social network, Facebook is becoming one of the most crucial resources for every online marketing initiative. Facebook is becoming a harder place to acquire organic exposure, thus the only way to use it as a selling tool is to get proficient with its advertising platform.

   It should not be too difficult to learn how to use Facebook Ads if you have already completed the aforementioned steps and have a solid understanding of SEO and Google Ads.

   Although many of the ideas are similar to PPC, you still need to become familiar with the different Facebook policies and understand how to use the tool.

6. Become An Expert In Google Analytics

   Besides learning the different tools that can generate traffic, a digital marketing expert needs to know Analytics.

   One of the main characteristics of any digital marketing campaign is that everything is measurable. You know how many people viewed your campaigns, how many people clicked on your ads, how many conversions they generated, and a lot of other metrics that cover every aspect of a campaign.

   To be able to make informed decisions based on real data, you need to know how to measure the effectiveness of a campaign and how to analyze the results.

   Your starting point is becoming an expert in Google Analytics.

7. Get a Freelance Job in Digital Marketing

   Getting a genuine job in the digital marketing domain is the next stage in your career path to becoming a digital marketer. While creating your website is a terrific method to get experience with various digital marketing strategies, working on a client’s behalf presents unique challenges.

   Managing client accounts will “force” you to learn how to handle budgets, establish processes, enhance your reporting and analytics abilities, and oversee client communications.

   To apply for jobs in digital marketing, visit job portals such as fivver.com, and upwork.com etc.

   If you’re just getting started, work on simple and short projects at first before moving on to more involved ones.

   Without any reviews, freelancers find it challenging to get hired, therefore be sure that you:

   • Pay keen attention to the job posting’s requirements and address to any queries.

   • Respond quickly to the employer. Make sure your application stands out from the thousands of other applicants who will be triumphant for a job.

   • Keep your costs decent and fair. You are not allowed to demand a premium rate if you lack experience. But, you want to experience as much as you can to increase your earning potential later on.

8. Do a Digital Marketing Internship

   Getting a genuine digital marketing internship in a reputable company is another quick approach to expanding your knowledge and experience.

   This is a highly recommended digital marketing course since it will teach you the inner workings of a contemporary digital marketing agency. You may then use some of their best practices for your own business or as a digital marketer you can work for another company.

   It will be more challenging to launch a freelance digital marketing job without prior corporate work experience because you will have to learn everything from the ground up.

   Working with customers is different from performing digital marketing on your own websites, as I previously indicated. If you don’t have the proper procedures in place, you will waste time on non-billable tasks, which will lower your income and compensation.

9. Stay Updated of New Trends And Keep Learning

   Techniques for digital marketing are always evolving. It’s a reality that the world of digital marketing is emerging so fast, which some digital marketers love and some hate.

   Each year, Google makes hundreds of changes to its algorithm also, organic and sponsored search results, Facebook updates its algorithm, and overall, the world of digital marketing is highly dynamic and changeable.

   This implies that you should be aware that learning will be a daily component of your work if you want to pursue a career in the digital marketing domain.

   Since I’ve been doing this for years, I get to learn something new every day. I read about case studies, industry updates, new advancements, and changes to all digital marketing channels to keep myself updated. This takes up twenty percent of my time.

10. Discover How to Use Tools for Digital Marketing

    You must acquire knowledge of some other digital marketing tools or methods in addition to Google Analytics, Google Search Console Google Tag Manager, etc.

    Upon rising the corporate ladder to the position of digital marketing manager, you will be responsible for overseeing a group of digital marketing experts. Tools are the only means by which you may assess their work and monitor them and their advancement in several projects at once.

    You may develop dashboards for each channel and provide insightful reports to clients or to the management team with the help of a decent application.

    Although they are not free, the monthly charge is an investment in your career and an excellent addition to your CV given the abundance of excellent tools at your disposal.

Is A Career In Digital Marketing Good?

An outstanding job choice is digital marketing. Companies are enhancing and increasing their online presence, thus the demand for digital marketing positions is rising globally. Nowadays, digital marketing professionals are paid more than those in other fields.

For this domain, it’s over $70,000 is the average annual pay in the United States. And high in demand in the Indian Market. Also, it’s good for those who are looking to work from home opportunity, digital marketing is the best choice because it doesn’t require you to be physically present in one place.

Conclusion:

Developing your talents should be your top priority while entering the digital marketing domain. Digital marketing is not a single thing that one can learn easily by working in the field or by taking any course. To master this skill you need hands-on experience. Because most cases the theoretical knowledge doesn’t work really.

Digital marketing is made up of many different aspects, and if you want to work at the top of the pay scale, you should be an expert in each of them. Practicing on your own website is the best approach to mastering digital marketing techniques. Make a blog and begin with contributing articles and blogs. Doing seo of it. After spending some time practicing SEO, go on to Facebook marketing, Linkedin marketing, and Google Ads.

Take advantage of the work opportunity with a reputable digital marketing agency. Working on several projects and collaborating with specialists will provide you amazing experience. Also, you can start as a freelancer and can develop your own client base, can be self-employed, and start your own digital marketing agency.

To know more about digital marketing, how to start, where to start, and which is the best course visit us. Desun Academy provides the best digital marketing course in Kolkata enroll now.