You may be familiar with the phrase “digital nomad,” which describes someone who makes a living solely from digital marketing activities. What you probably haven’t heard is that there is no special degree or license that grants you the ability to be a digital marketer. In fact, you don’t even need previous experience to become an expert.

In the simplest terms, digital marketing is a way of attracting, engaging, and retaining customers through digital communication and digital marketing channels.

These channels include websites, apps, social media, email, and mobile phones. Your job as a digital marketer is to identify the best way to communicate with your customers and to design a strategy for delivering that message across various platforms.

In order to get started with digital marketing, you will first need to decide what role you will play in the process. There are various positions, such as a content marketer, social media marketer, web developer, and so on. Once you find out which one you are, you can begin your journey toward becoming a successful digital marketer.

Decide On A Niche

As a digital marketer, you may be responsible for creating marketing campaigns for various companies across different industries. That is why it is important to narrow your focus and choose a niche. This will help you identify key issues that your current and prospective customers are facing. It will also enable you to become an expert in a particular field. For example, if you are a web developer, you may specialize in e-commerce or website design.

Whatever your niche, make sure that there is enough demand for your services in your chosen location. If you are looking for freelance work, you can use platforms like Upwork or Fiverr to find customers in need of your services. Make sure to specialize in a few key areas (e.g. website development, SEO, content creation) so that you can provide value-added services to your customers. This will increase your chance of winning new business and retaining existing customers.

Decide On A Platform

Once you have established a reputable name in your chosen field and you have enough customers, you can begin to establish yourself as a digital marketer. The next step is to decide on a marketing platform. There are several platforms that you can choose from, such as HubSpot, which we will discuss in more detail in a minute. Once you have established yourself on one platform, you can then move to other platforms that you find more convenient or advantageous.

The important thing to consider here is the amount of data that you can access. If you decide to make the switch to a more robust platform, you may find that your database is locked down. This means that you cannot access certain pieces of data unless the vendor that you are working with grants you full access. If this is the case, make sure to negotiate for the necessary rights before you sign a contract. You should be aware that the costs of implementing a new digital marketing platform could be quite high, and this is definitely something that you need to consider before you begin your migration journey.

Establish A Roster Of Marketing Experts

A good digital marketer should be an expert in a variety of areas. If you are looking for accredited experts who can help you launch your own marketing campaign or take over an existing one, you can use platforms like Upwork or Fiverr to find freelancers who can help you out. Once you have a small group of experts, you can begin to establish yourself as a thought leader in your chosen field. This way, you can continue to attract more customers and establish yourself as an expert in your industry.

Understand How Technical Requirements Impact Strategy

When you are developing a marketing strategy, you need to consider a number of factors. These include things like the CMS (content management system) that you will use to create and update websites and blogs, the type of web hosting that you will utilize, and so on. If you are not familiar with these terms, don’t worry: you are not alone. Many businesses, especially small ones, do not have the in-house expertise needed to properly run a website. This is where contractors like you come in. With your specialized knowledge, you can help design a site that is user-friendly and cost-efficient. You can also optimize it for SEO (search engine optimization), which will help it stand out among the competition.

Depending on your technical expertise, you may choose to specialize in web design, SEO, content strategy, or performance marketing. Each specialty has its perks, but if you are just getting started, make sure to develop the necessary skills to be an expert in any field. The main point is that you should feel confident that you can take on any technical task that may come your way.

Choose The Right Tools

Once you have a strategy in place, you can begin to choose the right tools. While you may be inclined to grab the first thing that you see when looking for software to help with your marketing, this is the exact opposite of what you should do. The better the tool, the more effective your strategy will be. Here are some of the best tips on how to choose the right tools for your digital marketing strategy:

Watch Out For Free Trials

Even the best software sometimes throws in a free trial version to sweeten the deal. While it is tempting to sign up for the trial version and see what all the buzz is about, you should actually wait until you have spent some money on the tool. This is because you cannot make any meaningful changes to the tool after the trial period. You should also watch out for trial versions that limit you to a certain number of users or prohibit you from exporting data to other systems. This is a major hassle if you are looking to track and analyze marketing performance.

Reading Reviews

A good place to find reviews is the developer’s website itself. If you are unfamiliar, a developer is the person who wrote the code for the software. On most websites, you will find reviews from current or past customers along with answers to frequently asked questions. These are all important things to consider before making a purchase decision.

Develop A Five (or Six) Step Strategy

Now that you are equipped with the basics, it is time to develop a five (or six) step strategy. The first step is to define the purpose of your strategy. Begin by writing down all the major goals and the expected results. Once you have that down, you can move on to the next step. This is where you will lay out the different channels (i.e. websites, social media, etc.) that you will use to reach your audience. From there, you can choose the specific platforms (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, etc.) that you will use to reach your audience. Once you have chosen your platforms, you can move on to the last step and begin to develop content for your strategy.

Some marketers and strategists will tell you that you should choose at least three channels to succeed as a digital marketer. If you want to be seen as a thought leader in your field, make sure to establish yourself as an expert in at least three platforms. If you are looking to increase your client base, make sure to establish yourself as an expert in at least six channels. These experts will then be able to help you grow your business and client base.