Digital Marketer: 8 Awesome Steps To Be One Without A Degree?

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a vast umbrella term that covers multiple areas from SEO to blog writing and distribution channels to budgets. In this guide, we’ll help you to understand the key pillars of digital marketing, enabling you to build your own digital marketing strategy to optimize advertising through online channels such as search engines, your websites, social media, email, and mobile apps.

Who is a  Digital Marketer?

In the role of a digital marketer, you’ll be involved in developing an organization’s multi-channel communication strategies and may work across several areas, or specialize in a few, depending on the size and requirements of your employer.

Types of digital marketing:

Commonly used digital marketing techniques include:

◆social media marketing – Developing a distinct online presence by attracting high numbers of internet followers through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

◆ search engine optimization (SEO) – Developing strategies to increase the number of visitors to a website by achieving high-ranking placements in search results.

◆pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns – Sponsored online advertising paid for by the business to appear alongside non-paid search results.

◆ mobile marketing – Includes app-based, in-game, location-based, and SMS marketing.

◆affiliate marketing – Where a business allows other businesses (affiliates) to sell products on their website. The affiliate is paid a commission for each customer brought to the website by their own marketing strategies.

Role of  Digital Marketer

As a digital marketer, you’ll need to:

● create and upload copies and images for the organization’s website

● write and dispatch email marketing campaigns

● provide accurate reports and analyses to clients and company management to demonstrate effective return on investment (ROI)

● research new online media opportunities that may benefit the business including mobile, social media, development of blogs and forums

● design website banners and assist with web visuals

● communicate with clients, affiliate networks, and affiliate partners

● conduct keyword research and web statistics reporting

● contribute to social media engagement and brand awareness campaigns

● use web analytics software to monitor the performance of client websites and make recommendations for improvement

● contribute to company and industry blogs and manage e-communications

● assist with paid media, including liaising with digital advertising agencies

● develop and integrate content marketing strategies

● keep up to date with current digital trends

● manage the contact database and assist with lead generation activities

● negotiate with media suppliers to achieve the best price for clients.

Do you need a degree to be a  Digital Marketer?

The digital marketing field is open to all graduates, but the following subjects may be particularly helpful for digital marketers:

● advertising, media, and communications

● business and technology

● creative design

● e-business

● journalism

● marketing.

The majority of marketing graduate training schemes require a 2:1 degree. You’ll need to be flexible in terms of geographical location as competition is usually intense. Due to the competitive nature of the industry, entry into graduate marketing roles with an HND or foundation degree is less likely, unless you have substantial, relevant experience.

If you don’t have a related first degree, you may be required to demonstrate a genuine interest in digital marketing with evidence of a strong personal online profile, such as a blog, website, or connections and interactions on various social media platforms.

Postgraduate qualifications as a digital marketer are offered by an increasing number of UK universities, and although not essential they may help expand your skills and knowledge, particularly if you have a non-related first degree. Search for postgraduate courses in digital marketing.

A range of postgraduate qualifications in digital marketing are offered by the:

● Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)

● Institute of Data & Marketing (IDM)

Career prospects:

As a graduate, your immediate prospects depend on the size and type of organization you work for. Due to the fast-changing and developing nature of the digital marketing sector, the more experience you gain early on, the more likely you’ll be able to progress into senior roles.

Having generally started in a junior role, such as digital marketing assistant, you can then progress to more experienced roles like digital marketing executive, coordinator, or manager, within two to five years. There is an increasing requirement to gain further qualifications to enter senior marketing roles.

If you reach the digital account director level, you’ll have overall responsibility for managing accounts, strategy, and digital marketing campaigns. You’ll take on additional responsibilities, such as budgets and training and mentoring junior members of the team.

Ultimately, you can achieve chartered status with the CIM.

Want to build a career in social media marketing. Check out our blog post on a career as a social media marketer.

How to become a Digital  Marketer without a degree?

These are the 10 steps to follow to get into digital marketing without a degree.

◆ Examine the requirements of digital marketing jobs

◆ Find the highest paying jobs

◆ Enroll in a digital marketing course

◆ Start a digital marketing blog

◆ Choose a specialization

◆ Follow the work of established digital marketing experts

◆ Become a digital marketing freelancer

◆ Apply for a digital marketing job

◆ Start your own digital marketing agency

◆ Build your personal brand

Step 1: Examine the requirements of digital marketing jobs

Since your goal is to start a career in digital marketing, you can begin your journey by analyzing what digital marketing skills are high in demand now. There is no better way to do this than looking at what employers look for.

Step 2: Find the highest paying jobs

While doing your analysis, it’s also a good idea to look at the salaries. The average salary for a digital marketing specialist is around $40K per year and it gets higher as you get more experience.

But, not all digital marketing jobs are equal. A digital marketing specialist wears a lot of hats and has a wide range of skills and this is not something that everyone wants or can do.

As you can see in the comparison graph below, you can get into digital marketing as an SEO Specialist or social media marketing specialist. These jobs require fewer skills but they also offer lower salaries and fewer career opportunities if you plan to work in the marketing department of a big company.

Step 3: Enroll in a digital marketing course

If you don’t have a college degree, the best way to build your digital marketing skills and equip your CV with a recognized accreditation is to enroll in a digital marketing course and get certified.

Following good digital marketing, course is the fastest way to get a solid understanding of what digital marketing is and how it works.

In the absence of a college or university degree, you can use your digital marketing certification as a way to prove to your future employer that you know the basics and have the willingness to learn and build your skills.

Step 4: Follow the work of established digital marketing experts

When you break into a new career, especially one that needs a lot of studying and practice, you’ll need inspiration. A great way to get inspired is to follow the work of established digital marketing experts.

You don’t need a university degree to get into digital marketing. Although a requirement for some companies, it’s not as important as having good knowledge of digital marketing and how it works.

Step 5: Become a digital marketing freelancer

Let’s recap the steps so far:

You’ve done your research and know which marketing jobs are high in demand now and how much they pay.

You’ve gone through a course and know the basics of digital marketing.

You’ve started blogging to teach others what you have learned about digital marketing and started using your blog to test different digital marketing techniques.

You have identified which websites to follow to enrich your knowledge and stay in sync with the latest developments in online marketing.

The next step before applying for a job is to become a digital marketing freelancer. There are a couple of reasons why you need to take this path before doing anything else.

Step 6: Apply for a digital marketing job

If you have followed the steps correctly, by now you should have a good understanding of digital marketing and some working experience either on your own blog or through freelancing.

You also know from steps 1 and 2, what are the job requirements and which positions are available in your area.

Step 7: Start your own digital marketing agency

Another way to work in the digital marketing industry without worrying about degrees or job interviews is to start a digital marketing agency.

It will be difficult in the beginning but with the right approach and patience, everyone can do it.

In the case of starting your own business, you’ll need additional skills like managing a business and working with remote teams, so it will be a good idea to spend some time learning how to do these tasks.

You won’t know everything from day one, entrepreneurship is an ongoing process but don’t get stressed, stay positive, and look for the big picture.

The most challenging part of having a digital marketing agency is finding new clients.

Advertising is generally not an option because the costs are high so the most efficient way is through blogging, retaining your existing clients, and getting new clients by referrals (from existing clients).

Step 8: Build your personal brand

To become a successful digital marketing professional, you need to be recognized as an expert by other people in the industry.

The only way to achieve this is to build your personal brand. You need to do this even if you work in another company, do work as a freelancer, or running your own agency.

The best methods to build your personal brand are:

Maintain an active digital marketing blog – I’ve stressed this several times so far and it’s of great importance. Your blog is the front door of your business and a reflection of your skills and knowledge.

Grow your social media following – create an account on Twitter and LinkedIn and build your following. Facebook is also good but not that important for business purposes. Digital marketers tend to use Twitter and LinkedIn more. Make sure that you follow the industry leaders and try to get some people to follow you back. Being followed by other digital marketers is important.

Guest post on other blogs – Guest posting besides being an additional source of traffic and good for SEO, it’s also great for establishing your personal brand. Try to get published on high-trusted digital marketing websites and demonstrate your expertise.

Create a YouTube channel or podcast – if you feel comfortable in front of a camera and speaking, starting a YouTube channel is great for your personal branding.

Network with other professionals – attending events and networking with other professionals is worth gold. Building friendships and personal relationships is a great way to gradually build the reputation of your personal brand.

Publish case studies and success stories – this is perhaps the best method to prove to others that you are a digital marketing expert. Publishing real case studies and sharing your success stories (for work you do on your blog or clients), will get the attention of the industry faster than any other method.

How much do Digital Marketers make?

For the benefit of our readers, we’ve mapped out a 10-year plan based on years of experience. Here’s what you can expect your digital marketing salary to look like in the coming years: 

As you gain expertise, the typical pay for a digital marketing executive increases to 6 LPA from 2 LPA.

A digital marketing analyst’s pay ranges from an average of 3.6 LPA to a maximum of 9.4 LPA.

Finally, the average annual compensation for a digital marketing manager is 6.2LPA, increasing to 18LPA with experience.

Conclusion

The research and practice of digital marketing are improving with the advancement of technology. The advancement in technology fosters multifaceted opportunities and at the same time poses unprecedented challenges for marketers. Marketers make use of Digital portfolios as a platform to promote a professional brand by defining the product in a manner that adds credibility. Research highlights that B2B buyers dislike cold emails and calls, hence, Digital marketing allows enough provisions for finding the right people through its streamlined search engine and connections (Korda, Holly, and Zena, 2013).

In the present era, buyers expect knowledge that offers a potential solution to their product-related problems. The strong visibility of the organization or the brand through digital marketing allows the consumers to develop perceived knowledge about the brand. The spread of word of mouth and getting recommendations from their connections assist the users in making active decisions about purchasing.