10 Tips to Kick-Start Your Digital Marketing Career

Viable digital marketing career is a lot of hard work and smart networking. As much as you can learn theoretically, the practicality of the subject is where you can begin to seed a career of immense success and fruitfulness.  The field is a blossoming one will grow even as you enter and establish your name here. Meaning, learning must be a constant process that is both evolving and on-going. On the up-side, you may reach a managerial role quite early on, if you prove to be successful as a beginner. Thus, what you will need to kick-start a digital marketing career, are a series of skill-based practices.

1. Learn as much as you can

An extensive domain such as digital marketing requires constant learning and reinventing.  With following everything that is happening, you must also identify an area of interest and master it to your best capacity.

2. Network and build a community

The heart and soul of this career will be good networking. Stay active on social media and try to connect with as many relevant people as you can. Also try to be a part of webinars, offline events, Twitter chats, etc., and understand how others work in the field. Such events also offers great opportunity to meet with potential employers.

3. Communicate and see different perspectives

It is very important to always participate, communicate and build opinions on the current trends in the digital marketing space. Try to voice them out time to time and see how the others react to it. Blogging is a great start. Here, you can both talk of your own achievements and also talk of what is new. For example, Klout score is considered as the best measure of your online influence. A Klout score that is higher than 60 is often a testament to good online networking skills.

4. Gain certifications/subscriptions

Try to pick up courses in the field you enjoy and gain a valid certification for employers to notice you. This will go a long way.Subscribe to newsletters and regular updates from big names of the industry. Reading it up will come in handy.

5. Begin to appreciate numbers and analyse

Digital data analytics and big data market is a flourishing industry. Also, marketing is rendered obsolete if you cannot substantiate with the numbers to indicate performance. Thus, analytics is of great importance here. With a flair for research, logic and reasoning, you can be of great success.

6. Dive straight in and gain exposure

Freelance projects, internships, contests, competitions and certifications – they will all give you great deal of respect and recognition in the field when you successfully furnish and showcase them in your professional network.

7. Do your own case studies

Understand how brands function in terms of gaining both organic and paid market on the digital sphere. Analyse their social media presence. Try to unearth their strategies, the pros and cons, etc. This insight will help you master the artof branding and help you set-up your organization’s respective efforts.

8. Gain hands-on software knowledgeTry to master the common applications you will need in your daily life. Learn beyond the basics and master the short cuts. Try to be a pro before your boss hands over those big data sheets or a PowerPoint to work on.
9. Invest to build good relationships

Waiting for the premier organizations to post job openings of your interest is a not a very wise thing to do. Work on building a deeper connection by following and engaging with a host of significant institutions irrespective of their size and look for any opportunity that you can strike, relevant and useful conversations with.

10. Do not give up until you are successful

Despite your best efforts, results may not reflect at times. Especially, in a new field such as this were conventions and norms are just being set. Try to take rejection in your stride and interact with seniors. Do not get negative. Always find ways to reinvent yourselves and put your best foot forward.

You are about to make a very significant and fruitful career choice with digital marketing. Begin on a positive note and always have a thirst for knowledge. You will reap very good fruits and will always cherish the memories of your earlier days. Once you do get your first big break, remember to mentor juniors and extend your wisdom to young learners too.