Let’s assume that you have made up your mind to become a digital marketer. But the only thing stopping you from making the final move is the thought that digital marketing is hard.
Most people believe digital marketing is hard. They believe only a select group of people or techies can learn digital marketing.
Digital marketing is a great career with tons of opportunities. But is it as hard as many claim? You’ll find the answers you seek in this post.
Is Digital Marketing Hard?
The simple answer is yes and no. Yes, if you don’t fancy doing too much work or spending hours learning or working on a task. Digital marketing is a field that’s constantly evolving. So you need to keep learning to stay up-to-date.
Not having the best learning material or tutor can make learning digital marketing hard for you. Remember there is so much to learn in this field and having proper guidance will help you avoid any confusion.
Digital marketing is such a broad field. So, picking a specific niche and focusing on that would be a good idea. But you must be a generalist to succeed in the industry. What this means is, you need to know a little about everything but still focus on a specific niche.
Keep reading for more information on digital marketing
Do You Require A Degree To Become A Digital Marketer?
Obtaining a bachelor’s degree is a good decision for digital marketers. It will lay a good foundation for your career. You can get a degree in marketing, management, business administration, computer science, etc.
A degree in digital marketing is also acceptable but not necessary. The main thing employers consider is your experience and skill. They want to hire someone that can deliver expected results.
So, if you already have a degree, focus on developing your knowledge in digital marketing. You can join Bootcamps to help get your feet wet on the trade.
You’ll learn and acquire basic digital marketing skills at Bootcamps. These include email marketing, social media management, advertising, etc.
Bootcamps usually last for a couple of weeks. But if you pay good attention, the time spent will be worthwhile.
Who Can Become A Digital Marketer?
Anyone can become a digital marketer. It is not a field set aside for a class of people. Your degree also doesn’t matter.
However, digital marketing is more suitable for creatives. You need to be highly creative and come up with strategies to get results.
Additionally, you must be ready to learn new things and boost your knowledge base because digital marketing is always evolving. .
A Handy Tip: Digital marketing is a broad field. There is so much for beginners to learn. So the best advice is to focus on the latest trend in your chosen field.
You can revisit strategies and methods deployed in the past when you have the chance. But keep in mind that the career you chose is a dynamic one. Thus, the strategies used ten years ago might no longer be effective today.
So, you have to learn and implement new strategies to get results.
The Skills A Digital Marketer Should Possess
What skill do you need to become a successful digital marketer? Here is a good question.
As a digital marketer, you’re expected to know a little about everything but be a specialist in one specific area.
For instance, you can be a specialist in social media marketing, but know things about copywriting, SEO, and others.
Now, this is why digital marketers are called generalists and specialists. You need to have a general idea of almost all the areas of digital marketing but be a specialist in one area.
So, what skills does a digital marketer need to possess? The answer is simple. You need soft and hard skills. Let’s put it that way.
What are the soft skills digital marketers need to possess?
Here are the examples below.
- Listening
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Observing
- Creativity
- Analysis
- Critical thinking
- Curiosity
- Leadership
- Adaptability
- Problem-solving skills
All these soft skills are relevant if you want to succeed as a digital marketer. Having them will make your journey smooth, and you’ll be more productive.
We have highlighted some of the soft skills. Now, let’s move over to the hard skills.
Below are examples of hard skills you need to possess as a digital marketer.
1. Writing skills:
Is there any content on the web that doesn’t include writing? No, there’s none! Even the videos and audio content flooding the internet now and then were developed via writing.
So, writing is one of the skills you need to possess as a digital marketer. You need to be a good writer too.
Understand that being a good writer doesn’t mean you should be at the same level as Stephen King and other top writers. Being a good writer means that you can convey your idea to readers.
It doesn’t mean you can’t make mistakes. Even top writers make mistakes. Just edit your work ruthlessly and get rid of the error.
So, writing is one of the hard skills every digital marketer must possess. It doesn’t matter your niche or interest.
2. Search engine optimization skills:
You cannot do without SEO as a digital marketer. Why? It is necessary to make your work heard and seen on the internet. And this applies to text, video, or audio content.
You need to know how to conduct search engine optimization on-page and off-page. Both strategies are deployed to get more traffic to a website and increase its ranking.
3. Data analysis and marketing analytics:
The beautiful thing about digital marketing is that you can measure the result. That is why online marketing is different from traditional marketing.
For instance, I can tell how many people have visited this page in the past months, their demographics, and how much time they spent consuming this content.
Unfortunately, you cannot tell how many people have viewed a billboard.
Things That Make Digital Marketing Hard
Wait a minute. The title looks misleading. Well, that’s not the intention. There is no simple career or field in the world. Every career has its challenges and digital marketing isn’t an exception.
Some things called “stressors” make digital marketing hard for beginners, including established professionals. Let’s discuss them quickly.
Google Updates:
Though Google and other search engines are the reasons we have a field called digital marketing, they’re among the factors that make it stressful.
Google constantly initiates updates that can impact website ranking and traffic. This means the effort put into making your clients’ website to rank may go down the drain within a blink of an eye.
Website owners and digital marketers can’t do anything about these updates. The only way to tackle them is to keep up to date with these changes. Understand why Google has made the changes and what you can do to ensure your website stays relevant.
Low-budget and high expectations:
Have you ever had a boss or client that will set a low budget but have high expectations? If yes, then you know how challenging it was for you to deliver.
Sometimes, you may not even have a budget to work with, but they’ll expect massive results from you.
As a professional, you’re expected to work with every client, regardless of budget and company size. But please, try to always set realistic expectations.
You can inform the client or boss that you’ll get ABC results if you spend XYZ money. Don’t just agree with any figure quoted for you by the client or your boss.
Don’t forget that your project will be called a failed one if you fail to hit the set target.
Analyzing results from marketing campaign:
You have expectations and so does your client. Every digital marketer promises to deliver the expected results until the actual project starts and the outcome shows otherwise.
Imagine spending the last six months working on an online marketing campaign. You have invested your heart, soul, and time into yourself.
As a result, you believe the results would be massive and have made your boss or client believe such. Now, reality has set in.
After measuring the metrics, you can see that the results don’t measure up to the effort you put into the work.
These types of situations happen a lot. They’ll make you feel you’re not good enough and make you feel quitting is the best option.
But don’t quit. Study how you approached the project, learn from your mistakes and move on. If possible, you can even ask the client or your boss to increase the budget if that would solve the problem.
Conclusion
So, is digital marketing hard? The answer is yes and no. You won’t have difficulty learning or becoming a digital marketing pro if you follow the proper steps.
The proper steps include joining active digital marketing boot camps and getting your hands on quality materials. You also have to show eagerness to learn.
Learning is part of the job of digital marketers. You have to learn new trends, techniques, tools, and more.
We also discussed things that make digital marketing hard and shared tips on how you can handle them. So, read to prepare yourself for a successful career ahead better.
