It can be scary to start a career in digital marketing. Especially, if you have never done it before. However, you can turn that “zero” experience into progress with the right attitude, right tools, and continuous learning.

In this blog, I will outline my journey into digital marketing, what I have learned, and some novice-friendly tips to help get you started!

How I Started

Like most, I wanted to know how the internet helps businesses grow.

• I started out by watching YouTube tutorials.

• Tried a little Instagram promotion.

• Read about search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing in blogs.

I didn’t have any formal training at that point — I simply wanted to learn.

Formal Training

I then signed up at CDA Academy in Calicut, where I was offered thorough agency-based hands-on training in digital marketing from industry professionals including live project work and hands-on lessons.

Digital marketing seemed very big and overwhelming at first. I thought about the enormousness of available platforms, tools, and strategies, and felt as if navigating the ocean without a map.

Learning the Basics

I allowed my curiosity and steps to guide me.

• The first outbreak I did realize was to learn how to learn as much of the basics as possible, instead of trying to learn everything!

• I started out with a little bit of SEO, social media promotion, and paid advertising.

• These provided a great deal of confidence and helped to build a good base for all of the steps I would take next.

Taking Real Action

So, here is a look at how I took real action to begin my journey after completing CDA Academy at Calicut.

• I started building practice projects and ran small ad campaigns with a very small budget.

• Through this experience, I learnt about how ads run, how to accurately track results, and how a little change could make a lot of difference.

• At the same time, I also started offering help to friends and small businesses as a freelancer.

Not only did this give me practical experience, it also allowed me to build a slow portfolio of work that provided results for my friends/small businesses.

The Power of Networking

Networking became a vital part of my journey.

• I joined social media groups that focused on digital marketing.

• I participated in online forums.

These low barriers to entry became so valuable because the moment I had a question or a doubt about something, I knew I could join in on the conversations and learn from both the shared knowledge and experiences of others in the group!

This accelerated my learning, simplified my learning, and made my learning more practical.

Internship Experience

Later, I put everything I learned during my internship at Quadcubes into practice performing immersive learning experiences where I created high-quality content for social media and blogs, did competitor analysis, content calendars, and worked on real client projects, where I gained agency experience with very practical learning experiences in campaign executions.

Continuous Learning

Digital marketing is constantly changing, and there is never-ending learning.

• Search engines change their rules.

• Social media changes their standards with new features.

• Some tools can change overnight and become the new normal.

So, I made continuous learning a habit:

• I read novels regularly from experts like Neil Patel and articles from reliable sources such as Search Engine Journal.

• I watched webinars and attended online courses when possible.

• I followed experts across social media to connect about new ideas.

Real-life projects were another incredible source of knowledge because nothing illustrates digital marketing like real-life performance data.

From Practice to Real Projects

Once I had some initial confidence, I stepped away from doing practice projects, and onto managing real projects.

Some of the work I focused on:

• SEO audits of websites (site structure analysis, keyword research, recommendations).

• Coordinating Google Ads campaigns to help drive relevant customers.

• Designing social media plans to build followers and trust for brands, and then get them engaged with content that mattered to them.

Tips for Beginners

• Keep being curious by following reputable blogs and professionals in the industry.

• Track your results and review them — the numbers will tell you what worked and what didn’t.

• Be patient. Everything takes time to grow, and being consistent is always more productive than rushing to learn everything all at once.

My Goal as a Digital Marketing Strategist

Personally, my goal is to work creatively (pun intended) toward the role of digital marketing strategist.

A digital marketing strategist identifies the actual goals of a business and then creates and executes digitally creative and effective measurable marketing plans to achieve them.

Being technically minded is only one part. You need vision, and you also need to understand how marketing strategies fit with business goals.

Challenges and Growth

It has been a long road of learning through case studies, understanding large brands and how they execute campaigns, and focusing on leadership in the execution.

I am starting to feel like I am inching closer to what I would like to achieve.

I have been on a journey with lots of learning, everything is an experiment, and it will be a process to navigate.

I have faced challenges during this time. But I have learned that from the small steps I have taken so far, perseverance and patience are very important – and I believe that growth from zero to a career in digital marketing is achievable with mindful steps.

Final Thoughts

No matter how you start — whether it is by self-teaching, online courses, internships, or starting your freelance portfolio — there are also experts in digital marketing that started just below your level. Everybody starts at the basic stage in digital marketing, learning how to navigate the digital landscape.

The important things are to be committed to learning, to be willing to try, and to be open to changing how you think about a problem. If you can mix good practice with good research, and take action, then you can go from being a beginner with no experience, to someone who can deliver value through campaigns for businesses. Your journey into digital marketing is not necessarily going to be easy, but it is definitely rewarding. You will learn at every stage, and if you continue to put one foot in front of the other, you will again make incremental progress.