Believing that learning is only done in the classroom is a dangerous mindset, especially in the digital marketing space. In a highly competitive and always evolving industry, it is absolutely essential digital and traditional marketers alike to be up to date on the latest trends as collective spending on digital marketing spending is set to eclipse $500 billion across all industries according to Statista.
This massive growth in digital marketing is being noticed across all industries and businesses. Marketing week notes that jobs on LinkedIn. related to digital marketing, which can include content creation, social media marketing, and digital ad management, have seen a 52% rise in demand, just in the UK alone. Many expect that the total amount of digital marketing positions will overtake the roles held by marketers versed in more traditional marketing roles.
Even better news for those looking to enter this space is that not only are the amount of digital marketing opportunities increasing, salaries for these roles are growing as well. One study found that digital marketing jobs pay approximately 29% more than those that do not. Other surveys have recorded that employers are willing to pay a premium for marketers who have experience with the digital landscape.
This presents a great opportunity for current and aspiring digital marketers. Being proactive to learn digital marketing skills, both through classwork and real world experience, can help turn you into a top flight marketer.
Having said that, here are a few digital skills that you need to have to help you break into the marketing field.
What is a digital marketing calendar?
A digital marketing calendar is a tool used by digital marketers to plan marketing campaigns in advance, either by days, weeks, or months. A digital marketing calendar is a digital marketer’s most useful tool as it allows them to have a detailed plan for their marketing objectives as you want to make sure that all parts of your marketing strategy are lining up and working with one another so you need to make sure that different aspects of your campaign are launching at the correct time.
Why have a digital marketing calendar?
In the business world, time is precious, and in the marketing world, frequency and consistency are of vital importance. A digital marketing calendar allows you to minimize time wasted, and plan for frequency and consistency in your marketing campaign. A calendar also keeps you organized and less flustered, which can go a long way to minimize stress.
How to start a digital marketing calendar
1) Choose your platform
Your first step is by choosing the platform to host your calendar. It is highly recommended that you do not hand-write your calendar, but rather, host it electronically. The reason many advise against having a physical calendar is because a digital one minimizes the risk of obstruction or even losing the calendar. Hosting the calendar digitally will also allow you to access it on numerous devices and share it with other team members who might be working on different parts of the marketing campaign.
There are several options for electronic calendars. A few popular options are listed below. However, it is important to keep in mind that the calendar platform should fit your preferences, so take the time to research and pick an option that suits you.
- Google sheets
- Microsoft excel
- Google calendar
- Insightpool
- CopyBlogger
- Content Marketing Institute
- Moz
2) Identify your goals
You need to have a clear vision of what your goals are before you go any further. Take the time to review them and make sure they are achievable given your situation. Also consider consulting with others to get a third party opinion on your goals to determine if they are realistic in the given timeframe.
3) Know your audience
Knowing your audience is another must have before advancing further. At this point you should have an idea of what your product or service is. Given your knowledge for your product or service, ask yourself, what problem does it solve for your target audience and who exactly would buy it. It is very important to know the demographics and how they interact with your product. These include:
- Age
- Gender
- Race
- Interests / hobbies
- What they like to buy
- How often they buy or use it
- What they buy alongside it
4) Identify marketing strategies
Now that you have your goals and audience set, it is time to plan for how to reach them. Marketing strategies include but are not limited to:
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- PPC marketing
- SEO marketing
- SEM marketing
- Content marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Affiliate marketing
Whichever method of marketing strategies you chose, they will go directly into your calendar.
5) Start planning dates
6) Determine how long projects will take
Provide a rough time estimate or at least a goal for how long your projects will take to complete. The reason why you want to determine how long projects will take is because you do not want to be backlogged with numerous projects at once and you want to make sure you have end dates that are inline with your goals that you set out earlier.
Staying organized is incredibly important for digital marketers as you’ll often have a lot of moving pieces that you’ll be responsible for. Through the use of a calendar, you can easily plan ahead to ensure that all of your marketing campaigns are working in unison with each other to ensure maximum efficiency and hopefully great success. Setting up a calendar is usually step 1 of any marketing campaign so use this easy guidance to ensure you stay well organized. As always, if you’re having any issues landing that first full time entry-level marketing job, be sure to check out JobPrepped as 94.3% of JobPrepped students get marketing interviews or job offers within 3 weeks.
Good luck out there!
By Guest Writer,
Eric Saltzman