How To Start A Career In Digital Marketing And Land Your First Job As A Beginner
Since
the pandemic began, Many have lost their source of livelihood, and getting a
job has become even more difficult. But there’s one industry that keeps
balling(continues to grow at a fast pace) irrespective of what’s happening. If
you are not actively involved in this industry yet, I will have to ask you the
question I asked my friend James in July 2020, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?”. Anyways,
The good news though is that its not too late to jump in and join the party.
I
remembered back then in
school before I graduated, Some of my “rich” Family acquaints promised me
heaven and earth (a good job in a reputable organization), I don’t know if they
thought I would remain an under-graduate forever. After graduation, I quickly
found out that all those promises were “YIMU” (Vernacular for “empty”), nobody
had plans for me. It was all man for himself. I Quickly had to do something
about my life and finances.
I am
sure some of us can relate, “story of our lives”.
You
get to that point in your life where it seems like you are in the middle of a
big pool and the only options you have is to swim or drawn.
Some
of us have recovered from this experience, some are currently in this phase of
their life, while some others have never recovered. I overcame my
disappointment from my promisers by leveraging some of the digital skills,
which I will share here.
I’m
going to show you how to start a career in digital marketing and grow both your
knowledge, salary or income(if you are looking to start a side hustle).
As
more and more companies turn to the Internet to reach a bigger audience and to
generate sales, two things comes to mind;
1.
there’s more money flowing towards online marketing, and
2.
the need for experts in digital marketing has never been greater.
no
wonder digital marketing courses and getting a job in digital marketing is a
hot topic right now, it’s an in-demand industry. Very soon e go b “wahala for
who no get digital skills” (Pidgin English for — “Trouble for those who don't
have any digital skills”).
I bet
you didn’t know that there are about 1.6 million job openings for digital
marketing roles worldwide. The Opportunity is huge ( and this number will keep
growing because more business are embracing the digital world).
That’s
why equipping yourself with the right skill set will help position you.
the
good thing is that whether you decide to work for a particular
organization/brand or as a freelancer, there are important steps you need to
take in other to position yourself, irrespective of your geographical location
(i mean, you can work for a foreign organization and earn in foreign currency
while living in a third world country).
But
first, let me quickly tackle the myth that says you need a marketing degree
before you can achieve anything in this industry, The answer is a big NO, its
not compulsory. instead what you would definitely need is guidance, the right
resources, mentorship and training.
Anyways,
here are some of the most in-demand digital skills that I strongly suggest you
should pay attention to;
1. copy writing and sales closing (direct response copy writing, email marketing,
landing pages)
2. content marketing
3. social media marketing
4. search engine optimization (SEO)
5. Traffic/leads generation- free and paid traffic ( Facebook ads, Instagram,
YouTube and google ads), applicable to areas like affiliate marketing and CPA
marketing.
6. content creation (text, audio, videos, presentations).
These
skills are not rocket science, once you can master 2 or 3 of these skills,
especially traffic generation and copy writing, you should never have money
problems again.
So if
you are looking to up your skill, or start your digital career and you don’t
know where to start? Here’s How to go about it, follow these 5 simple process;
1. Start Building Your Digital Skills : You definitely have to start by arming yourself with the
necessary knowledge and skillset.
You
can decide to learn everything yourself by trial and error, but this might take
you longer time, more money spent, and in some cases loss of your social media
accounts (like when I lost my Facebook ad account due to a silly mistake that
could have been avoided if I had someone to guide me).
I
also understand that acquiring some of these skills can be expensive, a good
Facebook ads course can go for up to $150 and sometimes even more.
Well,
here’s my strong recommendation; There’s a practical, easy to follow Video
resource that teaches copy writing, organic/free traffic, WhatsApp marketing,
Facebook ads, Instagram ads, YouTube ads, affiliate marketing, Financial
Literacy including weekly zoom calls with Mentors and Leaders in the internet
marketing space then . If you have been finding it difficult to get yourself
started, NO MORE EXCUSES, Here’s a great place to start and be accountable
>> Skills On Demand
2. Practice Your Knowledge And
Aggressively Implement: No matter
how much you learn and read, without implementation nothing will change,
absolutely nothing. No amount of learning can substitute for actions.
Nobody
Learns to drive an actual car on paper. There’s something called road sense.
Road sense can only be gotten as you practice with a real car on in the streets
and on the major road.
Don’t
shy away from putting out your content, don’t let imposter syndrome hold you
back .
Gain
the Necessary experience, “Experience does not necessarily mean the number of
years you have been doing this, you might have been a digital marketer for
several months if not years but what stands you out is what you were able to
achieve with the knowledge and skills that you have and what you have to show
for it”.
The
Next step is to;
3. Create an online presence. use your
knowledge to build your personal brand. set
up your profile across different social media platforms LinkedIn, Facebook,
twitter, Instagram etc. Further more you could start your blog where you could
share your knowledge. If you don’t have the budget to get a domain name and
hosting for now, you could open a free medium account and share your thoughts
there. Doing this will also help you build up your portfolio.
Attend
as many conferences, meetups, and webinars as you can and see it as an
opportunity to network and know other people.
Most
of the influential people you know actually grew their influence from
networking and meeting new people.
5. Visit gigs and Job boards frequently e.g. Upwork, Freelancer, LinkedIn job board, Fiverr and people
per hour (of course there are more, you can do your research to find out more)
If
there’s one thing I can beat my chest and say with confidence, it will be this; that with 30 to 60 days of consistency and implementation, you can literally take
your digital marketing career from zero to hero.
PS: If you have interest in Internet Marketing, Entrepreneurship, or you love
to connect and build your network, let us know in the comment section below.
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