Whether your digital marketing agency team has been working remotely through lockdown or whether you are currently on furlough, these are unsettling times. So the last thing on most peoples’ minds right now is furthering their career.
But in this article we want to challenge you to rethink that. It’s time to kick-start your digital marketing skills. Otherwise, before you know it, you could effectively have lost a year of your life in terms of your professional development and career progression.
So let’s take a look at five things that you should be doing. Things that you should always be doing if you are serious about making a career in digital marketing. But things that especially – right here, right now – you need to do to ensure that your digital marketing career doesn’t stall because of Covid-19:
Be able to evidence your skills
The key skill you need to be able to demonstrate as a digital marketer is to increase ROI. And prove that you have done it. The better you can do both those things, the more successful you will be.
To do this you really need to get to grips with analytics. Whatever your particular area of specialism in digital marketing, analytics is the key to understanding what has happened and why. So you need to know how to collect and analyse data, draw insights from it, and include data-driven conclusions and recommendations when evaluating campaigns.
It also helps enormously to gain certifications that endorse your capability in these areas. So if you don’t already have certifications such as Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Facebook Blueprint then now would be a good time to start working towards those.
Always be learning something new
Continuing on from the above, if you are serious about career progression then you need to develop the mindset that you will never stop learning. Especially as the landscape of digital marketing changes so constantly, you must always be open to learn, otherwise you will quickly fall behind.
So why not do a skills audit on your strengths and areas for development? You can always improve those areas that you are already good at, and you should regularly be adding more skills to your repertoire. Try to add a mixture of new marketing tools, technical skills such as video editing, coding skills such as advanced html or Python. The broader your skill set, the more opportunities will lie at your fingertips.
There are a myriad of online training materials available to help you, many of them free. Below are just a few websites with relevant resources: they are by no means an exclusive list, but could help to get you started:
- Gov UK Skills Tool Kit
- Google Digital Garage
- Facebook Blueprint
- Hubspot Academy
- LinkedIn Learning (Lynda)
- Coursera
Stay on top of current trends
Every day you need to be scrolling through authoritative marketing websites, publications and magazines. Network as much as you can: in the current climate online webinars and forums are particularly valuable. It’s important to keep updated with what industry experts are saying, so follow them on their various social media platforms.
Also be aware of wider advancements in technology that could impact on the digital marketing industry, for example machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). A good understanding of these emerging technologies and their potential will give you a definite advantage in the digital marketing industry.
Create a personal brand on social media
We have just referred to following industry experts on their social media platforms, and this is another area that you should begin to explore and develop for yourself. You want to become one of those experts and be recognised as such.
So choose the platforms that you feel most closely fit with the kind of digital presence you want. Then create your own brand and make sure that every aspect of it – your photo, your bio, the tone of your posts – reflects the person that you want the digital marketing world to see.
It is also helpful to have a personal website or blog/vlog that can showcase aspects of your work and is therefore an easily accessible way for employers to evaluate whether you are a good fit for their business.
Developing an identifiable and wide-reaching digital presence is an essential element of becoming a successful digital marketing professional.
Learn to love people
Last, but definitely not least, is the fact that successful digital marketing is about much more than all the above factors put together. It’s all about people. You could be the most highly trained, data driven marketer ever, with a skilfully honed personal brand on various different platforms. But if you are actually no good with people this will be your eventual downfall.
You need to be able to understand and empathise with your clients and their intended audience. You also need to be able to work well with clients and with any kind of team. Also, as we have already seen, networking is a powerful tool, both online and face to face (when circumstances permit). When your dream digital marketing job comes up with a company you’ve been networking with, you want to make sure that it is your name that immediately comes to their minds.
So be honest. Are your people skills in need of a bit of attention? Whilst you are who you are, and are unlikely to change fundamentally, there are definite skills and behaviours that can be learned and practised which can help you relate better to others and improve your working relationships with them.
As a simple starting point, ensure that you listen more carefully to others. Many digital marketers like to talk but not to listen, or to really hear. So let others speak, don’t interrupt, then make sure you fully address their ideas or concerns in your response. This can be the key to success.
There are also many different kinds of training courses about effective communication. For example, Alison.com offers a range of free online courses in different aspects of communication. So if you feel that you do struggle in this area, it could be well worth your while exploring some of these opportunities to see how they could transform your career potential.
So whatever stage your digital marketing career is at, you may well need to give it a bit of a reboot. Particularly as the economy gradually gears up again post-Covid-19, you need to make the most of the new normal to ensure that your career is going exactly where you want it to.