Digital marketing is a constantly changing, creative and strategic profession that is needed in all industries. It can look different from business to business, so let’s take a minute to define what digital marketing is on a broad level:
Digital marketing is the use of digital channels to reach an audience with a message about a company, brand, or product at different points in the customer life cycle to achieve a specific goal.
Digital Marketers Everyone Starts In The Same Place
The best place to start learning and honing your skills as a digital marketer is by learning the fundamental basics of marketing.
Basic marketing principles are just as relevant today as they were 10 or 20 years ago, and most importantly, they will be just as useful 10 or 20 years from now as they are today.
So what do digital marketers do every day?
If you’re picturing a cool hipster with a tattoo, sipping her favorite cappuccino all day while scrolling through her Instagram, you’re probably too far gone. Although most digital marketers are cool (no tattoos required), most love (and need) coffee, and most of them are active on social media platforms.
If we look at their lives from “outside a cafeteria”, it may seem that it is the most carefree. Playing with images, writing articles, being online all the time. If you spend a day with them, watching them work, you will be left with your mouth open.
Build a Digital Marketing Portfolio
Once you understand the basics of digital marketing, it’s time to put your skills to the test. The best way to do this is to create a portfolio of actual marketing projects that you can show to potential employers.
Exploring a PPC advertising platform like Google Ads or Facebook Ads is a great way to start, as they provide quick results that can be easily measured. This will give you valuable insight into your digital marketing skills and show employers that you understand digital marketing concepts.
Digital Marketing Analyst
All digital marketers today require some working knowledge of data analysis. However, the ubiquity of data in our interconnected world has led to the rise of a relatively new position: the digital marketing analyst. Sometimes working alone, other times as part of a team, the role of a digital marketing analyst is to keep everyone on the ground with data-driven insights. When creative ideas are flying, they will stay focused on the figures. With a highly analytical mindset, digital marketing analysts cut through the fluff, organize, and analyze data to tell broader teams what’s working and what’s not.
The core of any digital marketing strategy is skilled copywriters who can produce highly engaging content for everything from blog posts to storyboards, email campaigns, product landing pages, and more. While good digital marketing copywriters need extensive knowledge of the field, their real skill is as a wordsmith. The best copywriters have an intuitive feel for the tone of voice, messaging, and language that appeals to different audiences. They are also very organized, often working to tight deadlines, and working closely with SEO teams to ensure they incorporate the right keywords into their copy.