by Best 5 ways to get a first job in digital marketing (2023)
Most important is Update Your Resume:
Make sure that your resume reflects your digital marketing experience and the skills you possess that could be applicable to the field. Include details about your education, previous work experience, and any certifications you hold.
- Gain confidence in your digital marketing skills
At the start of your professional career, you may look around and compare yourself to your peers – those with more experience than you, better grades, more internships, more connections – and that you felt discouraged.
As long as you know how to be persuasive, build a rapport with your interviewers, and have a decent resume, you can literally land any entry-level job.
And more good news, there is no limit to the number of interviews you can get. You can try, try and try again, and the first key to success is confidence.
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After years of self-recruiting and hundreds of interviews, I’ve come to a basic conclusion about the basic things before recruiting a candidate:
- You have a good personality.
- You have potential
- You can do the job.
- It’s as simple as that.
2. Choose your career path in digital marketing
So you’ve decided to embark on a career in digital marketing.
Before embarking on this path, you should know exactly what you want from your career by asking yourself a series of questions:
- What do I like to do?
- What am I really good at?
- Do I prefer to work alone or collaborate with others?
- What skills and strengths do I currently have?
- Am I more creative or more analytical?
- There are a number of different disciplines within the field of digital marketing, each offering a unique career path.
While you can’t afford to be too picky when applying for your first job, matching your current interests and strengths to a digital marketing discipline that appeals to you will be the most rewarding.
Do a thorough research on each discipline and decide on the 2 or 3 options that seem most interesting to you.
- Content marketing – WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin,
- Digital Analytics – Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Optimizely
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Moz, Ahrefs, SEM Rush, Google Search Console
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – Google AdWords, Bing Ads
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) – Optimizely, Google Tag Manager, Craft
- Social Media Marketing – Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Hootsuite
- Affiliate Marketing – CJ by Conversant, Impact Radius
- Marketing automation – Marketo, Pardot, Bronto,
- Email Marketing – Mailchimp, Constant Contact, AWeber
- Web development – WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal
- Project Management – JIRA, Basecamp, Timeforce, Trello
In addition to this list, don’t forget the good old Microsoft Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word. They are still essential to any digital marketing work and are used daily.
- Learn the basics with digital marketing courses
Once you’ve decided on a few skills to add to your resume, it’s time to start learning!
The great thing about digital marketing is that there are so many free certification courses you can take that will look good on your resume. In addition to all the free certification courses, there are over 55,000 marketing courses on Udemy, over 2,000 on Coursera, and over 6,200 on LinkedIn Learning.
Here are some examples of free courses to get you started.
Google Academy for Ads (free certification).
With Google’s free training, you’ll learn all about paid advertising on the AdWords search, display and buy networks.
Plus, you get a legitimate certificate that you can add to your LinkedIn profile and resume. Note: Many entry-level digital marketing jobs require this certification.
Google Analytics Academy (free certification).
Don’t even think about applying for a job in digital marketing without a solid knowledge of Google Analytics. This free training teaches beginners and experienced users alike how to build an online presence with smart data tracking and web analytics tools.
Data analysis is at the heart of digital marketing; you can’t make informed decisions without understanding user behaviour. This course is mandatory viewing.
4. Get started in digital marketing as a freelancer
Before applying for your first professional job in digital marketing, it’s good to test your new knowledge and start working in the field.
As you’re just starting out, you shouldn’t be looking to make money, but to help people grow their online presence and gain valuable experience to build your portfolio.
Do you know any small business owners you could help? Most SMBs are not well versed in digital marketing and could benefit greatly from your newfound expertise.
An old friend may own a local restaurant and isn’t on social media. Link it to Facebook Ads.
Or maybe someone in your family owns a hair salon but can’t be found on Google. Use your new SEO skills to help them. Maybe you’ll get a free dinner or a haircut from the deal.
Either way, if you track ROI and use smart strategies, you’ll help local businesses, build your digital marketing portfolio, and gain valuable skills.
- Once some time has passed and all the neighborhood residents and their mothers have requested your services, you are ready to start getting paid for your efforts.
- Go to freelancing sites like FlexJobs and create a freelancing account.
- First, fill out your new profile with the portfolio of work you’ve done so well for free. This content will build your credibility and generate greater interest in your work. Second, set your freelance consulting rates to be competitive with the market.
5. Prepare for your first interview
After successfully completing your digital marketing courses, helping your connections establish an online presence, and launching yourself as a freelancer, you are now ready to hit the big leagues.
It’s time to prepare for your first digital marketing interview.
Maintenance is a matter of planning. The more comfortable you are with yourself, your experience and your new skills in digital marketing, the more likely you are to land this job.
Here are some tips for acing your first digital marketing job interview:
Find out about the company. You need to fully understand the history of the company, its CEO and management team, its values, and its current financial situation to show that you have done your homework.
Extra points if you review their digital marketing strategy and find applicable strategies that you would use from day one.
Match your CV to the position to be filled. Your CV must be considered as a living document, which opens the dialogue and allows you to develop your main successes.
For example, many employers require you to pass practice assessments.
A famous American company provides you with instructions in PDF format where you must set up a PPC campaign with an appropriate organization of ad groups and keywords, modify the HTML code and the CSS of a landing page but also set up accounts in Google Search Console.
These assessments are quite common and their beauty is that you have some time to do them on your own (usually 2-7 days) and if you can’t figure something out, just look them up on Google (like in real life).
