EPISODE 100 OF THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS PODCAST: SO YOU WANT TO BE A DIGITAL MARKETER?
Sonya:
So you want to be a digital marketer, but you're not sure where to start. There are so many degrees, diplomas, short courses, and even online programs that all promise to deliver you at the other end as an all-knowing, ready-for-the-workforce digital marketing expert. I'm calling BS on all of them. Sure, you need to learn the skills to do your job, but none of them will provide you with absolutely everything you need to know. A lot of that is learned on the job.
Let me tell you the story of how I got into the world of digital marketing, introduce you to some of my team, and tell you a bit about how they got started and give you my two cents on what it takes to succeed in the digital marketing space. And I'll give you a hint, it has very little to do with your qualifications.
Welcome to the Boom Your Biz podcast, a podcast for the movers, the shakers, and even bigger action takers in business. I'm your host, Sonya McIntyre-Reid, and each week I'll be exploring the question of what really makes businesses and organizations thrive? I'm on a mission to educate, empower, and inspire business owners and myself along the way.
If you asked me in high school, what I wanted to be when I grow up? I would've said an archeologist. And if you asked me when I was going through uni, I would've said a finance boss lady. Today, at almost 29, I'm the founder and CEO of two digital marketing agencies. One focused on educating and empowering small business owners to take control of their marketing and the other, an agency that actually does the doing of the marketing, from organic social media and paid advertising through to branding and website development. Our clients range from family-owned and operated small businesses to multinational companies. So technically, I've achieved my dream of being a boss lady, just in a very different way to the one I had imagined.
The beauty of digital marketing is that there are so many different specialties you can go into, and the industry is constantly changing and evolving. The challenge of digital marketing is that there are so many different specialties you can go into and the industry is constantly changing and evolving. Do you go into an agency or work as a freelancer? Do you position yourself as a generalist or do you niche down? When do you get experience and how do you get experience when you've never worked in the industry before?
In life, we learn by doing, failing, doing and failing again. And hopefully, somewhere along the way, we learn to also reflect on our mistakes and avoid making the same ones over and over again. When it comes to building your career though, especially a career in digital marketing, you'll need two things, the ability to be flexible and the hunger to learn. Everyone's career path is different, especially in today's society, where job hop, industry hop, and even hop from country to country in search for new and better opportunities. Within my own team, no two career paths are the same when it comes to our employees, their journeys are as diverse and interesting as they are. And it's this diversity of life and work experiences that has allowed us to grow and succeed the way that we have. I'm going to let them tell you how they got started. But first, a little bit about my own path to becoming a digital marketing agency owner.
My marketing journey began before Instagram was really a big thing. I worked as an all-rounder for a real estate agency, doing a role that was technically an executive assistant, but also involved sales, event management, and print media marketing. Did I have an interest in real estate? Kind of, but I didn't see it as my career path. I wanted to learn as much as I could from the business' founder, a man, not much older than me who was kicking absolute goals and had a massive vision for his business. The work itself wasn't what was important to me, getting access to the best business brain I could access was. I learned so much from that job that I still use today. Namely, the importance of connection and the importance of systems and processes. If you're listening, thanks, Josh. I owe a big part of my business success to you.
My second job was as the events and marketing coordinator for a not-for-profit organization. Again, a more traditional marketing role and not a whole lot of digital involved, but it was while I was working here that I got an opportunity that changed everything for me. A family friend needed a website built and they had a vague idea that I worked in marketing. They asked if I was willing to do their website for them, we negotiated a price, and I taught myself how to build websites. This is probably the most important lesson I can offer you, take the opportunities when they come. I didn't know how to build a website, but I knew how to Google how to build a website. Opportunity often comes disguised as something you don't know how to do. It's up to you, whether or not you want to put in the effort and the late nights to learn.
I could have said no to building that first website. I could have said, “Oh, I don't have the time. I don't know how. I don't want to mess it up.” But I said yes. And honestly, I can't picture what my career would've looked like if I hadn't. That website build led to the business owners recommending me to other business owners. Those business owners got me to build their websites and they asked how much I knew about social media. Again, I could have said no, but I knew enough to Google how to do social media for businesses and I knew not to waste an opportunity when it was handed to me on a platter. From there, I hired a virtual assistant to help me with the graphics and posts scheduling. Then I hired a freelancer to help me with organic social media. And after that, a Facebook ad specialist.
Before I knew it, my agency was legit. We had enough work for my freelancer to come on full time. The ad specialist became my business partner. We expanded the team. And now, our agency has employees all over the world, working remotely. And we're almost at the point where we need to hire again.
If your big career goal is to build an agency, let me tell you, it is a long road. It's sometimes lonely being the boss, but when you have the right team in place and a client roster you genuinely love, it's the best feeling in the world. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. How do you actually start in the industry? First, you decide what general area you want to go into to start with at least. You can always move around into another area later. When you're just starting out, you want to focus on building those basic skills first. Let's go through those questions I asked at the start of the podcast.
One, do you go into an agency or work as a freelancer? I'm going to be annoying here and say that it does depend. There are benefits to both. With freelancing, you control how much you work, how much you charge, and how many clients you take on. You can also control who you work with. The downside is until people know who you are, until you have the results to show, you may not have enough clients to support yourself financially. Working in an agency also has pros and cons. The pros being you can learn on the job and on the clock. You'll hopefully be working with people who can help you when you're struggling, not to mention that steady paycheck. The cons, it can be difficult to work with an agency without experience. You don't control the clients you work with. And when agencies go through periods of growth, there's often a period of the team being overextended right before new hires come on board. And I know my team have experienced this as we've gone through our heavy growth phases.
So what would I do if I was starting all over again? Let's say you have a 9:00 to 5:00 job and you're looking for a career change. In this case, I would suggest doing what I did and start freelancing nights and weekends to build your skills and your portfolio until you get to the stage where you can make the leap, either to an agency or off on your own as a freelancer.
Now, the second question, do you position yourself as a generalist or do you niche down? The short answer is both. I know that is a very annoying answer yet again. It's important to understand the basics of the area of digital marketing you want to work in before getting specialized. That's the reason why most uni courses in any subject start with a 101 subjects. You need to understand the systems, the psychology, and the structures of what you're working with before you can drill down into one aspect.
Take paid digital advertising, for example. You might want to become a Facebook ad specialist and spend a lot of time building skills in this area, but what happens when a client comes to you asking if you can help them create a 360 degree marketing plan that encompasses all aspects of digital paid marketing, like Google ads, and maybe even YouTube ads? If you don't know the fundamentals of how these advertising platforms work, you could miss out on opportunities to take on bigger clients and bigger paydays. I do see some job listings where I think you're expecting one person to do the work of three people there, but it's definitely worth jumping on SEEK or on Facebook groups that advertised jobs for digital marketers to see what employers are looking for and the type of skills that generally go together. Content creators generally need a solid grasp of copywriting and basic graphic design, or at the very least, a working knowledge of Canva. It's also a good idea to have basic skills in photography and video editing, even if it's just knowing how to make Reels.
Pro tip, if you see a job listing for a copywriter who also has photography, graphic design, web development skills, and knows Facebook and Google ads, run. These people are looking for a unicorn and no one will ever meet up to their expectations.
Number three, where do you get experience and how do you get experience when you've never worked in the industry before? This is where you're going to have to be a bit brave. I'm always impressed when someone reaches out to me and, this is a bit that I need you to hear, instead of telling me they have no experience and want me to give them experience, they tell me the value that they can bring to my business.
One of our most recent hires, Jenna, is a great example of how to do this well. She asked to have a chat before applying for a job so she could gauge exactly what we needed in terms of skills for a role we were advertising. This allowed her to A, tailor her resume to demonstrate how her skills in other employment will translate to the role we were advertising. And B, it meant that when her resume arrived in my inbox, I knew who she was and I'd already built that report with her. What also impressed me about Jenna was that she's studying user experience designer, which is not something we previously focused that heavily on. I didn't even know that I wanted a user experience specialist on the team until I had the opportunity to hire someone with those skills. Again, diversity of skills is so important.
Speaking of Jenna, why don't we hear from her and the rest of my team as, so you can get an idea of yet many ways you can get into digital marketing.
Lib:
Did I go to uni? I did, twice. My first degree was a Bachelor of Media and Cultural Studies back before Instagram and social media was even a thing. My second degree was a Bachelor of Naturopathy or Natural Medicine, which has actually come in handy with some of our health and wellness clients.
Issy:
Did I go to uni? Yes, I'm currently at uni. I'm part way through a Bachelor of Business.
Eliot:
Yes, I went to university and I studied business administration, where I first found my interest in marketing.
Jenna:
Did I go to uni and what did I study? Kind of, I am currently studying a Bachelor of UX and Web Design at Billy Blue.
Amy:
Yes, I went to uni and I started double major event management and Chinese.
Issy:
What was my first real job? I worked at Quest Wodonga prior to joining the Linchpin team, and I was there for about four and a half years on the front desk.
Eliot:
My first real job in digital marketing was as a media buyer at an e-commerce company that sold a wide variety of products through social media search and affiliates. It gave me a good perspective on how to market different products to different audiences and how to leverage each channel for maximum performance.
Amy:
My first real job was an event coordinator at a company called Urbanest. They were a student accommodation company Australia wide, but I was based in Melbourne and we had four student accommodation buildings all in the CBD. I was in charge of all of the onsite events and some on campus as well.
Lib:
My first real job was working for the Healthy Food Guide magazine, helping them launch into Australia. I was the editorial and production assistant.
Jenna:
I worked as a production operator for five years on shift in a facility that made pet care food.
How did I get into digital marketing? I'm really fortunate to have friends and family who work in industries that digital marketing ties closely with and is reliant on. I also worked at companies where I was responsible for the internal social media strategies and started working on projects and self teaching in my own time.
Amy:
I got into digital marketing because I started out as a food blogger. When I moved to Melbourne from New Zealand, I basically was able to grow my own Instagram page and sort of make really good connections around the city. And then I started freelancing for restaurants and cafes around the CBD, so was able to build out my confidence and really grow in terms of content creation and how to actually manage clients as well and my own timetable. And then two years later, I'm at Linchpin.
Lib:
I was working in an event management role for a hotel group, and they decided that they wanted to have an Instagram presence. So it was a bit of a baptism of fire learning on the job and the rest is history.
Issy:
How did I get into digital marketing? I've always loved creating things. And along with that in my previous job, I got the great opportunity to design posters and take on the social media for that business and discovered I really, really enjoyed digital design. So when I started my Bachelor of Business in 2020, I was doing quite a bit of the marketing work and learning about that side of things. The two just went hand in hand and here I am.
Eliot:
I first got introduced to digital marketing by a friend who was already in the industry. He explained to me how everything worked and how impactful the job could be for businesses. And that's when I realized this was the skillset that I wanted to have and a field that I wanted to be working in. My area of expertise is in conversion rate optimization and also media buying on search and social media.
Lib:
I am a digital marketing specialist. I focus mostly on organic content. So creating posts and captions for Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn. I also do quite a bit of work with our website team working on copy and tone of voice for websites.
Amy:
My area of expertise is organic social media. In particular, I would say content creation.
Issy:
My area of expertise lies in all things visual. I love to piece things together. So I do photography in the Aubrey area for our clients. We also focus on websites as well for our project clients. So Squarespace, Shopify and Wix websites. So do a bit of branding as well.
Jenna:
What is my area of expertise? UX design, or user-centered design. This covers things like information architecture, visual communication, accessibility, functionality.
Lib:
My advice to anyone wanting to get into digital marketing is to be a little bit brave and start building up your network. So you may have to offer to work for free for a couple of months. You may want to attend industry events. You might want to attend some workshops and courses in person to actually meet people. I think just providing as much value to the people you want to work with as possible. And potentially, doing a little bit of work experience no matter how old you are.
Eliot:
Well, anyone considering a career in digital marketing, there's a lot of great content you can learn from YouTube and just by Googling. Once you have your feet wet and you're more knowledgeable, I will try to find a job that allows you to get exposure on how to leverage that skillset in different types of industries. That way you'll know which vertical suits you best and you can focus on that.
Jenna:
My advice for anyone looking to get into the digital marketing industry, don't sell yourself short. Digital marketing changes daily, so you do not need to be at the end of a four-year degree to look for those opportunities. If you can show that you have the ability and the initiative to research, implement, and stay adaptable whilst also demonstrating your soft skills, that will lend themselves to the job you're applying for. You're probably already way ahead of where you think you need to be.
Amy:
My advice to anyone who wants to get into the digital marketing space would be to find out what area of this industry you actually enjoy. So is it Facebook ads, e-commerce, meeting business owners? Or for me, it's content creation and I enjoy storytelling through content. So everything that I do in the social media space is sort of stemmed from that. So yeah, find your niche skillset and build from that.
The greatest resource for me is TikTok. That's where I go to find my trending sounds, what people are drawn to, how the Instagram algorithm has changed again, what people are eating, what people are wearing, all the good stuff.
Eliot:
I mentioned there's a lot of great content on YouTube and also Google that you can learn from, but it's also hard to distinguish the up-to-date information that is currently working in the real world. I would say that my source of most up-to-date information, I generally get from Twitter, where I follow people who are updating their journey and also sharing results that they're finding on their tests.
Jenna:
I'm a reader, so I absolutely love blogs and will spend a lot of time reading through articles. In saying that, in terms of keeping up to date on a daily, one of the most beneficial things I have found is signing up for email marketing and newsletters from those blogs. It means that when I start my day, I often have a little summarized version of things that might be happening in the industry right now.
Lib:
A great resource for me for keeping up with the world of digital marketing is just to look around on the platforms and see what other people are doing. I prefer to look at companies outside of the industries that we work with, just so we can be a little bit more creative, but it's always interesting to see what type of content works and what looks good.
Issy:
What is the most useful resource that I use to keep up to date with digital marketing? That's got to be Pinterest for me. So, because my role is centered around the creative projects that we take on, Pinterest is a no brainer. It's great to find inspiration for websites, social media design, digital design, fonts, all sorts of things. It's fantastic. Also, the next big one would be Instagram. I follow a lot of designers from all around the world. So having those two apps that are very easy to access, as we all know, is great.
Sonya:
I think after hearing my team's stories, you'll agree that there's no one way to get into digital marketing. What they all have in common is a can-do attitude, a willingness to learn, and great people skills, both when it comes to working with clients and each other.
So in a nutshell, decide where you want to start in digital marketing. Is it paid ads, organic content, or one of the other areas that I mentioned earlier? Look at the job listings in the area you've chosen to get an idea of the basic skills you are going to need. Have a look at the paid courses available in that area, and also do a quick search for free programs or webinars and even YouTube trainings on the topic. We'll link up a list of a few of our favorites in the show notes. Then do the work, build your skills, try, fail, reflect on where you can improve, try again. Offer to work for free or get on a site like Fiverr or Upwork to take on small projects you can add to your portfolio. Build your network. You never know when someone who you meet at a workshop or in one of the other classes might want to team up on a project, or when you just might need someone else's skills on a job.
Finally, just ask. As an agency owner, I love the fact that all but one of my team were freelancers before they came to me. It means they haven't picked up the bad habits a lot of other agency owners complain about their team having, and I don't see their lack of agency experience as a bad thing.
There's no one way to get into digital marketing, but the best way to build a long and successful career is the same in any industry, build your skills, stay current, and upgrade when needed, learn to communicate well and work in a team, go the extra mile when you can, and don't let one mistake discourage you. You're going to make a lot of mistakes while you're learning. And as long as you do learn from them, they're not really mistakes at all.
I hope that you found this episode helpful. As always, you are welcome to join the conversation over at the Boom Your Biz private Facebook group. Just search Boom Your Biz, and shoot us a join request. Don't forget to download the free resource that goes with this episode as well. There is a link in the show notes. You can also check out our free resource library over kissmarketing.com.au.