career path in digital marketing can be divided into three steps: entry level, intermediate level, and senior level.
Job titles will generally be a form of digital marketer, but career path in digital marketing responsibilities may be those of another role on the team, such as marketer, analyst, or manager.
career path in digital marketing
Digital marketing career path 2022
What is a digital marketing career path?
The digital marketing career path can be divided into three steps: entry level, intermediate level, and senior level. Job titles will generally be a form of digital marketer, but digital marketing responsibilities may be those of another role on the team, such as marketer, analyst, or manager.
Is digital marketing a good career path?
career path in Digital marketing is a profitable, creative and attractive industry that offers huge career potential. Whatever you wish to learn, there are many paths to success in this field.
If you find yourself going with the tide or doing a lot of hope in your career, here’s how to start taking charge today.
Have you ever found yourself thinking:
- I hope to get the job.
- I hope to get a bonus.
- hope I to get a promotion.
- I hope I will not be unemployed if layoffs happen.
I thought this way in the first half of my 25+ years in digital marketing. People advise me to set goals and make things happen for myself. But I did not follow their advice. Results? I fell behind my colleagues. The people I trained were promoted in front of me.
If you take nothing else away from this article, remember this: Your career is your life. Read on to learn four tips that will help you take charge.
Tip 1: Grow your professional network
As the old saying goes, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” And it’s true: people tend to work with people they know and trust. This is why communication is so important, both online and in person.
Referrals can be a huge asset, not just when you are looking for a job. All three of my company’s jobs resulted from referrals from people I met at conferences.
LinkedIn is the direct online resource for professional networking. Hiring managers and recruiters often go there first when searching for potential candidates or researching potential candidates. At least one or two recruiters see my profile every week.
So keep your LinkedIn profile updated. Use a professional-looking headshot. Be sure to fill in every area you can do, from your work history to your training and other experiences. Optimize your profile as if you were improving any website you’re working on for a client.
In-person communication may be more difficult these days, but it certainly isn’t impossible. Take advantage of local professional and public groups (eg Chamber of Commerce, Business Development). Public service groups such as the Elks or the American Legion can be a great source for friendships and networking.
Tip 2: Complete your education
Change is continuous. This is undoubtedly true in digital marketing, where search engine algorithms are updated almost daily, paid search technologies continue to evolve, and website technology changes regularly. If you are not a permanent student of your profession, you will be left behind.
Reading is essential. Not only does it help you learn more about your business, but it also helps you expand your mind to think in different ways.
Several statistics indicate that most people stop reading nonfiction books after completing their formal education. Some of these claims may be a bit exaggerated. However, Pew Research. that nearly a quarter of American adults had not read a book within the previous year. Don’t be a member of that group!
Read also about more than just work-related things. Resumes, self-help, and other work can be helpful.
Part of my reading program goes through digital marketing sites. I have a Feedly app set up on my tablet to go to RSS feeds for Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable, and other websites related to digital marketing. The opinions and news I read from those sources are invaluable for my continuing education.
Professional conferences are a great way to continue your education and build your communication skills. Many conferences continued in virtual mode, while others began to return to a personal presence. When you’re just getting started, it pays to stick to conferences with sessions that will help you improve in your work.
Later, when you have more experience, learn about other aspects of your trade as well. One of the things that have helped me in my career is knowing at least the basics of how different areas of digital marketing work. Being able to help correlate an overall strategy is critical.
Digital marketing expert Joe Hall recently asked on Twitter, “Have you ever attended an SEO conference? If so, tell me about a favorite presentation you watched. What was it? And what did you like about it?”
My answer: “There was a lot. The things I enjoy the most are the ones that make me think about things differently and can apply to the work I do.”
I honestly meant it. There were too many people to tweet that their conference presentations helped me do my job better.
Finally, set up your website if you are doing SEO or website development work. It’s amazing what you can learn just by playing with a website that does not involve the same amount of risk as playing with a customer’s website. All you have to do is invest a few hundred dollars annually. Another way to get a website is to volunteer to help a charity that you support. They will appreciate the help, and you will get a platform where you can hone your skills.
Tip 3: Always be awake for your next job
Job hunting can feel like a full-time job in itself, and you never know when you will need to look for a job. Having an updated resume will help you stand ready if the time comes.
Avoid using fancy templates for your resume. Many automated recruitment systems use the expression system to pull the resume into the applicant management system. Some fancy formats will eliminate data import. It is OK to have a well-formatted copy to email, but if you are asked to upload a copy, use a regular format.
Read the full job description in detail before applying for any job. Never rely on a job title just to guide you. Otherwise, you will waste the hiring manager’s time and your time.
In some agencies, SEO people are called “analysts”. I can’t tell you how many resumes I’ll get from data analytics people because of the job title, no matter how carefully worded the job description in the post was to make it clear that it was an SEO job. I finally told the recruiter to do a text search for any resumes. If ‘Search Engine Optimization or ‘Search Engine Optimization is not found, I don’t want the person to be redirected to me for consideration.
Tip 4: Find a job to your liking
It’s unbelievable how many people work in jobs they hate just because they need a paycheck. I understand that sometimes it is necessary to do this, but if you hate your job, you are free to go and find something else.
I know many people who have completely reinvented themselves and moved from one profession to another. It’s okay to do that. You need to find a job that pays the bills and makes you want to get up in the morning and not dread the two.
While we can’t all make money working on our hobbies, it’s always possible to put something you enjoy into a job where you can earn a living. I think part of that formula is learning to work on your strengths. While it’s good to identify and improve weak areas in your work, always working in a job where you struggle is bad for your mental health in the long run.
Being satisfied at work is being part of a team with a great culture. I think you may have heard or read about the “Great Resignation”. Cecil Beer said in a recent Forbes article that what is happening is something she called the “Great Awakening.” People wake up realizing that they don’t have to work in a crazy, dead-end job for companies that don’t appreciate them.
While gradations in salaries and titles are great, they shouldn’t be the focus of your career. Yes, you should be compensated for the value you bring to the organization, but money and titles are not everything.
In the end, it’s great to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and know that you’re doing a great job that’s useful and helpful.
Summary: make yourself indispensable
If you haven’t heard that saying yet, remember it: Hope is not a strategy. Now is the perfect time to take the fate of your career into your own hands. You want to make yourself, as Seth Godin put it in his similarly titled book, Indispensable.
