Thinking about making a career change? Consider working at a digital marketing agency.
Changing your career trajectory can be scary, but several IMGE employees have done it, and you can too. You don’t need to be an expert to jump-start your career in digital. Let us explain:
Is Digital Marketing the Right Career Change for Me?
As the world continues to shift to a digital landscape, you have the opportunity to change gears in your career. Digital is a growing space with more opportunities to find a niche and make it your own than many other industries.
If you’re on the fence about if digital marketing could be a good career change fit for you, consider the following.
Digital marketers are:
- Doing and testing new things every day;
- Thinking outside of the box;
- On the cutting edge of technology;
- Coming up with creative solutions for complex problems; and
- Able to work from anywhere with internet!
If any of this sounds like you, check out our open positions, and follow along below for how to build the foundation, skillset, and application materials to jumpstart a career change.
Building the Foundation for a Career Change to Digital Marketing
The skills needed to excel in digital marketing can easily be nurtured in other fields.
Account Manager Amber Pietro’s time as a middle school teacher launched her interest in a full-time career in digital marketing. “I had the opportunity to run professional development for the school district and help with these middle school math curriculum standards. I knew I would thrive in the education technology realm, and I did so for several years,” Pietro explained.
“During that time in the ed-tech industry, I raised my hand to work with their marketing department, and I was allowed to create blog content and manage several of their social media channels.” Pietro continued. “I utilized my creative flare, worked with technology in the classroom and used my expertise in the education field.”
Content Manager Beth Baumann already had a background in digital communications, from working as a publicist, a direct-to-consumer marketer, and a journalist and social media specialist. “When I started my career, I worked at a boutique public relations firm in Southern California. We had several clients, like political campaigns, that needed a social media presence,” Baumann explained. “Because I was young and naturally plugged into what businesses and candidates were doing on social, my boss tasked me with creating and maintaining clients’ presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.”
“Later in my career, before I came to IMGE, I worked for an online publisher. In that role, I learned about each platform’s posting and ad rules, and the types of content people frequently engage with,” Baumann said.
So when she came to IMGE, Baumann was able to bundle these various digital marketing skills she acquired throughout her career to jump-start a copywriting role working with various political and corporate accounts.
Digital Skillset Development for Your Career Change
In addition to skills learned in other fields, there are many great online trainings and resources you can take advantage of.
- Google Skillshop teaches you how to run every type of Google ad, from search ads to display ads to video ads. The best part? It’s free, and you receive a certification at the end!
- Google Academy teaches the basics of Google analytics, a key metric used to gauge relevant data, like how many people visited your client’s website or how many impressions were made on your search ads.
- Hubspot is a great platform to learn more about inbound marketing and how to create lead generation campaigns. The program teaches you how to develop your marketing funnel and eventually convert warm leads into converted sales. Once you complete the end of the free course, you receive a certificate of completion.
- If you’re looking for any and all resources in the digital marketing world, LinkedIn Seminars and Udemy offer a wide variety tailored specifically to your interests and goals.
The best part about all of these trainings is they can be completed on your own time, at your own pace! The majority of them are free, and those with a price tag are relatively small.
What Kind of Resume Do I Need for a Digital Career Change?
Attention to detail and solid communication skills are paramount, regardless of technical skillset. Make sure your resume doesn’t have any spelling or grammatical errors, that it is formatted well, easy to read, and is a highlight reel rather than a long list of everything you have ever done.
Don’t fret about not having the technical skills, however. “When applying for positions at a full-service digital agency like IMGE, don’t focus just on the day-to-day job functions you had in your previous roles,” Maddie Morris, Managing Director of Sales and Operations, explained. “Use your resume to talk about what other skills you bring to the table, like your ability to be a team player and problem solve.”
Crafting Your Cover Letter for a Digital Career Change
Your cover letter is one of the most important things a digital marketing agency like IMGE looks at when considering new hires. Be sure to tell your story. Explain how you built your skillset and how those skills will transfer directly to the work we do in the digital marketing world.
“When I’m looking for a potential IMGE employee or intern, I’m not necessarily looking for someone with every digital certification, experience in all our platforms, or a previous agency internship,” Morris continued. “More than anything, we want someone that has a positive attitude, is willing to learn and work in a team, and has a passion for our clients.”
At IMGE, we want our staff to constantly broaden their skillset, ask big questions, deepen their knowledge, and add new tools to their toolbelts. That’s why we spend more than $28,000 per year on training and education.
Sound like a place you want to work? Learn more about the ways we invest in our team, and how to apply for our open positions.