For those who are just joining the job market, getting your first digital marketing job maybe a bit challenging. Even more challenging for those with no professional experience.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overall demand for jobs in the marketing field should increase by 10% by 2026. Whereas, most demands for marketing professionals target internet marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and engagement.
The digital marketing job market is in high demand but quite competitive. There’s always a job out there for everyone, you just need to find the most suitable one for you.
There are a lot of players in the industry. The high competitiveness has made the industry grow at a rapid pace over the last few years. Some many companies churn out tools regularly and this keeps expanding the knowledge gap in the industry.
The beautiful thing about digital jobs is a simple fact that they can be self-taught. The school system doesn’t teach many real-life tech tools or programs. For example, SEO or CRO are not topics you find in any traditional school system as of today.
The irony is that the know-how of these digital tools can put you in a higher tax bracket than some chemical engineer.
I have worked with more than 10 people with no prior work experience in the tech industry to secure high paying jobs. Here are 5 simple steps to help you get that digital marketing job this year.
1. Become competent
It’s common to compare yourself with others when you start your career. It may seem like everyone is better than you in one form or another – more experience, better skills, better grades, better connections.
This is a fad. Stay positive. You will find out nobody’s got it all. Everyone’s got their strengths and weaknesses. Professional experience, university grades, and expensive teaching fellowships will no longer matter in few years. What will matter will be skills you weren’t taught in school – leadership, tenacity, willingness to learn, the strength of your character, communication skills.
Yes, firms seek technical skills and specific knowledge learned through training, yet soft skills are even more vital.
There are two common qualities digital marketing recruiters are looking for in a candidate:
- You’re a good person.
- You can do the job.
As long as you can be persuasive, create a connection with your interviewers, as well as have an okay résumé, you can essentially get any good-paying entry-level job.
I remember trying to get my first job, I applied 20 times a day, Monday to Friday till I got two job offers in a single day.
2. Choose your digital marketing career path
You’ve chosen your desire to begin a career in digital marketing. Prior to going down this path, it’s always a good idea to examine yourself. Here are some questions:
- What do I like doing?
- What am I actually good at?
- Am I better working alone or team up with others?
- What abilities and strengths do I presently have?
- Am I more creative or more analytical?
- What is my personality type?
There are a number of different digital marketing disciplines, each with its own distinct career path.
You can not afford to be too particular when trying to get your first job. Your first primary goal is to join the industry.
A common entry-level digital marketing job is a Digital Marketing Specialist, which is a person that helps with search engine optimization (SEO), paid search, content marketing, conversion rate optimization, social media sites marketing, and so on.
These roles are multi-faceted, and you’ll need knowledge in a number of disciplines to be successful. This is a great job for starting your career. It may be a bit tasking but it definitely will give your career and earning power a boost.
Here are some digital marketing skills and tools in high demand. Do your due diligence on each and try to learn them in-depth till you’re competent.
- Content Marketing – WordPress, Yoast Search Engine Optimization plug-in,
- Digital Analytics – Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Optimizely
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Moz, Ahrefs, SEM Rush, Google Search Console
- Internet Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – Google AdWords, Bing Advertisements
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) – Optimizely, Google Tag Manager, Craft
- Social Network Marketing – Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Advertisements, Hootsuite
- Affiliate Advertising – CJ by Conversant, Impact Radius
- Advertising Automation – Marketo, Pardot, Bronto,
- Email Advertising – Mailchimp, Constant Contact, AWeber
- Web Development – WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal
- Project Management – JIRA, Basecamp, Timeforce, Trello
In addition, Microsoft Office products are basic requirements for any digital jobs.
3. Learn with online courses
Now that you’ve decided your career path. It’s time to learn. Digital jobs are practical jobs. You have to constantly practice and hone your skill.
Digital marketing courses are quite ubiquitous online. You can find them on popular learning platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and Udemy.
Certifications are great additions to your resume. They signify that you’re keeping up with the market requirements and knowledge. Here are some free certifications that can give you an edge over other candidates.
Digital Marketing Courses
Google Academy for Ads (free certification) – Learn all about Pay-Per-Click advertising on AdWords’ and much more. Lots of entry-level digital advertising and marketing tasks will need this certification.
Google Analytics Academy (free certification) – Don’t even consider making an application for a digital marketing job without a strong understanding of Google Analytics. This complimentary training shows novices as well as seasoned customers alike exactly how to expand online visibility via intelligent information tracking and web analytics devices.
HubSpot Inbound Marketing (free accreditation) – This free course covers the essentials of incoming marketing – attracting consumers, bring in leads, crafting interesting touchdown web pages, writing strong calls-to-action, as well as expanding an audience.
Bing Advertisements Accreditation (totally free certification) – Comparable to Google AdWords in its user interface and execution, Bing Advertisements is an excellent tool to be accustomed to and also will help you attract attention from employers.
Facebook Blueprint ( free to take, however, paid certification) – This training course gives advanced-level efficiency in Facebook and also Instagram Advertisements. It’s a must if you’re looking to get involved in social media sites marketing, learn Power Editor, as well as expand companies through Facebook and also Instagram.
Hootsuite Academy (free qualification) – With Hootsuite, you can earn industry-recognized social media certifications that will certainly help you attract attention from employers. You’ll find out exactly how to engage a social network audience, automate blog posts, collaborate on material, and also enhance your business’s presence online.
These free certifications can guarantee you job offers of up to six figures as a digital marketing specialist.
4. Become a freelance digital marketer
Before I got my first job ten years ago, I had already developed ten websites with the last twelve months. This largely influences my hiring preference today. If you have never had a professional job or you’ve been out of a job for some time, you need to have a portfolio – anything project to show or discuss.
Considering that you’re simply starting, you shouldn’t concentrate on generating income yet. Rather focus on helping people build their online presence and obtaining beneficial experience to develop your profile.
There are many SMEs in your neighborhood you can help. You can also go online to start your portfolio with FlexJobs.
5. Get ready for your interview
After acing your digital marketing training courses, established yourself online. It’s time to prepare for your digital marketing interview.
A successful interview requires adequate planning. The more comfortable you are with yourself, your professional experience, as well as your new digital marketing skills, the far better your opportunities of getting hired.
Here are some suggestions to make you effective in your digital marketing job interview:
- Understand what the company is all about. The interviewer always wants to know if you’ve done basic research about the company you want to join. Learning about the company can give you ideas about solutions you can bring to the table on day one.
- Match your résumé to the position. Avoid sending a generic resume. Try your best to make sure your resume matches the exact vacancy. Resumes are filtered with algorithms these days, you need to target desired positions with resumes that match the job descriptions and requirements.
- Prepare yourself with situational concerns. These are the timeless “inform me about a time when” as well as “what would certainly you do if” inquiries.
- Be ready for a hands-on assessment. My very first entry-level tech job required me to do some hands-on tasks which I failed woefully because I didn’t expect during the first interview. These assessments are fairly common and a wonderful feature of them is you’re provided time to finish them on your own (generally 2-7 days) and also if you can’t figure something out, you just Google it (like the real world).
Other useful tips that may help includes:
See if you can negotiate your first offer only if you’re convinced you can get a good deal. Check popular job boards like indeed.com to see the average pay for your position in your location.
Never stop growing. Keep doing more certifications. Complete more projects. Keep growing your professional network. Stay motivated reading our article about self-motivation.
Wishing you all the best in your career journey. The sky is your limit.
