More people spend more time on the internet now than ever before. The social media era has taken the attention of the consumers from their previous offline distractions, and as such, has reduced the impact traditional marketing or advertising used to have on the population.
Companies with stagnant or dwindling revenues are desperate for more sales, especially as the consumers they used to target now spend their time chasing other things online.
To achieve this, organisations are beginning to follow the trend and go where the eye balls currently are. They try to engage with their market and do everything possible to convert them into loyalists.
The problem here is building a successful brand online this is hard for a traditional marketing team. Even a team of 10 experienced offline marketers in an organisation can yield zero results with online marketing.
The void and difficulty of building a brand online then creates a strong opportunity for the new type of marketer: The digital marketing expert.
See Also: How To Make At Least $1,000 Monthly Online Without Google Ads
What Is Digital Marketing About Anyway?
Digital marketing is the art of marketing products or services using digital technologies, majorly on the internet, including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium.
Who Then Is A Digital Marketing Expert?
A digital marking expert is an individual with a vast experience and know-how to promote or sell any brand’s image, products, or services online. They’re usually experts at what they do, and can deliver results that a traditional marketer would only dream of doing offline.
These individuals are usually well-paid, with a highly experienced digital marketer with an exceptional track record earning 10x more than the regular digital marketer would.
For a fact, some extraordinary digital marketers like Neil Patel sometimes earn as high as $100,000 Dollars just to audit an organisation’s digital strategy and create a plan for them to follow.
See Also: 20+ High Paying Affiliate Programs That Will Make You Money From Nigeria
How Can You Become A Digital Marketing Expert?
Becoming an experienced and highly sought-after digital marketer takes a lot of time and effort. You must be willing to keep learning and must have a track record of businesses you have successfully helped sell more of their products or services online.
That said, here are 6 things you must know if you’re going to become a successful digital marketing expert:
1). You Must Learn Constantly:
Education is key to staying ahead of the curve. To always know what’s new in the industry, what currently works, what’s getting defunct, who the top marketers are, and how to break into a new market niche, you must always be learning. Your knowledge base must encompass everything about digital marketing, and you must be prepared to take on any task that’s put forward before you.
Here are some things you must know as a digital marketing expert:
- Content marketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Paid Search (PPC)
- Email marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Digital Display Marketing (Ad Ops)
- Web Analytics and Reporting
- Mobile Marketing
- Video Marketing
- Building High-Converting Sales Funnels
And many more.
To be a successful digital marketing expert, you must master these online marketing fundamentals and hone them to perfection.
Udemy offers an exceptional digital marketing course (12 COURSES IN ONE!) that’ll teach you everything you need to know on how to become a highly skilled and successful digital marketing expert.
You can register for the comprehensive course here.
2). Implement What You’ve Learnt With Personal Projects:
Everything you’ve learnt should be put into practice. You can setup personal social media accounts and grow them till they have large followings, start a blog and grow it successfully using advanced digital marketing techniques, create a sales funnel and sell thousands of digital products, and a whole lot more.
By implementing what you’ve learnt on your own projects, you’ll quickly learn from your failures and get better than you are at digital marketing in a very short time.
3). Do A Lot Of Free work:
People usually don’t throw in a lot of money at an individual who has little to nothing to show. They want to see works you’ve done for other clients like them, and to achieve this, you’d have to spend a lot of time doing some free or very low-paid jobs for some businesses.
Doing this will help you build a portfolio you can work with, and will determine your negotiating power, depending on what type of successes your free or low paid works managed to achieve.
See Also: How To Start A Profitable Affiliate Marketing Site That Makes At Least $500 A Month
4). Build Your Personal Brand:
Your personal brand will more likely precede your business name as a digital marketer, and as such, you must spend a lot of time grooming it to a highly respectable state.
One way to do this is by starting a blog where you teach people digital marketing. By doing this, you establish yourself as an authority, and this makes organisations and other digital marketers view you as a professional they can learn from or patronise.
Click here to follow this very comprehensive guide on how to start a money-making blog
5). Network:
By networking, I mean engaging with other digital marketers online, commenting on high authority digital marketing blogs to get pressing answers from your mentors, and sending emails from time to time to your colleagues (even if you’ve never met them before) for solutions to some problems you’re experiencing.
Networking is critical for every digital marker, as times will arise when you’ll be stuck in a critical situation and will need someone else to share their experience with you, on how they got out of it.
By networking, you’ll also get referrals for digital marketing consultancy gigs, which would have a great impact on your income depending on what type of client you get.
See Also: 4 Ridiculously Simple Ways to Make At Least $20 Today!
6). Get Certified:
While this is not compulsory, some clients will never let your lack of a certification go unnoticed. People who mostly require a form of certification are largely individuals who are or act like they’re from a previous generation. They believe skill-sets are first proven on paper before real life, and will find it difficult giving you a go ahead to work with their company without a form of document that certifies you’re fit for the job.
To avoid missing potential income that could be generated from this sect, you should go on to get a digital marketing certification, so you can always present it whenever you’re asked.
To Sum It Up
While digital marketing may seem easy after reading this article, it entirely isn’t. You have to be up-to-date on everything that’s happening in the internet marketing sphere and regularly work on projects (even for free sometimes) to build a trail of works you have successfully executed.
If you’re ready to become a successful digital marketing expert in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Africa, or anywhere else across the world, taking Udemy’s highly comprehensive digital marketing course (that also comes with a certificate!) is a great place to start!
Click here to take the 12 in 1 advanced digital marketing course
What are your thoughts on how to become a successful digital marketing expert? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
Stan, this is a great post; it will only take a Digital Marketer to write a post this detailed.
Just to reiterate one point you mentioned earlier, the habit of constant education cannot be overemphasized as this industry is a fast moving one.
The information or tactic that was working a few minutes ago can become obsolete the next minute. So anyone condisering getting this reader must be a voracious reader and an active doer.
…my one kobo.
Unfortunately, there’s no edit option.
I meant to say, “anyone considering getting into this industry”.
Stan, as always, you have put out another great article.
Regarding point #1, one way any Digital Marketer can stay updated in this industry is by using a smart tool like Google Alerts.
Personally, I use it to track the keyword “Digital Marketing” and so I never miss out on any info in Nigeria that has to do with Digital Marketing.
Any Digital Marketer who knows his onion is a voracious reader; there’s an insatiable hunger for knowledge and this is one key habit that makes them stand out as their wealth of knowledge helps them easily proffer solutions to digital marketing issues.
…just my one cent.
Thanks for this nice tips. I definitely gained some new insights on Digital marketing here.
Thanks for this nice tips. I definitely gained some new insights on Digital marketing here.
this tips is helpful, nice info
really help for me
thanks for the tip
this tips is helpful, nice info
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wow…i just learnt a wonderful thing today— thanks alot
I Must say that I’m So Proud of the original publisher this contents
Thanks for sharing this information
You really made my day with this insightful knowledge shared.
infact the Articles is just plain
Thanks alot i was really blessed
mehn, i really appreciate this podst and iam fully impressed with your detailed analysis on digital marketing
Thank you for reading.
You are a man of wisdom
Digital Marketing is the real deal. Thanks for sharing.
You really made my day with this insightful knowledge shared.
Thank you for reading.
Thanks for this nice tips. I definitely gained some new insights on Digital marketing here.
That was detailed and well written.
The first point though is what scares off most Nigerian youths.
They want to Earn when they need to Learn.
I need more update on this article
Constant Learning is the most important step toward becoming a digital marketing expert.
really help for me
Thank you Stan for this wonderful resources on digital marketing. It’s really helpful to me.
Thank you for bringing up this wonderful topic
You are right on this.
You Know i love it when people focus on my thought, this is what i have been searching for and here i am seeing this with my greatest surprise, thank you so much
Thank you Stan for this wonderful resources on digital marketing. It’s really helpful to me.
Thank you for reading, Emmanuel.
This is Interesting. This blog post is a great resource for whoever wants to venture into digital marketing in Nigeria.
You are a great writer