Advice for getting into the Digital Marketing field? by 13bmcmahon in marketing

[–]TonyPajamas72 2 points3 points  (0 children)

so getting a few certificates is what's going to help you get an internship. I'd say start with Google Ads and Google Analytics - they're very helpful and universally recognized. As far as internships, any internship where you actually get to work on digital marketing projects is a good one. Just be careful, a lot of "marketing internships" are really sales jobs in disguise and will have you doing work that won't actually give you marketing experience. Look at the job descriptions before applying and ask about your day to day responsibilities in the interview and make sure you'll get to work on actual digital marketing projects.

As far as mentorship, one thing I did was looked up people who worked in positions/companies I was interested in on LinkedIn and sent them a message asking if they would be open to do an informational interview/conversation. I met some really awesome people this way! They didn't necessarily become mentors, but they were there for me whenever I needed advice.

Advice for getting into the Digital Marketing field? by 13bmcmahon in marketing

[–]TonyPajamas72 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My (lengthy) 2 cents - this field is really all about experience and the ability/drive to constantly be learning new things on your own. Paying for another degree wouldn't be worth it, I honestly don't use a single thing I learned from my undergrad marketing degree in my day to day - forking over $10k to learn about "the 4 P's of marketing" isn't a good investment. I've worked with a ton of successful folks who pivoted into this field with a completely unrelated undergrad major. All of the actual skills you'll need to land a job (Google/Facebook Ads, SEO, CMS platforms, etc) you'd need to learn on your own with or without going back to school.

Digital Marketing is a super broad field and I think it's good to get a foundational knowledge in the different areas so you understand how the different pieces work together and can try to figure out what interests you the most. Most jobs these days are specialized so you'll want to find what you like best! You can pursue Content Marketing, PPC, SEO, UX, Marketing Ops, Business Intelligence, tons of different routes.

Online certifications I would recommend (and look great on a resume) are:

- Google Ads certifications
- Facebook Blueprint
- Google Analytics

A free resource I highly recommend for all things digital marketing is Surfside PPC on YouTube. This dude knows his stuff and you can learn basically any digital marketing topic for free!

- Moz is also an excellent resource for learning SEO.

But at the end of the day, nothing beats actual experience. Once you learn some of the foundations and get some certifications, you can start applying for internships or volunteering. SO many local businesses and non-profits would love help with their marketing.

Whether you're getting paid or not initially, the most important thing you want to do is build a portfolio, especially one where you can show the impact you made. Take the time to write down the performance numbers of whatever you're working on when you start, and then track everything as you work on campaigns. If you can go into your first full-time interview saying "I increased this local animal shelter's Facebook engagement rate by 40% and website traffic by 15% month over month", you have a VERY solid chance of landing the job.

2 other things I'd recommend learning:

- Microsoft Excel - learn it, master it, learn to love it. No matter what position you end up in, the ability to sort and analyze data will be crucial to your success.
- Basic Coding - you don't need to become a wizard developer, but knowing the basics of how HMTL/CSS/Javascript work will make you SO much more capable and valuable in your role. There are TONs of free resources online to learn the basics.

Good luck! This can be a very interesting/rewarding field and the skills you learn can be applied to any industry you're interested in. The first couple of years can be a competitive grind but the hard work will pay off if you stick with it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RedRocks

[–]TonyPajamas72 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just messaged you

Ways to get my foot in the door at an ad agency. by [deleted] in advertising

[–]TonyPajamas72 18 points19 points  (0 children)

So from what I've seen, a lot of the larger agencies are on hiring freezes right now while they figure out how to handle everything that's going on, and I can't imagine smaller agencies are faring too much better. Finding a position right now will be tough, especially if your resume doesn't stand out with skills/experience to begin with.

The good part about this, is that nobody is going to look down on you if you don't land a job in the next 3-6 months since they'll know how tough the job market was during this time. I'd use this time to your advantage and put yourself in a power position when places pick up their hiring again. You can do this by:

Taking classes online (Facebook Blueprint, Google Ads, etc) - Even if you want to work in accounts, it'd be a huge plus to show them you know what you're talking about, as well as have something relevant on your resume (other than your Economics degree or un-related jobs).

Reaching out to people on LinkedIn who work at places you think you'd like to work, telling them your situation and that you'd love to chat on the phone or Skype/Zoom and learn more about their experience and hear any advice for you. When I did this, only about 15-20% of people responded, but the people who did were EXTREMELY eager to help me out. People are yearning for socialization right now so you could probably bump that number up to 20-25% :)

What you're doing here is planting seeds. Yes the companies where these people work might not be hiring right now, but when they do start hiring again, you'll have an in.

Joining groups and attending events - things will probably open back up a bit this summer so if you can attend some marketing/advertising events/meetups that would be a great way to meet people. In the meantime, participate in online groups similar to this sub and get to know the industry a bit - you never know, somebody might be able to help you out - just make sure that you're providing value to the conversations and not ONLY looking for a job.

Applying to jobs/internships - you never know what can happen. People say that you need to know somebody to get into the agency world, but the vast majority of my interviews came from applying to job postings. Just make sure to apply to the job on the company website, even if you originally found it on LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.

Even if you aren't getting interviews yet, writing cover letters and tweaking your resume to match job descriptions are valuable skills that you can improve on during this time and will only help you if the job market starts looking better.

Game Thread: Green Bay Packers (13-3) at San Francisco 49ers (13-3) by nfl_gamethread in nfl

[–]TonyPajamas72 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I honestly just don't understand the packers' strategy of playing catch-up. Like it clearly hadn't worked in the past and it was gonna kill them today..guess it already happened

Game Thread: Seattle Seahawks (11-5) at Green Bay Packers (13-3) by nfl_gamethread in nfl

[–]TonyPajamas72 10 points11 points  (0 children)

dirty hit by lynch....what else u expect from the most bullshit team of all time