How To Make A Career Switch Into Digital Marketing? A Complete Guide
Are you looking to make a career change and move to a digital marketing profile? You might even be a fresh graduate and want to switch to an online marketing role. This article is aimed at both those who are looking to make a mid-career switch or start a new career in the field.
Sometimes in the journey of our professional life, we feel that we have outgrown our role and need to move on to one which provides us with the satisfaction or challenge our heart desires. It may also happen that we may have made a wrong career move just out of college and want to rectify it. If your mind is saying digital marketing, you have come to the right place. You will get to know to make a career switch into Digital Marketing with the help of a professional digital marketing course through this article.
How To Make A Career Switch Into Digital Marketing? A Complete Guide
Best-suited Digital Marketing courses for you
Learn Digital Marketing with these high-rated online courses
What is digital marketing?
With everything getting connected to the internet nowadays, marketing has also gone digital. Digital marketing, in simple, is any marketing activity that is done by an individual, organisation or a group through digital media, like the search engine, online ads, social media, email, etc.
The main areas of digital marketing are search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, social media marketing, pay-per-click (PPC), digital analytics and email marketing. You can either gain specialisation in one of the fields or have in-depth knowledge in most of the important ones to become a successful digital marketer.
What Is The Importance of Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing has seen a lot of importance across various industries in recent years. Some of the top ones are:
- Provides easy targeting β Traditional methods of marketing can offer a good audience but you cannot be too sure if you are targeting the right audience as compared to digital marketing. Every point of digital marketing can be monitored and filtered so that your ads or marketing campaigns reach the right audience. This will help you in getting higher efficiency from the campaigns.
- Get higher ROIβ When compared to traditional methods of marketing, digital marketing offers greater audience reach with a lesser amount of cost. This can help small and medium businesses to target a bigger audience within their budget. This infographic from Seriously Simple Marketing shows the difference in investment for the same impact.
- Gives a higher rate of conversions to lead percentage β Leads are important but without conversions they are meaningless. Digital marketing campaigns usually lead to a higher conversion rate as most of the leads are those who are already interested in buying a product or receiving a service. This is because digital marketing campaigns are highly target-specific.
- Improves brand trust β When you are directly connected with your customers, they feel they are valued. Through social media, you can give customers an easy option to voice their opinions and experiences easily. This will also help you to resolve their problems quickly and in turn, they will give positive reviews which can lead to an improvement in brand trust.
Why Should You Choose Digital Marketing As Your Career?
If you are interested in the internet and marketing, then digital marketing is the perfect career choice for you. Here are some attractive reasons why you should choose a career in the field:
- Growing industry β The digital marketing industry is still at its nascent stage and is growing. It is evolving and there will be a need for more professionals who are skilled in digital marketing in the future. Many organisations have increased their digital marketing activities and are hiring skilled professionals. So, there will be no dearth of jobs for skilled professionals in the future.
- A place for everyone β You do not need a specific degree or academic achievements to become a digital marketing professional. Anyone who has an interest and passion for all things online will be able to acquire the skills associated with it. You might come from a humanities background or an engineering background, it doesnβt matter in digital marketing.
- Good salary trends β The most important aspect of a career is the growth and salary prospects. If you are worried about the salary, leave your fears behind. A digital marketing role offers decent salary packages and with experience, it generally increases. You can also boost your career growth and salary with a professional digital marketing course.
Also read >> Digital marketing is a lucrative profile option
How To Make A Switch To A Digital Marketing Role?
The following step-by-step guide to make a career switch into Digital Marketing that will help you in establishing your career as a digital marketing professional:
Step 1: Assess yourself. How much do you know about digital marketing? Do you know the basics of the internet and how it works? Do you know about websites and social media pages?
Have you answered all the answers positively; then you already are one step ahead in making a switch to a digital marketing profile. If not, start today itself. There are various blogs and resources on the internet which can give you an idea of the internet, social media and digital marketing.
It is always good to have an idea before jumping in. This will also help you to understand if this is what you want to do for the rest of your life as it will be difficult to make another switch late in your life.
Step 2: Learn. If you want to move to a new profile, you will have to have knowledge about that profile. No one will hire you otherwise. The best way to do this is to start learning. Get enrolled in a digital marketing course. There are various online and classroom courses that will provide you with a comprehensive knowledge of digital marketing and you will be able to learn to use some major tools as well.
Some of the top certification courses in digital marketing are mentioned here. (link to the βWhich are the top certifications in digital marketingβ)
Step 3: Start experimenting. Once you learn the tools and skills related to digital marketing, you need to practise. Practice makes you perfect. You will get a deep understanding and gain efficiency when you go for a real job interview.
Step 4: Freelance to get some professional experience. It is not always easy to switch the profile from a completely different role. This is why you can do freelancing in your free time. Do not worry about the money; you can tell the individual or organisation that you can freelance for free if they give you an experience certificate or a reference letter that you have successfully completed their projects. This will really help you with your switch.
Explore Free Online Courses with Certificates
Step 5: Prepare for interviews. You have the knowledge and some amount of hands-on experience in digital marketing, now you need to get a regular job. It is not that easy as you will be competing with other professionals. You will need to prepare well for the interviews. The following article will help you to get ready for the interviews.
Also Read>> Digital marketing interview questions with answers
How to get Into Digital Marketing with the Top Courses
There are numerous certification programs in digital marketing online both free and paid. The courses mentioned below will help you get a good grasp of the field.
- Digital Marketing for SMBs with Greg Gifford on SEMrush
- Digital Marketing Course: Get Certified in Digital Marketing on HubSpot Academy
- PG Certification in Digital Marketing on upGrad
Jaya is a writer with an experience of over 5 years in content creation and marketing. Her writing style is versatile since she likes to write as per the requirement of the domain. She has worked on Technology, Fina... Read Full Bio