How To Start A Career in Digital Marketing
Hey,
Surojit here.
Today’s newsletter is about building a career in Digital Marketing
I will share with you my story of how I started my career into management research and then switched into Digital Marketing, what worked for me, and an action plan for you to get started. I have divided this newsletter into 3 parts
Part 1 - My Story
Part 2 - What worked for me
Part 3 - Action plan to start a career in digital marketing
Read Time : 5 minutes.
Quick Note : New Batch (Batch 14) of the 28 Days Digital Marketing Workshop starts on April 30th, 2023. Click Here To Book Your Seat.
Part 01 - My Story
I started my career in 2014 in Management research.
I was just out of college, and I was exploring the options I had. When I saw an opportunity where I had to only read and write, I didn’t want to let it go as I always wanted to become a writer.
In 3 years I wrote 27+ business case studies and won the OIKOS International Case Study writing competition in Switzerland.
I built storytelling and writing skills and I started leveraging it to get freelance clients.
I used to work on weekends and after office hours to meet the expectations of my clients.
I changed my jobs a couple of times in the next 4 years and worked for startups focussed on content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, website development, SEO and Paid Advertising.
As they were all startups they were happy to give me more responsibilities when I asked for it and I got the experience I needed.
It was not easy.
I made a lot of mistakes, reached out to a lot of people for help, and learned the hard way.
In 2019 I quit my job to focus fully on freelancing and started training people interested in learning Digital Marketing in a practical way from my experience.
In 2022 I started a Zoringa - A Content Marketing Agency focussed on delivering SEO focussed content to clients helping them increase organic website traffic. Right now a team of 30+ people working 100% remotely.
All of this sounds like a good story and I can connect the dots now.
But when I started I had no clear vision of what was going to happen in the future and I used to feel lost quite often.
Part - 02 - What Worked ?
I focussed on building basic skills early in my career
Content Writing, Storytelling, copywriting
Graphic designing, CANVA, Adobe Illustrator
Website Creation on WordPress
I used my skills to build an online presence on LinkedIn and my website Growthdish by writing thought leadership content.
Once I built a platform for myself I used it to learn more complicated skills like SEO, Keyword Research, SEO Tools, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Social Media Tools, etc.
I climbed the ladder step by step and learnt everything by doing it myself practically.
I did sign up for a couple of Digital Marketing Courses but realised they taught only theory which was not useful beyond a point.
What worked for me?
I was patient and gave it time
I focussed on learning the basic first even though it was tough
I learn it practically by doing it myself.
I reached out to a lot of people for help and got insights
I leveraged my skills to build a personal brand with storytelling
Part - 03 - Action Plan
I had to start a career in Digital Marketing today from scratch in a step by step fashion
Complete free certifications from Google and HubSpot
Read popular blogs in digital marketing - Backlinko, MOZ, Search Engine Journal
Learn designing - Free Beginners course from CANVA Website
Improve your writing skills - Read Better Business Writing, HBR & Borron Letters
Understand advertising- Read Ogilvy on Advertising.
Learn website creation on WordPress from YouTube Channel - WebInsights
Create a website. Buy a domain and hosting from Hostinger for 1 month (Invest Rs.1k)
Create a Google Analytics account and watch YouTube videos to self-learn (Loves DATA)
Create a landing page on your website offering a service.
Learn how to design website pages on Elementor - YouTube Channel - Care of Web
Learn Google Ads from YouTube channel – Surfside PPC.
Create your own Campaign, invest Rs. 1000 and make it live.
Collect email ids from a registration form on your website
After 2 days analyse the data and try to optimise it
Create social media pages for your website and post daily.
Learn Facebook Ads from YouTube Channel Surfside PPC.
Create a campaign on Facebook/Insta and invest Rs. 1000.
After 2 days check the performance and optimise it
Create an email campaign using MailChimp for free.
Build your personal brand on social media by documenting your journey.
Look for internships/freelance opportunities on LinkedIn/Instagram
That’s it.
Total investment - Rs, 3000 (approx). Total time required - 3 to 6 months (approx)
This is a self-learning strategy. You will definitely need guidance along the way. Feel free to reach out.
I read every email that hit’s my inbox.
Alternatively, you can also join the upcoming batch of 28 Days Digital Marketing Workshop Starting on 30th April, 2023.
5000+ people have attended the workshop in the last 2.5 years. Many have started working in reputed companies across the country and some of them have started their own businesses.
Best Wishes !!
Surojit