Maybe you’re bored at your current job. Maybe you feel stuck with no room to grow, or perhaps you wish you had the option to work remotely or even freelance. If any of these sound like you, it may be time to make a change.
Why not get into digital marketing? It’s a broad field with plenty of room for growth and diversity—you may even find that much of your current skills and experiences are already in line with those of a digital marketing role!
In this article, we’ll discuss the following:
- Top 6 reasons why digital marketing is a great career path
- How to get into digital marketing
- Digital marketing FAQ
- Next steps
Ready to dive in? Let’s get started!
1. Top 6 reasons why digital marketing is a great career path
Reason #1: Digital marketers are in high demand
Digital marketing training is relevant to every company, profession, and industry right now, and demand is greater than ever for professionals who know how to connect amazing products and services with the people who will most benefit from them. As the market grows and businesses face a significant skills shortage, digital marketers demand continues to increase and they enjoy a rich variety of opportunities and competitive compensation.
Interesting fact: LinkedIn recently included the “Digital Marketing Specialist” role as the sixth most in-demand job, with 860,000 job openings globally.
Reason #2: Digital marketers come from many different backgrounds
While some digital marketers can come from a more analytical background, CareerFoundry has found that anyone can become a digital marketer if they apply themselves. Many people working in digital marketing today used to work in sales, teaching, customer service, finance, architecture, HR, and IT.
Reason #3: Digital marketers help businesses reach a wider audience
Companies know how beneficial the internet and digital platforms are. Digital marketing reaches a wider audience, allows companies to scale their business further, and generate more revenue.
Reason #4: Digital marketers are constantly evolving
Digital marketing moves quickly, and digital marketers are constantly learning and advancing in their careers. There is practically no limit to how much you can improve your skills and progress in your career as a digital marketer.
In addition to that, digital marketers are happy in their roles: Glassdoor named marketing management among the 50 best jobs in America for 2022 in terms of job satisfaction.
Reason #5: Digital marketers can work in many types of companies
Whether you’d like to be an entrepreneur yourself, work for a company’s marketing department, pivot from a more traditional marketing or communications job, or even support a state-run or non-profit organization or campaign, there’s a place for all who have digital marketing skills.
Reason #6: Digital marketers are shaping the future
Almost all companies have some kind of digital marketing strategy, and knowing how to improve these strategies is becoming of increasing importance.
Digital marketers help connect companies or products with users through various digital channels. It’s up to them to look for ways to continue to reach wider audiences and contribute to the overall performance and revenue of the company or organization.
2. How to get into digital marketing
The great thing about digital marketing is that it’s a field for all types of people, and you can work across many industries and disciplines throughout your career. But how do you get started in the first place? Your personal journey may differ from the following, but here are the basic steps to make the switch:
Learn the skills you need
How can you know what type of digital marketer you want to be when you’ve never worked in the field before? A practical way of finding out is by taking a digital marketing course and using that to figure out which digital marketing discipline suits you best.
There are plenty of free digital marketing courses and paid digital marketing courses on the market—it might be best to try a free one just to dip your toes in and do your research into paid courses that will benefit your needs best.
Don’t just think about course content, either. Which courses best suit your schedule? Are they in-person classes, hybrid, or remote? Are they taught on a strict schedule or asynchronous? Are there flexible payment options or grants available to you? What kind of career support is offered after graduation? Considering these practical aspects will help you narrow down your options.
Create a digital marketing portfolio
Potential recruiters and employers generally receive many applications for digital marketing roles, so a good way to stand out from the competition is to create a digital marketing portfolio that showcases your skills as well as highlights your professional interests.
In addition to capstone projects you’ll have made while studying, consider adding in some passion projects. For example: are you an aspiring copywriter interested in cooking? Start a recipe blog! Perhaps you’re looking to get into social media, and you’re interested in basketball—ideate a fantasy campaign for your favorite team to rally fans pre-season.
Ideally, your portfolio will be complementary to your digital marketing resume. Share the link to your portfolio liberally—at the top of your resume, on your LinkedIn, or any other social media you’re happy to have associated with your professional life.
Don’t know where to get started? Check out our step-by-step guide to creating your digital marketing portfolio.
Get into the field
Once you’ve created a stable foundation by learning some new skills and tools in a course and showcasing them through a portfolio, it’s time to get out there and start applying to jobs!
Set yourself a realistic goal of how many jobs you want to apply for per week, and stick to it—it’ll put you in a good routine of searching, applying, and interviewing regularly.
You may not receive responses back to all of your applications right away, and that’s totally fine! This is the stage where you want to be patient—it’ll be rewarded eventually. Plus, there’s no shortage of roles to apply for. If you haven’t found your dream job today, it could be on the job boards tomorrow! Start out by looking at classic job boards such as LinkedIn and Indeed for more general roles. Look into more industry-specific job boards if you’re wanting to hone in on one area in particular.
Check out the following video with CareerFoundry’s own Chief Marketing Officer, Ed Wood, for his insights on how to get into the industry:
The CareerFoundry YouTube channel has plenty of digital marketing content if you want to discover more!
3. Digital marketing FAQ
Can I get into digital marketing with no experience?
Yes! Many people will find that their current skills are easily transferable into a digital marketing role. Even if you find that there’s a gap in your resume, you can easily upskill by taking a digital marketing course.
Is digital marketing a good career?
We’ve outlined some of the reasons we think digital marketing is a good—nay, great—career to get into. With high demand for digital marketers from varied backgrounds, the flexibility and diversity in types of work available, and the opportunities to really scale up companies of all kinds, digital marketing is the type of career path that can really take you places.
How long does it take to learn digital marketing?
The answer to this truly depends on the individual. If you’re starting from scratch and are not sure of what type of digital marketing you want to specialize in, you’ll likely benefit from a full digital marketing program. If you’re already set on a specialization, you could likely take a focused upskilling course or even take on a traineeship that will give you the skills you need on the job. It all depends on your situation and approach.
4. Next steps
In this article, we looked at the top reasons why digital marketing is a great career choice. Want to start your own digital marketing journey? Why not try out this free, 5-day short course?
It’ll teach you about several digital marketing channels so that you can work out which one suits you best. You’ll even build a basic digital marketing campaign! Should your interest continue to grow, you could move on to the full Digital Marketing Program.
You may also be interested in the following articles: