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How To Become A Digital Marketer: What Is the Best Digital Marketing Career Path?

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By Shalom Kamau

The increase in social media and digital technologies has led digital marketing to become the most in-demand form of advertising. It is easier to reach a larger audience and have a higher return on investment (ROI) within a short period in the digital marketing field.

For this reason, more people are interested in becoming digital marketers. This guide covers all the necessary steps you need to launch a career in digital marketing as well as similar jobs you can pursue. Read on to discover more and learn how to become a digital marketer in 2021.

What Is a Digital Marketer?

A digital marketer is a marketing expert in charge of using digital technologies to reach customers online. Their primary role is to ensure clients receive widespread recognition on digital channels, which in turn generates higher sales. Digital marketers must be conversant with most, if not all, of the digital marketing tools currently available.

Some of these tools include social media, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and mobile marketing. It is essential to understand these powerful tools as you begin your career path to becoming a digital marketer.

Digital Marketer Job Description

In short, your primary role is to act as a bridge between a company and its customers. Digital marketers perform several duties, from creating and uploading content to strategizing ways of enhancing search engine rankings. You will be in charge of the client’s online platforms, such as the company website, Instagram page, or blog content.

You will plan and strategize ways to engage with customers and keep them interested in your client’s brand or product. You will also likely manage Google Analytics and other SEO tools, enhancing the company’s online presence through posting images, videos, and written content.

Digital Marketer Salary and Job Outlook

The Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) indicates a six percent job growth for advertising and marketing jobs between 2019 and 2029, which is faster than average. The fast job growth can also be attributed to the lucrative annual salary. The BLS also reports that marketing management professionals earn $141,490 per year.

PayScale offers a more specific salary outlook. According to its official report, digital marketing specialists earn an average salary of $50,380. However, this can go up to $62,767 for experienced digital marketers. If you enter a digital marketing management position, your salary can double. This means you should enter the field as soon as possible.

Top Reasons to Become a Digital Marketer in 2021

Besides the job security and high salaries, there are many different reasons to become a digital marketer. This field is both fulfilling and full of variety. Below are more reasons why pursuing a digital marketing career in 2021 is worth it.

  • Job outlook. Digital marketers have a great projected job outlook for the rest of the decade. The six percent growth rate projected by BLS emphasizes job security in the industry for an extended period.
  • Flexibility. Apart from extensive job opportunities, you also have the freedom to work in any industry. Digital marketing professionals can work in retail, fashion, entertainment, education, technology, or sports.
  •  Lucrative salaries. The digital marketing industry pays its workers well. You can receive a median salary of $50,000 and above, depending on your skill level. In addition, most digital marketers have the freedom to work as freelancers, which is a great way to make extra income.
  • Creative outlet. If you’re a creative person, working as a digital marketer is a dream come true. There are always opportunities for you to think outside the box and develop ways to make a marketing campaign stand out.

Digital Marketer Job Requirements

Although penetrating the digital marketing industry isn’t as challenging, you still need to meet specific criteria as a digital marketer. Employers are open to employing individuals who meet the following requirements.

  • A bachelor’s degree. Employers look for candidates with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing or a related field. However, an Associate Degree in Marketing is still enough to get you a job as a digital marketer.
  • Digital marketing tools. You must be familiar with several digital marketing tools. Tools like social media, email marketing, and search engines play a significant role in the success of digital marketing campaigns. In addition, you need to understand how Google Ads works, perform numbers analysis, and keep up with the current trends.
  • Experience. On average, employers look for candidates who have worked for two or more years in the digital marketing industry. However, this doesn’t mean beginners are out of luck. You can launch your career by applying for entry-level digital marketing jobs to gain more experience.
  • Problem-solving skills. Like every other industry, problems and emergencies occur in digital marketing. Therefore, you need to be a fast thinker and always come up with suitable solutions for any problem.

Types of Digital Marketing Careers

As mentioned above, digital marketers can work in any industry. You can also branch into different career paths under digital marketing. Whether you want to become an SEO expert or a digital marketing manager, your roles contribute to the business’s success. Below are some of the most popular digital marketing careers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist

An SEO specialist ensures a website ranks highly on several search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. You will delve into keyword research to ensure each article aligns with current common search terms. Your primary role is to increase website traffic by making sure your website activity generates leads.

Social Media Manager

A social media manager oversees a client’s social media platforms. You will be responsible for creating and posting content, responding to customer comments and queries, and monitoring engagement data. Moreover, you need to be up-to-date with current trends to ensure your client’s products align with contemporary markets.

Marketing Coordinator

A marketing coordinator is in charge of content marketing strategy for all marketing channels. You will also lead the marketing team in the day-to-day activities of the marketing department. These activities include tracking product performance, monitoring customer engagement, or drafting performance reports for clients.

Digital Marketer Meaning: What Does a Digital Marketer Do?

As mentioned earlier, a digital marketer acts as a bridge between the company and its customers on all digital platforms. Digital marketers wear many hats and therefore need to have many different skills. Read below to learn more about the responsibilities that digital marketers have.

Conducts Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is one of the best ways to enhance a company’s website traffic. It involves marketing strategies that redirect user attention to your site. You will create and distribute content through link building, content marketing, and search engine optimization.

Tracks Social Media

As a digital marketer, you will manage one or more social media pages. Your role is to enhance the client’s social media presence by posting regular content and engaging with the customers. You will also gather analytics, conduct pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, and write performance reports.

Communicates with Customers

Digital marketers are in charge of developing and maintaining relationships between the company and customers while increasing brand awareness. Digital marketers need to ensure that all content being produced and published online is in line with the brand’s image.

Essential Digital Marketer Skills

Digital marketing can be applied to any industry, meaning professionals need a variety of unique skills. Almost all businesses in 2021 have a digital marketing presence, and there are many jobs out there that require different skills and tools. Most employers look for the following skills in all potential employees.

SEO and SEM

Search engine optimization and management skills help you bring traffic to your client’s website. Therefore, you must know how to research keywords, analyze performances, and keep up with the analytics. This is arguably the most important part of digital marketing because it helps clients or customers find your business or organization.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Social Media marketing

You should learn how pay-per-click marketing works and use marketing channels like Google Ads and sponsored posts. Understanding trends will help a brand’s social media stay relevant. You should be familiar with Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other relevant platforms to the industry.

Storytelling

Whether visual or written, your posts, blogs, and images must tell a story. You should have the ability to make ideas flow in a way that any reader can understand and that adheres to your company’s brand. Communication is a vital part of digital marketing.

How Long Does It Take to Become a Digital Marketer?

It takes anywhere between six months to four years to become a digital marketer. You have the freedom to pursue various learning paths, including community college, bootcamp, university, or online courses. Therefore, depending on your learning path, the time frame will differ.

Can a Coding Bootcamp Help Me Become a Digital Marketer?

Yes, coding bootcamps offer short-term digital marketing courses for beginners and experienced professionals. You can learn various digital marketing fundamentals, such as advertising, PPC marketing, content strategies, email marketing, SEO, and marketing budgets at one of the best digital marketing bootcamps in 2021.

Can I Become a Digital Marketer from Home?

Yes, thanks to modern technology, it is possible to become a digital marketer from home. You can register for an online course, pursue an online degree, or join an online coding bootcamp remotely. All you need is a reliable Internet connection and a working computer.

How to Become a Digital Marketer: A Step-by-Step Guide

Becoming a digital marketer involves a straightforward process of getting an education, gaining experience, and finding a job in the industry. Below is an overview of how to become a digital marketer in 2021.

Step 1: Get an Education

Like all other careers, it is essential to get an education before launching your career. You can join a digital marketing bootcamp or any other educational institution. If you can, take this time to find a specialty within the industry.

Step 2: Gain Experience

You can gain experience by finding an internship or an entry-level job. You will gain hands-on experience in the field and develop the skills to flourish as a digital marketer. You can also take the initiative to create a personal portfolio of mock marketing or social media campaigns.

Step 3: Find a Job

After you gain enough work experience, find a career in the industry. For example, you can work as an SEO specialist, digital marketing manager, or email marketing manager. There are many different specialties within this field, so find one that works for you and your career goals.

Best Schools and Education for a Digital Marketer Career

There are several learning paths for a digital marketer. Some are long-term, while others only take a few months to complete. Below are the best schools for anyone pursuing a digital marketing career.

Digital Marketing Bootcamps

Digital marketing boot camps are short-term programs with a curriculum that focuses on the fundamentals of the industry. Most boot camps provide career services like resume reviews and mock interviews, and many boot camps partner with companies to ensure you receive job placement upon graduation.

Vocational Schools

Vocational schools focus on the technical aspects of digital marketing. You will receive hands-on training on using analytics tools like Google Adwords, social media networks, affiliate marketing, and other digital marketing concepts.

Community College

You can pursue a two-year associate degree at a community college. The education path is not equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, but most associate degree holders are eligible for entry-level positions. You can also transfer your credits over to a bachelor’s degree if you want.

Digital Marketing Degrees

A bachelor’s degree is enough for you to launch a lucrative career in the industry. However, after the four-year degree program, you have the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree or even a PhD. You should research the best online degrees before you decide which one to pursue.

The Most Important Digital Marketing Certifications

Certifications are essential for any career path. You solidify your authenticity as a digital marketer and gain the upper hand when it comes to attracting clients. Below are three of the best professional certifications for digital marketers.

Google Ads Certification

This is a free certification program that tests your knowledge of Google Ads. You will explore basic and advanced knowledge before completing a Google Ads Fundamentals assessment. You can choose from a few different Google Ads certifications depending on your career goals and where you are in your journey.

Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certification

This program focuses on the fundamentals of inbound marketing. It is a free four-hour Hubspot Academy course that teaches you everything you need to know to become a digital marketer. If you want to learn inbound marketing techniques, this certification program is the perfect choice for you.

Copyblogger Certified Content Marketer

The Copyblogger program is one of the best content marketing certifications courses. It is self-paced coursework that costs $495 on Copyblogger. Once done, you become listed in the Certified Content Marketer directory and have a certification for your resume and LinkedIn profile.

How to Prepare for Your Digital Marketer Job Interview

A job interview is a significant part of the job search process. You should research the company, find out about their products, prepare your cover letter, and practice mock interviews more than once. Remember to stay positive and always exude confidence when responding to questions. Practicing questions is the best way to prepare for your job interview.

Digital Marketer Job Interview Practice Questions

  • Why do you want to pursue a digital marketing career?
  • Which digital marketing tools do you use?
  • How will you enhance our company’s online presence?
  • What strategies would you implement to raise awareness for our company?

Should I Become a Digital Marketer in 2021?

Yes, digital marketing is a fast-growing industry with many opportunities. You get to explore your creativity, work in a fun environment, and network with a diverse team. Furthermore, you can earn a lucrative salary with many opportunities to move up in the field. If you want to work with digital content, social media, and SEO, you should become a digital marketer.

Digital Marketer FAQ

Can You Become a Digital Marketer Without a Degree?

Yes, you can enrol in a digital marketing boot camp or pursue any digital marketing online course on massive open online course (MOOC) platforms.

Is It Hard to Become a Digital Marketer?

No. Digital marketing is a flexible field and accommodates people with little to no experience. However, you need to be motivated and ready to work hard.

Is Digital Marketing Worth It?

Yes, digital marketing is worth it. The industry has an impressive job growth rate of six percent, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, which guarantees job security. Even better, it can be an exciting career where no day is the same.

How Many Years Does It Take to Become a Digital Marketer?

A digital marketing career takes a few months to four years to start, depending on your learning path. You can attend a digital marketing boot camp for two to six months, a community college program for two years, or a university degree program for four years.

By Shalom Kamau

Sourced from Career Karma

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How To Become A Digital Marketer: What Is the Best Digital Marketing Career Path?

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By Shalom Kamau

The increase in social media and digital technologies has led digital marketing to become the most in-demand form of advertising. It is easier to reach a larger audience and have a higher return on investment (ROI) within a short period in the digital marketing field.

For this reason, more people are interested in becoming digital marketers. This guide covers all the necessary steps you need to launch a career in digital marketing as well as similar jobs you can pursue. Read on to discover more and learn how to become a digital marketer in 2021.

What Is a Digital Marketer?

In this guide, we look at learning to code. We show you the easiest languages to learn so you can start on the right foot. You’ll get to know which languages are the hardest to learn, as well. You can tackle these after getting a few of the easier ones down. It’ll be a madcap adventure, I’m sure, so let’s get started.

Some of these tools include social media, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and mobile marketing. It is essential to understand these powerful tools as you begin your career path to becoming a digital marketer.

Digital Marketer Job Description

In short, your primary role is to act as a bridge between a company and its customers. Digital marketers perform several duties, from creating and uploading content to strategizing ways of enhancing search engine rankings. You will be in charge of the client’s online platforms, such as the company website, Instagram page, or blog content.

You will plan and strategize ways to engage with customers and keep them interested in your client’s brand or product. You will also likely manage Google Analytics and other SEO tools, enhancing the company’s online presence through posting images, videos, and written content.

Digital Marketer Salary and Job Outlook

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates a six percent job growth for advertising and marketing jobs between 2019 and 2029, which is faster than average. The fast job growth can also be attributed to the lucrative annual salary. The BLS also reports that marketing management professionals earn $141,490 per year.

PayScale offers a more specific salary outlook. According to its official report, digital marketing specialists earn an average salary of $50,380. However, this can go up to $62,767 for experienced digital marketers. If you enter a digital marketing management position, your salary can double. This means you should enter the field as soon as possible.

Top Reasons to Become a Digital Marketer in 2021

Besides the job security and high salaries, there are many different reasons to become a digital marketer. This field is both fulfilling and full of variety. Below are more reasons why pursuing a digital marketing career in 2021 is worth it.

  • Job outlook. Digital marketers have a great projected job outlook for the rest of the decade. The six percent growth rate projected by BLS emphasizes job security in the industry for an extended period.
  • Flexibility. Apart from extensive job opportunities, you also have the freedom to work in any industry. Digital marketing professionals can work in retail, fashion, entertainment, education, technology, or sports.
  •  Lucrative salaries. The digital marketing industry pays its workers well. You can receive a median salary of $50,000 and above, depending on your skill level. In addition, most digital marketers have the freedom to work as freelancers, which is a great way to make extra income.
  • Creative outlet. If you’re a creative person, working as a digital marketer is a dream come true. There are always opportunities for you to think outside the box and develop ways to make a marketing campaign stand out.

Digital Marketer Job Requirements

Although penetrating the digital marketing industry isn’t as challenging, you still need to meet specific criteria as a digital marketer. Employers are open to employing individuals who meet the following requirements.

  • A bachelor’s degree. Employers look for candidates with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing or a related field. However, an Associate Degree in Marketing is still enough to get you a job as a digital marketer.
  • Digital marketing tools. You must be familiar with several digital marketing tools. Tools like social media, email marketing, and search engines play a significant role in the success of digital marketing campaigns. In addition, you need to understand how Google Ads works, perform numbers analysis, and keep up with the current trends.
  • Experience. On average, employers look for candidates who have worked for two or more years in the digital marketing industry. However, this doesn’t mean beginners are out of luck. You can launch your career by applying for entry-level digital marketing jobs to gain more experience.
  • Problem-solving skills. Like every other industry, problems and emergencies occur in digital marketing. Therefore, you need to be a fast thinker and always come up with suitable solutions for any problem.

Types of Digital Marketing Careers

As mentioned above, digital marketers can work in any industry. You can also branch into different career paths under digital marketing. Whether you want to become an SEO expert or a digital marketing manager, your roles contribute to the business’s success. Below are some of the most popular digital marketing careers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist

An SEO specialist ensures a website ranks highly on several search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. You will delve into keyword research to ensure each article aligns with current common search terms. Your primary role is to increase website traffic by making sure your website activity generates leads.

Social Media Manager

A social media manager oversees a client’s social media platforms. You will be responsible for creating and posting content, responding to customer comments and queries, and monitoring engagement data. Moreover, you need to be up-to-date with current trends to ensure your client’s products align with contemporary markets.

Marketing Coordinator

A marketing coordinator is in charge of content marketing strategy for all marketing channels. You will also lead the marketing team in the day-to-day activities of the marketing department. These activities include tracking product performance, monitoring customer engagement, or drafting performance reports for clients.

Digital Marketer Meaning: What Does a Digital Marketer Do?

As mentioned earlier, a digital marketer acts as a bridge between the company and its customers on all digital platforms. Digital marketers wear many hats and therefore need to have many different skills. Read below to learn more about the responsibilities that digital marketers have.

Conducts Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is one of the best ways to enhance a company’s website traffic. It involves marketing strategies that redirect user attention to your site. You will create and distribute content through link building, content marketing, and search engine optimization.

Tracks Social Media

As a digital marketer, you will manage one or more social media pages. Your role is to enhance the client’s social media presence by posting regular content and engaging with the customers. You will also gather analytics, conduct pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, and write performance reports.

Communicates with Customers

Digital marketers are in charge of developing and maintaining relationships between the company and customers while increasing brand awareness. Digital marketers need to ensure that all content being produced and published online is in line with the brand’s image.

Essential Digital Marketer Skills

Digital marketing can be applied to any industry, meaning professionals need a variety of unique skills. Almost all businesses in 2021 have a digital marketing presence, and there are many jobs out there that require different skills and tools. Most employers look for the following skills in all potential employees.

SEO and SEM

Search engine optimization and management skills help you bring traffic to your client’s website. Therefore, you must know how to research keywords, analyse performances, and keep up with the analytics. This is arguably the most important part of digital marketing because it helps clients or customers find your business or organization.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Social Media marketing

You should learn how pay-per-click marketing works and use marketing channels like Google Ads and sponsored posts. Understanding trends will help a brand’s social media stay relevant. You should be familiar with Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other relevant platforms to the industry.

Storytelling

Whether visual or written, your posts, blogs, and images must tell a story. You should have the ability to make ideas flow in a way that any reader can understand and that adheres to your company’s brand. Communication is a vital part of digital marketing.

How Long Does It Take to Become a Digital Marketer?

It takes anywhere between six months to four years to become a digital marketer. You have the freedom to pursue various learning paths, including community college, bootcamp, university, or online courses. Therefore, depending on your learning path, the time frame will differ.

Can a Coding Bootcamp Help Me Become a Digital Marketer?

Yes, coding bootcamps offer short-term digital marketing courses for beginners and experienced professionals. You can learn various digital marketing fundamentals, such as advertising, PPC marketing, content strategies, email marketing, SEO, and marketing budgets at one of the best digital marketing bootcamps in 2021.

Can I Become a Digital Marketer from Home?

Yes, thanks to modern technology, it is possible to become a digital marketer from home. You can register for an online course, pursue an online degree, or join an online coding bootcamp remotely. All you need is a reliable Internet connection and a working computer.

How to Become a Digital Marketer: A Step-by-Step Guide

Becoming a digital marketer involves a straightforward process of getting an education, gaining experience, and finding a job in the industry. Below is an overview of how to become a digital marketer in 2021.

Step 1: Get an Education

Like all other careers, it is essential to get an education before launching your career. You can join a digital marketing boot camp or any other educational institution. If you can, take this time to find a specialty within the industry.

Step 2: Gain Experience

You can gain experience by finding an internship or an entry-level job. You will gain hands-on experience in the field and develop the skills to flourish as a digital marketer. You can also take the initiative to create a personal portfolio of mock marketing or social media campaigns.

Step 3: Find a Job

After you gain enough work experience, find a career in the industry. For example, you can work as an SEO specialist, digital marketing manager, or email marketing manager. There are many different specialties within this field, so find one that works for you and your career goals.

Best Schools and Education for a Digital Marketer Career

There are several learning paths for a digital marketer. Some are long-term, while others only take a few months to complete. Below are the best schools for anyone pursuing a digital marketing career.

Digital Marketing Bootcamps

Digital marketing boot camps are short-term programs with a curriculum that focuses on the fundamentals of the industry. Most boot camps provide career services like resume reviews and mock interviews, and many boot camps partner with companies to ensure you receive job placement upon graduation.

Vocational Schools

Vocational schools focus on the technical aspects of digital marketing. You will receive hands-on training on using analytics tools like Google Adwords, social media networks, affiliate marketing, and other digital marketing concepts.

Community College

You can pursue a two-year associate degree at a community college. The education path is not equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, but most associate degree holders are eligible for entry-level positions. You can also transfer your credits over to a bachelor’s degree if you want.

Digital Marketing Degrees

A bachelor’s degree is enough for you to launch a lucrative career in the industry. However, after the four-year degree program, you have the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree or even a PhD. You should research the best online degrees before you decide which one to pursue.

The Most Important Digital Marketing Certifications

Certifications are essential for any career path. You solidify your authenticity as a digital marketer and gain the upper hand when it comes to attracting clients. Below are three of the best professional certifications for digital marketers.

Google Ads Certification

This is a free certification program that tests your knowledge of Google Ads. You will explore basic and advanced knowledge before completing a Google Ads Fundamentals assessment. You can choose from a few different Google Ads certifications depending on your career goals and where you are in your journey.

Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certification

This program focuses on the fundamentals of inbound marketing. It is a free four-hour Hubspot Academy course that teaches you everything you need to know to become a digital marketer. If you want to learn inbound marketing techniques, this certification program is the perfect choice for you.

Copyblogger Certified Content Marketer

The Copyblogger program is one of the best content marketing certifications courses. It is self-paced coursework that costs $495 on Copyblogger. Once done, you become listed in the Certified Content Marketer directory and have a certification for your resume and LinkedIn profile.

How to Prepare for Your Digital Marketer Job Interview

A job interview is a significant part of the job search process. You should research the company, find out about their products, prepare your cover letter, and practice mock interviews more than once. Remember to stay positive and always exude confidence when responding to questions. Practicing questions is the best way to prepare for your job interview.

Digital Marketer Job Interview Practice Questions

  • Why do you want to pursue a digital marketing career?
  • Which digital marketing tools do you use?
  • How will you enhance our company’s online presence?
  • What strategies would you implement to raise awareness for our company?

Should I Become a Digital Marketer in 2021?

Yes, digital marketing is a fast-growing industry with many opportunities. You get to explore your creativity, work in a fun environment, and network with a diverse team. Furthermore, you can earn a lucrative salary with many opportunities to move up in the field. If you want to work with digital content, social media, and SEO, you should become a digital marketer.

Digital Marketer FAQ

Can You Become a Digital Marketer Without a Degree?

Yes, you can enrol in a digital marketing boot camp or pursue any digital marketing online course on massive open online course (MOOC) platforms.

Is It Hard to Become a Digital Marketer?

No. Digital marketing is a flexible field and accommodates people with little to no experience. However, you need to be motivated and ready to work hard.

Is Digital Marketing Worth It?

Yes, digital marketing is worth it. The industry has an impressive job growth rate of six percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which guarantees job security. Even better, it can be an exciting career where no day is the same.

How Many Years Does It Take to Become a Digital Marketer?

A digital marketing career takes a few months to four years to start, depending on your learning path. You can attend a digital marketing boot camp for two to six months, a community college program for two years, or a university degree program for four years.

By Shalom Kamau

Sourced from Career Karma

 

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5 Ways a Digital Marketer Can Supercharge Your Online Outreach

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By Kay VanAntwerpen

You need time, a coherent and precise strategy, and the core expertise to optimize your digital presence.

In today’s world where people are glued to their devices for work and for play, the most important advertising delivery platforms are internet-connected devices. According to the PEW research center, 28 percent of American adults are on the internet “almost constantly,” while 45 percent report using it “several times a day”—meaning that 81 percent of Americans use the internet a whole lot every day.

If your business hasn’t established its digital presence, you can be almost certain that your competitors will reach your customers first. Eighty-one percent of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase. That’s not the only reason you need a digital presence, though. Digital marketing is about more than just existing on the internet. Instead, you can utilize the web to become a powerhouse of sales generation, customer loyalty, and brand recognition.

It’s not difficult to optimize your digital presence, but you do need time, a coherent and precise strategy, and the core expertise—digital marketing isn’t just a skill you can pick up on the fly.

Hiring a full digital marketing department is often unreasonable, especially for small businesses. The average salary for a digital marketing manager alone is $69,755. That’s why many companies turn to small agencies such as Assemble, The MOM Project, and TopTal which we’ve touched on in a previous article.

Below, we’ll look at five ways a digital marketer can help superchare your business.

1. Precision email marketing sales funnels.

Almost 294 billion emails are sent and received daily, but email campaigns are somewhat unique. When done correctly, your readers will hang on every word and look forward to your correspondence like an old pen pal. When done poorly, your emails will get dumped in the trash before they’re even opened, often doing nothing more than annoying your potential customer.

An email campaign done right not only grabs attention but builds a tangible relationship with your potential customer by providing interesting and valuable content, exclusive deals, and more—eventually converting your readers to customers.

When handling your email, a good digital marketer will:

  • Curate and purge email lists, removing inactive email addresses.
  • Draft engaging email campaigns that increase brand awareness and build consumer trust.
  • Develop alternate email campaigns for specific lead varieties.
  • Design email layouts to match your brand aesthetic and messaging.
  • Develop leads through email communications with potential clients.

2. High digital visibility. 

As we mentioned earlier, most customers perform some kind of online research before making a purchase. If you’re hitting your visibility goals, you’ll be the first name to pop up when a customer conducts product research. If you’re not doing anything, your competition will show up first.

To be visible on the web, you’ll need an artful social media presence, precision SEO (search engine optimization), and perfect mobile responsivity on all of your digital platforms. A good digital marketer knows how to work where all of these factors intersect. They’ll assure you’re the first name to crop up when a customer searches for products or services in your field. They’ll also make sure your name appears with reputable sources, and that your reputation speaks for itself.

3. Data-driven analytics.

Sure, you may be getting lots of likes on your Facebook posts, and your blog may get a few shares here and there, but these are just “vanity metrics” —ultimately, it can be difficult to tell whether or not you’re getting any tangible return on your investment.

Fortunately, digital marketers don’t treat their field like some nebulous art form that can only be qualified in the abstract (that stuff is for painters and musicians). Instead, they work in the field of tangible statistics and data analytics. A good digital marketer will not only track your numbers but will also ensure they improve over time. Some of the statistics you should see are:

  • Organic, direct, referral, social, and paid traffic
  • Click-through rates (CTR)
  • Macro and micro conversions
  • Consumer engagement
  • Site speed

4. The power of customer engagement and reputation management.

Social media is one of the most fundamental ways the internet revitalized the marketing game. Your customer base can communicate with you at the click of a button. Major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are necessities. You can’t simply just exist on these sites—you have to actively use them to engage your clientele. A heavy stream of social media traffic doesn’t mean anything if you’re not able to convert those visitors into customers.

A skilled digital marketer will do more than keep your posts fresh. They’ll personally engage with your audience, listen to their wants and needs, and respond in a way that not only leaves the customer happy but also curates a positive reputation for your business.

Which brings us to one of the most overlooked elements of social media: reputation management. In the digital era, news of a negative customer experience travels nearly instantaneously. Take into account review sites such as Yelp and Yahoo Reviews, and it may seem like a single bad day can become a permanent black spot on your digital reputation.

Not so with a skilled digital marketer. While monitoring customer feedback and conversation, your marketer will speak directly with disgruntled customers and help solve their problems quickly and resolutely.

5. Valuable and beneficial content.

Content creation is the crème de la crème of digital marketing. It brings in three times the leads of traditional marketing formats at 62 percent of the cost. Content creation brings your audience to you.

It’s easy to create content the wrong way, though. Too many businesses fall into the prototypical “advertisement trap” where each piece of content they publish feels like a blatant call for business while providing no valuable information or entertainment to the consumer. Returning viewers, this does not create.

When you ask what kind of content your company needs, you should think of the content you would like to consume. Good web content is ideally entertaining, but above all else, it should be useful. 

This is where a digital marketer can be most useful. They’ll help you create content that postures you as an expert and a thought leader in your industry. This content can come in all shapes and sizes, including:

  • Blogs and articles
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Guest articles
  • Webinars
  • Apps
  • Digital contests

As you may have pieced together, content creation is an art form. This is another reason to have a professional handle the labor—poorly created content will turn a customer away quicker than rotten bananas.

Feature Image Credit: Nipitphon Na Chiangmai | EyeEm | Getty Images

By Kay VanAntwerpen,

This article was written by Kay VanAntwerpen, an Entrepreneur NEXT powered by Assemble expert. If you are looking to take the NEXT step in your business then we encourage you to check out Entrepreneur NEXT powered by Assemble.

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

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What search and social ad teams can teach each other

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By Adam Edwards

While I’ve considered myself a digital marketer for a long time, there was a point in my career where I was a search marketer. When our agency launched social ad management, there was a huge learning curve for everyone, including me, because the formula for success was so different on social than search.

As we built services around multichannel advertising, one challenge was the meshing of these disciplines. With the help of a great team, we’ve mostly moved past that challenge. And what we’ve found is that the more each group understands the other, not only do they become happier, but also they drive better results in their own area of expertise.

Whether you’re working in-house or with an agency, when your teams understand their counterparts’ approaches, you can see better collaboration, redundancy and overall marketing performance. Here are some of the top lessons search folks can learn from social and vice versa.

What Search Talent Can Learn From Social

1. The impact of creative on performance

Well-written ad copy improves search ads, but its impact is often marginal. On social, creative is arguably the biggest determinant of success. Social ad messaging has to work harder to get someone to engage in that environment and also needs to be reconsidered much more routinely than search to be effective. When a search marketer feels like they’re out of ideas for ad messaging, it’s a virtual lock that their social ad friends can help.

2. How to set up automation for success

This has changed a ton recently, but search marketers are historically skeptical of automation. Smart money was on bidding manually (after years of missteps with Google auto-bidding) and traditional A/B testing for ads. Social platforms have almost always seen automated bidding outperform manual bids. Paid social managers know to be patient with automation, how to feed it the right amount of data and how to talk through the learning phase to stakeholders.

3. How to market without knowing intent

Granularity is so important with search. Blue shoes and red shoes merit complete separation so that you can match ads and destinations. That doesn’t exist on social. Social ad managers are often targeting audience profiles and not keywords, so they don’t know whether the person is going to want blue or red shoes. As search moves more toward audience-based targeting, search managers would be wise to learn from their social ad colleagues how to best appeal to an audience through aspirational creative.

4. Attribution discrepancies

Facebook tracks users across browsers and devices more effectively than Google or Microsoft Advertising, but many tracking platforms will favor search, simply because it tends to drive more “last-click” leads and sales. Social ad campaigns deliver more value from ad views, after which users are much more likely to visit in a new tab, on a later web session or on another device.

Search is about instant gratification — the user clicks, and they either convert or they do not. That typically leaves search marketers less equipped than social marketers in understanding and explaining attribution differences and why, just because there isn’t a purchase or conversion right off of an ad click, that doesn’t mean it’s ineffective.

What Social Talent Can Learn From Search

1. With setting bids, there’s more than meets the eye

So much of search has to do with setting bids and adjusting them over time. Search marketers are always revisiting bids and searching for new opportunities to find new pockets of opportunity to bid differently. Social marketers tend to take an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. Social marketers should test out bid values and methods more frequently to determine where an ad is showing, how often it’s showing and what results it’s driving.

2. The possibilities available in limited options

Search has so many different ways in which you can improve (or screw up) performance. Control drives managers toward many thousands of segments in a developed search account, each with its own frequent adjustments. Because social advertising has fewer levers, that sometimes leads to fewer attempts to change them. Armed with the basics of social advertising, it’s amazing what opportunities a search manager might uncover when let loose on social strategy.

3. Launching the ads is just the beginning

Preparation and launch are key to social ad results. Choosing the correct campaign objective, researching audience segments, building the right creative and picking the right bid strategy are all essential. And once one launch is complete, often it’s right into prepping the next. If it has a tough first week, it’s harder to come back.

With paid search, the launch is the tip of the iceberg. The first week is really a lump of clay that will be molded over time with optimizations. Taking a moment to see if you can get more of the best performance from successful social launch, or to examine what is salvageable from a failed launch, can deliver huge results in the present and learnings for the future.

4. Performance needs to put up or shut up

When paid search is called a performance marketing channel, it really means a performance marketing channel. If the return on ad spend or lead cost doesn’t justify the budget, that budget will get cut. So, search managers have a very high sense of urgency about performance, and it drives what they communicate about and choose to optimize.

Because social ad managers are often operating at arm’s length from that type of scrutiny when promoting a new product line, creating awareness — or starting a conversation — and building a (healthy) urgency around proving return would serve them well.

Too often, our marketing teams can become siloed and territorial, which has an impact on everything from camaraderie to marketing performance. Taking time to integrate each team’s perspectives can not only unlock better performance and team communication, but also create a better workplace for your team and better marketing for your brand.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY 

By Adam Edwards

As founder/chief client officer of Metric Theory, Adam is responsible for 100+ paid search and Facebook ad professionals and 200+ clients.

View all articles by this author

Sourced from AdAge

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4 Steps To Build Your Career As A Freelance Digital Marketer

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By Abdullahi Muhammed

Digital marketing is one of the top paying remote work niches right now. The compensation will likely remain high as companies keep ramping up their digital marketing spending. This year worldwide digital ad spending is expected to rise by 17.6% to $333.25 billion and reach an astonishing $517.51 billion by 2023. A fair share of those budgets will go into hiring top digital marketers, both in-house and on an ad hoc, freelance basis.

So how do you become one of the top digital marketers for hire? Below are several helpful steps that should help you steer your career in the right direction.

1. Give your mindset a quick check

As an employee, you are probably used to getting things done as per your boss’s requests. Typically, you are given a general direction for a project and you move on from there. As a freelancer, you will often need to become more proactive and actively take initiative yourself. Some clients will come to you with a solid action plan in mind. Others, on the contrary, may seek your expertise to help them devise a successful digital marketing strategy from scratch, or suggest what’s the best growth strategy for their business. You’ll have to jump into new situations all the time – deal with the potential mess left over by the past manager, research and test new tactics, suggest experiments and persuade the client why your advice will work better than what they originally had in mind.

This also means that you’ll need to work on your self-confidence and assertiveness to some extent. Imposter syndrome will be your close companion in the early stages, so make sure that you are not caving to it. You will have to always keep in mind that your success is not defined by what others are saying or some other outside factors. It’s directly attributed to your internal competency. Hence, focus on great execution, not reaching some mythical perfection.

2. Choose the right direction 

Digital marketing is a broad niche, encompassing loads of sub-disciplines – search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing (SMM), conversion rate optimization (CRO), content marketing, email marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) and so on. Perhaps, you’ve already worn several hats during your in-office tenure and juggled several things at once.

But as a freelance “gun for hire,” it’s best if you pick one core specialty and stick to it. This way you can avoid spreading yourself too thin on surface-level tasks in multiple practice areas and develop real mastery in one core area. So rather than being a generalist social media influencer, be an Instagram personality for high end clothing brands, for instance.

“Being a specialist rather than a generalist will allow you to build your personal brand and authority faster, attract a better cohort of clients and command higher rates,” said Dani Owens, CEO of Pigzilla. “Folks who grow to become t-shaped marketers with general knowledge in a broad array of skills and deep knowledge in a few or even a single one command much higher rates and deliver more bang for the client’s buck.”

3. Set up your website and publish a “signature offer” 

Having a portfolio or personal website for digital marketers is non-optional. After all, how you can sell your marketing expertise without actually showing what you can do? So invest in a quick website early on, gather some testimonials and feedback from your past employers or colleagues and set up your social media presence.  This way you’ll have several avenues for attracting leads and a quick reference board for prospects who are considering you against others.

Here’s one other savvy trick you can do: create and publish a “signature offer” on your website – a value-packed, yet easy-to-do service that you can pitch to potential customers. For instance, it could be something as simple as “Discounted 2-hour SEO audit for $150. Available to new clients only.” Your goal is to brainstorm some important, but non-critical task a client can feel comfortable with entrusting to a stranger on the other side of the screen.

Ultimately, such an offer can become your foot in the door and help you start a relationship with a new client and grow it from there.

4. Network a lot 

Securing those first few gigs will be the toughest. So get proactive early on and start putting your name out there before you leave your day job. More specifically, you should:

  • Join and participate in niche marketing communities. The popular ones among the marketing crowd are Growth.org (former Inbound.org) and Moz.
  • Later, send out quick LOIs (letter of introduction) to the people you’ve engaged with online. Explain what you are doing and ask if you can be of any help to their company.
  • You can also reach out to your past colleagues and friends, asking them to make some intros or provide referrals within their organization.
  • Finally, don’t discard offline networking. Mingle with the crowd at your local co-working space and attend workshops and local business events that may help you connect with new prospects.

Most importantly, use all your digital marketing expertise towards promoting yourself (just as you did with your clients’ businesses) and building a buzz around your name.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Abdullahi Muhammed

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

I am a writer, entrepreneur and the proud founder and CEO of Oxygenmat. I graduated summa cum laude from University of Ilorin with a degree in Law, winning the award of the Best Graduating Student in the Faculty of Law. I started writing in 2009 and honed my skills by entering over 100 writing contests, winning 11 of them. I got into freelance writing and grew the business pretty fast, to the point when I had more work than I could handle alone, and started my company, Oxygenmat. Today, I help people succeed at freelancing and content marketing, and I have been featured on World Economic Forum, Entrepreneur, Inc., The Huffington Post, Search Engine Watch, The Next Web, Engadget, among others.

Sourced from Forbes

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The Top MarTech Tools Every Digital Marketer Needs to Know

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By  Bob Van Rossum 

In today’s marketing world, the rise of marketing technology (martech) doesn’t just impact the way organizations adjust their marketing operations, but the way recruiters and employers recruit for top talent.

The growth of technology drives the need for digital marketing talent who can move quickly, learn new skills, and implement powerful martech tools and solutions. As marketing technology recruiters, we place those with specialized knowledge in martech at the top of the digital marketing talent pool. The digital marketers who are capable of evolving and adding new skills to their marketing stack are successful in keeping ahead in a competitive job market.

The shift of technology in marketing drives employers to re-evaluate the key skill sets and qualities they look for in today’s talent to push their efforts forward in a fast-paced environment. As digital marketing recruiters, we have a firsthand perspective on marketing trends and what businesses are looking for in their new marketing hires.

The birth of new roles like the marketing technologist or VP of MarTech is a testament to the impact technology has on the marketing landscape. Today’s marketers must continue to develop skills to stay forward in the industry and become familiar with emerging marketing technology tools across multiple disciplines to remain competitive.

Looking for a way to stand apart from (and above) competition for a hot digital marketing job? Whether you’re pursuing a career as a marketing technologist or any other area that falls under the digital marketing umbrella, consider adding some of these martech tools to your pedigree to demonstrate your technical expertise.

Content Marketing

  • BuzzSumo: A great tool for research. It is good for analyzing the type of content that performs best for any topic or competitor, and the influencers amplifying it.
  • Medium: An online publishing platform and community of bloggers and writers. The platform helps marketers find their target audience and increases traffic to their site, and makes it easy to publish blog posts, stories, and articles.
  • Trello: This tool helps keep track of projects and organize content. Including features like an idea board and content calendar, it makes collaboration between team members simple and easier.
  • Grammarly: This tool is great for checking the grammar and spelling of content.
  • Keywordtool.io: This is a keyword research tool that makes it easy to discover keywords for content.

Marketing Automation

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  • Marketo: This tool integrates key tasks including email, content, automation, and social media. Marketers can use this to measure performance of campaigns, and identify prospects based on demographic and behavioral criteria.
  • HubSpot: An inbound marketing and sales system that helps create personalized landing pages, pages, and emails to attract vistors, convert leads, and close customers. The platform has a lot of other features, including a completely free CRM.
  • Pardot: A lead management tool that helps marketers and salespeople move prospects through the sales funnel. It helps create automated, targeted messaging, and personalized marketing experience.
  • Customer.io: A tool that allows digital marketers to build, test, and send messages all from one platform. It helps craft ideal customer interactions for clients.
  • Oracle Eloqua: A tool that enables marketers to plan and execute personalized marketing automation campaigns.

Attribution

  • Improvado.io: An automated marketing data pipeline that allows marketers to manage all of the moving parts of data management.
  • Bizible: An integrated marketing analytics platform to help digital marketers optimize campaigns by unifying behavioral and ad data with sales outcomes and machine learning.
  • BrightFunnel: A full-funnel reporting suite that helps marketers optimize the entire customer journey from lead acquisition to close.
  • Engagio ABM Analytics: A tools that helps B2B marketers create and measure engagement in one tool, drive success, and measure impact.
  • LeadsRx: A solution designed to give marketers new analytic insights into which advertising campaigns result in conversions.

Social Media Marketing

  • Hootsuite: A tool for managing social media posts and automating content to be posted on social networks. This tool is great for making the time marketers spend on social media more efficient.
  • Buffer: A tool that helps manage all of your social media platforms. It automatically posts your content for whenever you schedule it, and allows you to gauge their performance.
  • Followerwonk: A Twitter analytics tool that helps social media marketers find, analyze, and optimize for social growth.
  • Sprout Social: A social media management tool that’s designed to help marketers and businesses grow their social media presence.
  • SocialFlow: A social media optimization platform that uses real-time data and business rules to determine what and when to publish social media content.

Video Marketing

Pexels

  • Viewbix: A powerful tool that improves video advertising performance by adding interactive apps to video that drives engagements with calls to action.
  • Rocketium: This tool can be used to quick create short videos for social media using text, images, video footage, and voiceovers.
  • Adobe After Effects CC is great for digital visual effects, video compositing, motion graphics design, and animation.
  • Magisto: A video editing tool that helps video marketers turn photos and video clips into video stories.

Customer Relationship Management:

  • Salesforce: Offers cloud-based platforms that help create deeper relationships with customers. Most certainly, Salesforce is the leader in the CRM market.
  • InfusionSoft: A tool that helps automate small business sales and marketing by combining CRM, email marketing, lead capture, and e-commerce all in one place.
  • ActiveCampaign: This platform combines email marketing, marketing automation, and small business CRM.
  • Insightly: This CRM solution makes it easier to manage deep customer relationships and includes some project management-style capabilities to help marketers keep things organized.
  • HubSpot: The CRM tool under HubSpot is free even if you don’t have the rest of the platform. It allows marketers to organize, track, and nurture leads and customers.

Account-Based Marketing

  • DemandBase: This tool offers optimized targeting and personalized solutions to help marketers better identify, target, and close deals with key accounts.
  • Terminus: This platform enables B2B marketers drive demand and accelerates your pipeline with account-based advertising.

Email Marketing

  • MailChimp: This software provides email marketing automation for businesses that allows marketers to send emails, advertise, and build brands.
  • GetResponse: A platform that enables you to create a valuable marketing list of prospects, partners, and clients to develop relationships with them and build a profitable customer base. It also includes survey features.
  • Followup.cc: A solution that keeps track of conversations and tasks, and sets reminders for them. Its Open Tracking tool notifies you when your email has been opened by recipients.
  • AWeber: A tool that helps email marketers keep in touch with subscribers, while upholding email marketing best practices.
  • FollowUpThen: This tool makes it simple to schedule all of your email reminders and helps you remember to follow up on tasks.

SEO/SEM

  • SEMrush: This tool helps marketers identify profitable keywords to help marketers optimize their content and sites.
  • Moz: Moz provides tools that makes it easier to drive SEO, inbound marketing, link building, and content marketing.
  • BrightLocal: A reporting platform that provides accurate local SEO data for reporting and citation purposes.
  • Ahrefs: A toolset for backlinks and SEO analysis. It carries the largest base of live links, huge index and the best speed of index updates.
  • BrightEdge: This tool is powered by AI solutions to help marketers discover the true search demand of visitors, and create engaging content to drive conversion.

Data and Analytics

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  • Google Analytics and Google Analytics 360: Google Analytics is a tool to gauge which content users are engaging with, and to evaluate the performance of your marketing efforts. Google Analytics 360 provides in-depth insights of the customer journey.
  • Kissmetrics: An analytics tool that provides information to help you identify, understand, and improve key metrics.
  • Optimizely: An experimentation platform that enables marketers to deliver personalization and experiments across websites, mobile apps, and connected devices.
  • Adobe Analytics: This solution allows you to better understand your customers as people by enabling you to discover valuable customer segments and key insights.
  • Funnel.io: This tool helps marketers work more efficiently by automating marketing data collection and allows them to feed the data anywhere they want.

User Experience and Customer Behavior

Pexels

  • Sprinklr: A unified platform for customer experience management. It helps marketers navigate through digital transformation across marketing, advertising, research, and commerce and care.
  • Crazy Egg: Crazy Egg’s heat map and scroll map provides reports to help you understand how visitors engage with your site to boost conversion rates.
  • Hotjar: This tool provides marketers with analysis and feedback tools to understand the online behavior and voice of their users to improve the user experience and conversion rates.
  • Usabilla: Usabilla puts your users at the center of digital strategy and collects qualitative and quantitative insights to help you optimize the UX.
  • Woopra: An analytics tool that gives insights on each individual or segment to help marketers analyze, optimize, and engage through every touchpoint in the customer experience.

Local Marketing

  • Moz Local: A platform that creates and maintains your company’s business listing with Moz’s partner sites, mobile apps, and directories that factor into local search engine results.
  • Brandify: This platform provides location-based digital marketing solutions to help marketers connect marketers with their consumers.
  • MomentFeed: This software helps manage the mobile customer experience for multi-location brands.
  • Vendasta: Vendasta helps marketers and brands achieve revenue growth with scalable marketing solutions for local businesses and marketers.
  • Placeable: Ignite’s Placeable solutions helps drive online and offline revenue through location data management, local marketing, and digital advertising.

Chatbots

  • ManyChat: A tool that can be used to create a Facebook Messenger bot in two minutes without any coding.
  • Chatfuel: Another tool that allows you to create an AI chatbot on Facebook without coding. Its bots serve up news, allows users to narrow down on topics and ask questions about items or people in the news.
  • Chattypeople: This platform enables you to create, test, deploy, measure and manage your bots on Facebook, without any coding.
  • Botsify: This tool allows technical marketers to integrate their API with bots to make them is even more effective. Again, no coding required to build a bot with this platform.
  • MEOKAY: This platform allows you to build chatbots to talk to your audience, monetize opportunities, and grow your audience.

Closing Words

Emerging marketing tools are dominating the marketing space and it’s important for marketers to keep up with the evolving technological landscape.

Marketers today must rise to meet the growing demands of the industry and present their credentials to employers in an attractive way. If you’re looking to set yourself apart in a crowded talent pool, get yourself acquainted with these technologies. Put yourself in the best possible position to succeed – don’t let the speed of digital outpace your ability to adapt, expand your skills, and ultimately grow your career.

By  Bob Van Rossum 

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Read more at https://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/top-martech-tools-every-digital-marketer-needs-know-02042641

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