In an era where marketing is the order of the day for any serious business, it is safe to say that competition has been kicked up a notch. So many companies invest hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for marketing. The funny part is, more than three-quarters of this money is injected into digital marketing. From Search Engine Optimization to running ads, online marketing has become the best way for any organization to reach out.
One impact of digital marketing that is significant is that it has opened doors for any sized enterprise to compete. It is the main boost behind the alarming numbers of new startups every day. That is because digital marketing can allow them to market for free and build their audience overtime making the whole journey to getting established less stressful. The reason why most startups have become successful is because of good online marketing, which in most cases, is handled by someone self-taught.
It’s safe to say that anyone can become a professional online marketer if they have the drive. It does take lots of hours of spending time online, but the rewards will supersede your expectations. Many freelancer digital marketers reap millions of dollars per year, and some of them never attended any real marketing class.
The journey to becoming a professional digital marketer
There are so many routes that one takes and ends up a professional online marketer bit; there are some basic things that you must do and in no particular order and they include;
1. Getting started
You have to start from somewhere, and in most cases, it will be by gathering information from the internet. You will probably want to know the requirements and the best place to get the right online marketingcourse.com. You will have to be extra cautious at this stage because some ill-minded people are out to exploit and, in worst cases, con you of your money.
For that reason, you will have to ensure that you make the right choices. From companies to individual professionals, there are so many ways of attaining an online marketing course that will make you competent. There are even some people who have managed to secure well-paying online marketing jobs with the knowledge and skills attained from online courses. You, therefore, want to go for an online digital marketingcourse.com that awards its students a valid certificate that anyone can verify. Many employers will want to prove if your certificate is legit.
2. Taking the course
Learning marketing online can be done in two ways. You have the option of taking the free courses, which can help you set a good foundation in this profession. The only problem with free courses is that they hardly provide any recognition or certification. In many cases, they have a premium option that comes at a cost, a better package because of certification and other kinds of recognition.
Nevertheless, free online courses are an excellent place to start if you don’t have the money to afford the paid courses. You will have the knowledge and skills you will have nothing to show for it. However, if you work hard enough and get some jobs, it should serve as proof of work; hence you need to go the extra mile of impressing your client to recommend you. With free courses, you have to be keen on building your portfolio because there is no better way of convincing clients about your excellent work than proof.
3. Dedication, patience, and drive
You need passion if you want to become a professional online marketer. It might take longer before you can become a qualified online marketer. Realize that being a professional marketer is not like any other profession because you have the freedom to deal with as many clients as you can handle. For this to be possible, you have to make sure that you understand the industry correctly. Note that online marketing is a vast field, and some of the best practitioners have survived in the market because of one thing, connection.
It takes patience and consistency to achieve anything, including building a connection that will support your course. You may not provide every service because many online marketers tend to specialize in a single area. That, however, does not restrict them from offering other services. That is because they can always reach out to their contacts. This is an integral part of online marketing because some clients will want extensive services like guest posting on various websites.
The perfect marketer
A good marketer is dynamic and ready always ready to learn. As mentioned, online marketing is comprehensive, and it may not be possible to be the best person for every service unless you are a company. A perfect online marketer has a niche. He or she has to be an expert in a particular area, and it should be reflected in their portfolio. You cannot state that you are an online marketer and leave it at that. Your prospects will want to know what exactly you can do and if it is what they need.
Honesty is another crucial factor that makes up a perfect marketer. In many cases, online marketing is a remote kind of job in that you may never meet your employer. The worst thing that you can do is tell a lie that you cannot recover from. For example, your employer can request an analytics report or ask you to find sites for guest posting, and you are not delivering or perform on request.
Because many people fear being perceived as incompetent, they will acknowledge the request even though they know that they may not deliver on time. The best you can do is let your employer know your status and ask them to allow you to work when you are ready. Employers, too, are human beings and understand that you can have other dedications. Being honest makes it easy for the client to understand you, and they would instead work with an honest person than a perfect online marketer who does not keep their word.
A good online marketer is presentable in the fact that they will always have a robust portfolio to represent them online. Platforms such as LinkedIn must-have for any online marketer because the platform is strictly for professionals. It is not only on LinkedIn but also on any other platform you would want to showcase your services. Ensure that your profiles and portfolios are always up to date by adding any other kind of work you have done or trained you have received.
Prospects have a way of coming back, and on any occasion, they tend to monitor people reaching out to them for work. No employer will reach out to you after finding out that your online portfolio is precisely the same more than one year later. He or she will assume that you either have a full-time job or are not actively working on becoming a better online marketer. Unless you forget, online marketing is dynamic, and with time, there are many changes, and an excellent online marketer must keep up with the trends, especially if they wish to offer the service for a long time.
I have completed my course and updated my portfolio; now what?
One big question that many people ask even before starting their online marketing course is where they are going to find their clients. There are so many ways of finding well-paying clients for online marketing services and they include;
1. Free bidding websites
There are so many bidding freelancing platforms these days that anyone can sign up for totally free. An excellent example of these includes Freelancer, Truelancer, Upwork, and many more you can get concerning the service you want to offer and country. The good thing with bidding sites is that there are many jobs that any online marketer can do. The only problem with bidding sites is that it may take longer, especially for newbies, to land their first gig, but it depends on several factors. Platforms like Freelancer, which have been around for longer, tend to have many workers, making it hard to win jobs.
Newer bidding sites tend to have more employers that freelancers, and People Per Hour is an excellent example of a bidding site that can present more chances of getting a job. Don’t forget that you are not limited to using any specific number of these accounts because they are open platforms for outsourcing. The services usually are available in most countries in the world.
2. Direct or cold pitching
Cold pitching in online marketing can be best described as the process of reaching out to customers directly using their contacts, usually email. Although many people do not prefer this because it is a lot of work, it is one of the best ways to find well-paying jobs. If you want to cold pitch and succeed, you will need to make sure that your prospect searching process will lead you to the right place to submit your proposal.
To contacts these clients, you will want to start by looking for websites that look like they can need your services. Also, make sure to search for sites related to your niche. For example, your search should look something like Online marketing services for health websites if your niche is health. After getting to the results page, you can try out any website in the first 25pages. Click the contact us page, and you can use the contact form or the provided contact email. There are more ways of making sure that you reach the company decision-maker, and you can get them all online for free.
3. Job websites
Job websites are another way of finding clients who need online marketing services. They are not very different from bidding platforms only that job sites don’t limit you on how many job applications you can send and offer both online and physical jobs. Job sites are also not limited, and you can sign up for one in any country.
Note that there are so many people looking for these opportunities online; therefore, if you have to send your application, you need to make sure that it is outstanding. That, however, does not imply that you have a lesser chance of getting the opportunities. As mentioned, online marketing is extensive, and clients are ready to pay for simple services like social media posting, something that you only need your phone to do.
4. Social media
Social media has become one spot for everything. From entertainment to finding jobs, everything is here. Make sure to build an organized profile that can easily convince someone. Make sure to use your real names and, if possible, only share professional content related to the service you are providing. You will also want to follow pages and groups related to digital marketing. Some clients use groups to find employees.
5. Take accounts
Besides bidding accounts, there are take accounts that you get to pick jobs without bidding against anybody. The good thing with taking accounts is that you get jobs fast and get paid fast as well. The only problem is there is competition for jobs; hence can be affected by low seasons. Take accounts also allow you to work when you want because all you need to do is log in to your account and pick work.
Some take accounts are widely known; therefore, they have more freelancers. They may be hard to work with unless you can spend more time online.
Final say
Anybody can become a successful professional online marketer if they are willing to learn through the process. While it can take a little longer to get well-paying work, some people get online marketing jobs, yet they don’t possess the skill or knowledge and outsource freelancer services. This tells you that everyone stands an equal chance in this industry.