If you’re just entering the field or are feeling adventurous and want to try something new, you might consider becoming an online-marketing agent in Germany. The job title might sound a bit strange, but this role is all about driving website traffic to gainful online marketing activities, such as converting website visitors into paying customers or generating leads for other businesses. Simply put, you’ll be doing the groundwork to build a successful online marketing strategy. You’ll need to put in the legwork to find the small business owners and site owners who are looking for help driving traffic to their sites.
You might wonder what kinds of training or education you’ll need to succeed in this role. Germany is a fairly competitive market, so you’ll need to be prepared to prove yourself and learn on the job. Fortunately, the demand for online marketing agents in Germany is high, which means there’s plenty of opportunity for you to learn the ropes and land yourself a six-figure job with the right company. In fact, since 2019, you don’t need a Bachelors degree to get started. (In other countries, the degree requirement varies by location.)
Let’s take a look at how to get started in this exciting new career path.
Decide which type of business owner you’ll work with
Working for a small business or site owner in Germany is a bit different than working for a multinational corporation. You’ll mostly be in charge of marketing and growing the business via digital marketing tactics. The only difference is the scale: Small businesses and websites usually don’t have a marketing budget, so you’ll have to prove your value and create strategies to grow the business. It’s also important to note that not all small businesses and website owners want or need help with marketing. Sometimes, they just need someone to help with deliveries or run a bit of errand for them.
Learn the basics of online marketing
If you’re entering this field with little to no experience, you’ll need to start at the very basics. The first step is to gain a good understanding of how digital marketing and SEO work. Don’t worry, we’re not gonna bombard you with too much information. Instead, take some time to familiarize yourself with basic SEO and digital marketing terminology. You can also find a lot of free educational materials online.
Get a good grasp on SEO
If you’ve decided to break into the field, you’ll need to have a decent understanding of SEO. Basically, SEO is the process of getting traffic to a website by artificially boosting its content and driving it to the top of search results. To do this, you need to determine the keywords or phrases that customers are using to find your services or products.
You might be wondering what makes up a good SEO strategy. Some of the things you could do include performing thorough keyword research, analyzing your competitors’ SEO strategies, creating informative content for your target audience, and building backlinks through content sharing.
Learn to build and manage backlinks
Backlinks are an essential part of any marketing campaign, whether you’re an SEO specialist or an online marketer. A backlink is a connection from one site to another. When someone clicks on a link, they’re being directed to the website of the brand or product being advertised. You can’t just focus on SEO and ignore backlinks completely. Without them, you’ll be losing out on a large chunk of potential traffic. You’ll need to learn to build and manage backlinks effectively. You can start by looking into buying and using a backlink analysis tool.
You might also want to consider looking into affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing, you’ll be earning a commission when someone clicks a purchase button or takes some other action after reading your content. There are many different affiliate marketing companies and platforms you can work with, so it’s worth your time to research them all.
Get a job as an online marketing intern
If you’ve done your research and have a good understanding of SEO and digital marketing, the next step is to get a job as an online marketing intern. After you’ve been in the field for a while and have proved yourself, you can then look for a full-time job as an online marketing agent. Many companies will give you a leg up by offering you an internship position or a dedicated marketing position with no experience required. Most likely, you’ll be doing some of the tasks that an SEO specialist would do, such as researching keywords, creating content for websites, and building backlinks. You might even get assigned the role of SEO assistant or intern SEO. However, your main responsibility will be creating organic content and promoting websites that are relevant to your target audience. You can’t just focus on SEO and expect to succeed as an online marketer. It takes skill, strategy, and hard work to stand out among competitors.
Understand affiliate marketing and how to use it to promote your business
If you’re new to this field, you’ll need to understand what affiliate marketing is and how it works. Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which you’ll be earning a commission when someone clicks a purchase button or takes some other action after reading your content.
You can use various affiliate marketing platforms, such as ClickBank, to find and connect with potential customers. Once you’ve signed up with a reputable affiliate marketing platform, you’ll need to look into the different types of affiliate marketing programs they have to offer. Some of the things you should consider are the minimum earnings requirements, how many products you can promote, and how much commission you’ll earn per sale.
Learn to create online communities
Once you’re starting to build a decent amount of content, you can then look into creating online communities. Essentially, you’ll be creating a space on the web where people with shared interests can come together to learn and provide support for each other. This could be in the form of a Facebook group for consumers or a LinkedIn group for marketers. (Check out our blog’s Facebook page to see examples of great communities we’ve created!)
The advantage of having an online community is that you can gain credibility and make connections with people who are already doing what you’re looking to do. When you contribute to an online community, you’re bringing value to the table. People are more likely to trust you and be interested in what you have to say if you’ve been involved in the community for a while and have established yourself as an expert.
Get to know social media marketing
If you’re looking to succeed as an online marketer, you’ll need to get to know social media marketing. Essentially, social media marketing is a type of marketing that uses social platforms to promote a business or product.
On social platforms, you’ll be able to connect with potential customers and promote your products or services via status updates, photos, and videos. You can use various platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, to gain traction and grow your following. The best part is that you can do all of this for free and without having to hire a marketing team. Simply use your personal social platforms to promote your work and start building a following of engaged customers.
There are many different routes you can take to get started as an online marketing agent in Germany. Once you’ve proven yourself, you can then look for a job at a reputable agency or firm, build a brand for yourself, and then find site owners, manufacturers, or vendors who are seeking marketing help.