How to Become a Digital Marketing Expert

Becoming a Digital Marketing Expert is dream of many who want to choose Digital Marketing as career and making their dream come true is not difficult.
Since internet has penetrated deep into our lives and people spend more time browsing internet than on other mediums like TV, radio, newspaper, books and magazines.
People use internet for a lot of reasons like entertainment, communication, seek information about literally anything they want, and express their feelings in forms of journals, blogs, articles, Q&A forums, social media etc.
Advertisers also need to be present with their offers and products where the consumers are.
Since, the consumer is on internet — advertisers are also forced to follow the same trend.
And all of this is done through Digital Marketing also known as online marketing or web marketing.
Digital Marketing requires a certain set of skills to use the internet tools for marketing and brand promotion. An MBA degree alone is not enough for it.
Digital marketing is not as easy as to follow the marketing’s rule book and straight forward as traditional marketing used to be.
It’s rules are literally not by the book, but are from the gut feeling, experience, situation, industry, and requirement of the business.
A Digital Marketing Expert is well versed in all the digital marketing tools, techniques, use of social media channels, making strategy to achieve the business goals.
In my experience I have seen that Digital Marketing gives best results and ROI when done in-house with an expert team of Digital Marketing professionals.
Outsourcing the digital marketing to Digital Marketing Agencies and Freelancers is economical but it has its own challenges.
But if you could engage a Digital Marketing Agency which dedicatedly works for you, and reports you periodically, and you are satisfied with the results then you may consider outsourcing your Digital marketing functions to a Digital Marketing Agency.
Job Opportunities for Digital Marketing Experts
Digital Marketing experts are in high demand these days, and it is also true that they are really hard to find.
By saying a Digital Marketing Expert I mean someone who has practical experience of Digital Marketing which comprises a bunch of things like strategy making, SEO, SMO, SEM, SMM, PPC, Facebook Campaigns, Twitter Campaigns, Instagram Campaigns, LinkedIn Marketing, Affiliate Marketing for couple of years with great outcome.
Digital Marketing in itself is such a huge domain that it is next to impossible to master it in two or three months.
It takes a lot of reading, understanding, analytical skills, dedication, determination and a lot of patience to become a Digital Marketing Expert.
People who have marketing background or anyone who want to choose Digital Marketing as their career choice, they have the first question in their minds how and where to start learning Digital Marketing.
Internet search results would show you a lot of training companies offering Digital Marketing Training, or a couple of guys who have worked as Digital Marketer for couple of years also offer Digital Marketing Training.
These Digital Marketing Courses are offered in form of workshops, online, and classroom training programs. Even there are MBA programs with Digital Marketing Specialization.
Everyone has a different set of curriculum, training pattern and training duration. There is no defined or a set curriculum as standard for the Digital Marketing Training.
The reason for this diversity is evolution.
Digital Marketing is still an evolving industry and with new researches, new development, new technologies, new digital tools, new social media networks, new coding languages, it is certainly not possible to define a specific curriculum for it.
Anyone with a desire can become a Digital Marketer without any training. Unbelievable, isn’t it?
But, it’s true, since it is the science of internet marketing there is lot of free stuff which you can read, download, experiment with and evaluate your learning by implementing the same in your project.
But, people who want to cover this journey of becoming a Digital Marketing Expert in less time can undergo training and take help of experts to learn things better and faster.
Even you can enhance your Digital Marketing Skills through Google and HubSpot free certifications in different areas of the Digital Marketing like:
- Google Ads Search Certification
- Google Ads Mobile Certification
- Google Analytics Individual Qualification
- Google Mobile Sites Certification
- Google Ads Video Certification
- Google Digital Sales Certification
- Google Shopping Certification
- Google Ads Display Certification
- Google Apps Administrator Fundamentals
- Google Analytics Premium
- Google Online Marketing Fundamentals
- Google Digital Sales Certification
- HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification
- Accredited Professional Bing Ads Certification
NOTE: All of the above mentioned courses and certifications are absolutely FREE. But it takes a lot of time to prepare for these certifications.
Besides the above there are courses available on Udemy, Alison and many other websites which you can refer.
Now the important question is: Would I Become a Digital Marketing Expert by doing these courses and Certifications?
Learning Digital Marketing is like learning to ride a Bike.
Besides the instructor’s guidance you need to practice on your own, and test your driving skills on all the terrains.
Similarly in Digital Marketing you need to apply and test your Digital Marketing skills in different domains and different Industry Verticals to become a Digital Marketing Expert.
Practice, innovative thinking, and patience are the keys to Success in Digital Marketing.
The best thing about digital marketing is that you can begin learning and implementing your understanding practically parallelly. It’s kind of DIY (Do-It-Yourself).
You can start small by setting up a website/blog of your own.
All you need is a computer connected with internet and a credit card/debit card to buy things from the web if required.
Here are the steps by step learning process for becoming a Digital Marketing Expert and applying your skills to create something amazing on the internet.
Step by Step Learning Process to Become a Digital Marketing Expert
- Think of a nice name for your blog depending on the topic you want write about. Make sure your blog’s name is unique.
- Register your domain with the name you have decided for your blog and subscribe a hosting plan to host your website/blog.
- Install a free or paid WordPress theme into your website.
- Make a list of articles or topics you want to write about.
- Start writing your articles and learn a little about SEO and try writing SEO optimized articles in your blog.
- Signup for Google Analytics and install Google Analytics tracking code in your website to see the amount of traffic you drive on your website.
- Learn a little about Google Analytics to make sense of your Google Analytics data.
- Signup for Google Ads account and do some keyword research to see what people are searching for related to your blog subject.
- List down the keywords with highest search volume and write articles about them on your blog.
- Setup a Facebook page dedicated to your blog and share the articles on your Facebook page.
- Invite your friends to follow your page and read your articles. Also, ask them to share the posts on their walls, newsfeed and groups they are associated with.
- Promote your page with Facebook ads. Target people who might be interested in your blog subject.
- Add Facebook like box in your blog and ask your readers on the blog to like and follow your Facebook page.
- Enable social sharing on your blog. If you are using WordPress then you can use the free WordPress plugin to share your articles on different social media platforms.
- Enable email signup form in your blog and ask the visitors to subscribe for your newsletter.
- Sign up for an email marketing service such as MailChimp or SendGrid. They give you free emailing on a list of up to 2000 contacts.
- Email your subscribers whenever you publish something in your blog.
- Promote your website via Google Ads. Google Ads gives Rs. 2000/- Free Credit on signing up which you can use with your Rs. 500 Ad Budget to promote your website. Keep lowest CPC bids so that you get more clicks for your Ad budget.
- Make sure your website/blog is mobile optimized because nowadays 63% of the total google searches take place on mobile devices.
- Try to get high quality backlinks for your website by writing guest posts, link exchanges etc.
All of this you can do in about a month’s time and doing this would give you hands-on experience in SEO, Google Ads, Website Optimization, Domain Registration, installing WordPress themes, installing and using WordPress plugins, making use of the Google Analytics data, Email Marketing, Facebook Ads, Social Media Marketing, and most importantly writing SEO optimised articles and researching keywords to write articles.
And all this added together covers more than half of the Digital Marketer’s job.
Components of Digital Marketing
Below are the most basic and important components which a Digital Marketing Expert knows in and out:
