Have you been thinking of an alternate career? Are you looking forward to set foot in the digital marketing world? Well, it’s time for you to get started. All the companies out there have started to tweak their marketing strategies and heading towards the digital world. This has opened a realm of opportunities in the digital marketing niche and it’s the right time for you to switch careers.

Recent studies show that the digital economy is ever on the rise and its growing 10 times faster than the traditional economy. This will in fact result in more job opportunities and different career paths for many. Here are a few pointers for you to keep in mind while setting foot in the digital marketing world:

1. Eagerness and passion to learn

The marketing industry as you see today is both incredibly competitive and fast growing. It’s pretty easy for business experts to differentiate between true, passionate marketers, and the ones who are just along for the ride. You can’t succeed unless you’re really passionate about what you do. You must be eager to learn about the new marketing trends and ready to try out anything new to succeed in the marketing world.

2. Keep yourselves updated

You should keep up with the top of industry news and learn all new marketing strategies. Does it sound too hard? Well, it’s not. All that you have to do is follow influential marketers in social media and join major digital marketing websites. Most of the major players, like Google, Facebook, and others tweak their algorithms and marketing strategies regularly. Keeping yourselves updated about these trends is very much essential, unless you’re in for a wild ride.

3. Grow your networks

You can’t survive alone in the digital marketing field. You need contacts, networks of professionals and fellow marketers to stay in the race. The people you meet can get you out when you run into problems in your marketing career. Networking will also open doors to many new opportunities that will boost your marketing career. Participate or attend conferences and industry meet ups to get to know fellow marketers and learn some new marketing ideas.

4. Try out your own ideas

The strategies and options devised by the industry leaders aren’t your gospels, try out new strategies and options for yourselves. There’s no right or wrong in the digital marketing industry, one good strategy might urn bad due to bad implementation or a bad strategy might turn a hit. So try out some ideas for yourselves, rather than following what’s already in the books.

5. Learn all marketing terminologies

The digital marketing world runs on many acronyms and terminologies, like PPC, SEM, SEO, and more. Many new marketers confuse one term for the other and end up using the wrong strategy. They are all different terms and you can’t afford to take them lightly. Only when you understand these industry jargons, you’ll be able to device your own strategies in the marketing industry.

6. Make your profile noticeable

A successful digital marketer will always have a strong online presence. If you want your profile to be visible to your employers, you should build your own personal brand. Building your online presence, like running a blog, owning a website, and building an online profile will easily make your recognizable in the marketing industry. When two candidates apply for the same position, the candidate with a strong online presence would gain an upper hand.

7. Turn into an all-rounder

Rand Fishkin, the founder of Moz, once stated that he would hire a candidate who has specialization in one or two marketing skills, but at the same time must have basic knowledge about multiple marketing disciplines. That’s what being a T-shaped marketer is all about. Digital marketing is not just a single stream, it has a broad category of disciplines and there’s a significant cross over between different channels. You should have a basic knowledge of all these streams to be a successful marketer.

8. Learn some basics as well

Digital marketing might sound pretty simple, but the truth is its more technical and data driven. You wouldn’t be developing or building web pages and contents from the scratch; you would only be analyzing and marketing it. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t learn about basic web building techniques. A basic graphic design and HTML knowledge would help your stand out from other less technical minded marketers.

9. Learn some metrics

Do you know what your CPC is from the given CPA? If you’re wondering what these are – Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). These are the metrics that measure the popularity of a website or the success of a digital marketing strategy. If you want to stand unique in an interview, produce your research that involves a lot of metrics. This will help you recognize how each marketing technique performs and give you a better understanding of these strategies.

10. Get certified

If you really want to get recognized among your peers in the marketing field, getting certified in a marketing stream will help. One of the major loopholes in the digital marketing industry is that anyone with a basic marketing knowledge could get hired for a high paying job. Obviously, they would develop their skill set depending on the job requirement. Nowadays, the recruiters are savvier about differentiating ideal candidates from dummies. Holding a certification would help you stay ahead of others in the marketing field.

Digital marketing skills are in serious demand and it’s the right time for you to step foot into the marketing realm. The job market is rapidly booming with more and more focus being given to digital marketing. This is the best time for you to uplift your career and be a digital marketer.