It is a fantastic experience to work in the digital marketing field. Since 1995, I’ve been a digital marketing manager. This post will explain how you can become a digital marketing specialist without any prior marketing experience.
It takes effort and hard work to become a digital marketing specialist, but it is the best job in the online marketing field.
However, you want to provide digital advertising services you have willing to work hard.
This guide will explain what a digital market specialist does and how to develop the skills necessary. It also explains what an annual salary can look like.
What is a Digital Marketing Specialist?
A digital marketing specialist has many skills who promotes a website (business or product) online using all digital marketing channels.
They must have an in-depth knowledge of all digital marketing tools and disciplines. Job responsibilities are:
- Designing, implementing, and monitoring SEO campaigns
- Optimizing and analyzing P.P.C. * Analyzing and optimizing P.P.C.
- Supervising content marketing campaigns
- Using social media networks for Traffic, awareness, and sales
- Manage other members of the team for digital marketing
- Coordinate all activities for digital campaigns
- Analyze the performance of each digital marketing channel and set goals
There is a difference between a P.P.C., an SEO specialist, or a digital marketing specialist. Specialists need to have expertise in multiple areas and a broad understanding of digital marketing in general.
10 Steps to Becoming a Digital Marketing Specialist
These are the ten steps you need to take to be a digital marketing specialist.
- Learn Digital Marketing Essentials
- Become an SEO expert
- Master P.P.C. Advertising
- Develop social media marketing skills
- Implement content marketing campaigns
- Learn how email marketing works
- Develop team management skills
- Learn how to use data analysis/reporting tools
- A Digital Marketing Certification
- Keep up-to-date with the latest digital marketing trends
Learn Digital Marketing Essentials
To become a digital marketing specialist, you must first learn about digital marketing and how it works.
Digital marketing isn’t a single discipline. It’s a term that encompasses many techniques and methods you can use online to promote your website or products.
These are the most important digital marketing channels:
- Web Marketing
- Search Engine Marketing (includes SEO, P.P.C. Advertising)
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
- Video Marketing
You need to identify the role of each channel, its purpose, and how it can be used.
As an SEO expert, you can make a living.
Once you understand digital marketing, it is time to learn SEO and become an SEO expert.
SEO plays a crucial role in the success and viability of a digital campaign. That’s why it is so essential to understand how to optimize your website for search engines.
It will be easier to use other online marketing strategies if you have good SEO skills.
While it’s more likely to have SEO specialists in your team than not, you will still need to oversee them as digital marketing professionals. This is best done if you have some working experience in SEO.
Master P.P.C. Advertising
You will be able to allocate significant amounts of your budget and time to P.P.C. management. Campaigns can be run on Facebook or Google Ads.
You need to be a digital marketing specialist with and know-how to measure and analyze results correctly.
It is not uncommon for a digital marketing campaign to only have P.P.C., depending on how big your team is and what industry you are in. Campaigns are running, so it is essential to master P.P.C. It is far more critical than you might think.
Develop social media marketing skills
You don’t just need to use paid ads on Facebook. It is also essential to understand how marketing works across other networks.
You may need to search other social media sites like Twitter, Pinterest, or LinkedIn, depending on what type of website you are trying to promote.
Use content marketing campaigns.
You need to have the following characteristics for your digital marketing campaigns to be successful:
- Fulfills user intent
- For users to read
- Optimized to each platform (SEO/F.B., etc.)
- Generates rankings, leads, and conversions
You can have text, video, or audio content. It can also be available in various formats such as articles, YouTube videos landing pages, podcasts, and podcasts.
You must create a plan for digital marketing experts on the type of content you will produce, when it should be made, and how you will measure their performance.
This is the essence of content marketing.
Your job is not to create the Content in a well-structured team of digital marketers. You will have dedicated writers to do this, but it is your responsibility to ensure the correct type of Content for each campaign.
Learn how email marketing works
Email marketing is still a popular selling tool. Despite social media’s rise, email marketing is still a popular selling tool for marketers. It allows them to close sales, generate leads, and interact with customers.
Email marketing is often the final step in a marketing funnel. Email marketing results from all other digital marketing campaigns, including SEO, P.P.C. Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing. Email marketing can convert sales or any other form of conversion through targeted emails.
The role of email marketing specialist in most teams is not filled, so the digital marketing manager has direct responsibility for running email marketing campaigns.
Develop team management skills
You must have excellent team management skills to become a digital marketing professional.
You will need to manage and lead other digital marketing specialists as part of your job duties.
The digital marketing manager in sizeable digital marketing agencies is the team manager or leader. They must have the skills and technical knowledge to manage a team.
This includes knowing how to use project management tools, set goals and targets, train your team and any other tasks that a manager is expected to perform.
You may not need to manage small teams of digital marketing professionals who are freelancers. However, it is essential to plan and set milestones and track the progress of projects
Learn how to use data analysis/reporting tools
A digital marketing professional must monitor and optimize digital marketing campaigns. Part of their daily work is data analysis and reporting.
A digital marketing manager must use multiple digital tools, regardless of whether it reports directly to the marketing department.
These are the must-have tools:
- Google Analytics
- Google Data Studio
- Reporting on Facebook Ads
- S.E.M.R.U.S.H. or similar (Ahrefs, Moz, HubSpot, etc.)
- Google Search Console
Earn a certification in digital marketing
A comprehensive course in digital marketing is one of the most effective and efficient ways to become an expert in digital marketing.
Digital marketing courses will cover everything you need without reading separate guides or looking for additional resources.
It’s a great way of proving your knowledge in Digital marketing by getting a certification from a trusted company.
Although certification does not prove you are an expert in digital marketing, it does indicate that you have the knowledge and skills necessary to do the job.
You will need to have a lot of experience in the workplace and show your skills (case studies and success stories) to get a job at a large agency or company.
Keep up-to-date with the latest digital marketing trends.
Google makes thousands of updates annually to its search results, algorithms, and Facebook features. Google Ads is moving towards A.I.
Digital marketing is constantly changing.
Digital marketing professionals never stop learning, which makes their job very challenging and exciting. There are always new things you can learn, so it is impossible to get bored.
This is why you should not become a digital marketing specialist.
If you enjoy working in a dynamic environment, the resources below can help you.
What does a Digital Marketing Specialist make?
You may now be asking yourself if it’s worth it to become a digital market specialist.
Like many other professions, a digital market professional’s income depends on experience, country, job type, and whether they are working in a company (or freelancing).
The average annual salary for digital marketing specialists in America is between $40K-60K.
Based on years of experience, the following table shows the average annual salary for digital marketing specialists in the United States (from Payscale).
- Entry Level (less than one year experience) – $40.463
- Mid-Career (5-8 years experience) – $55,850
- More than 20 years experience – $61, 763
Zip Recruiter has set the average at $52,190 per annum or $4349 per lună.
Key Learnings
Three things are essential if you wish to be a digital marketing specialist:
- Learn how to use each digital marketing channel.
- Digital marketing is an evolving industry. Continuous learning is an integral part of every digital marketing professional’s daily work routine.
- Salary and compensation are influenced a lot by years of experience and the results.
Although you don’t necessarily need a degree from a university, many schools offer degrees in digital marketing.
Nothing can stop you from pursuing a career as a digital marketer if you’re willing to learn and put in the effort.