“Where do I even start?” I asked myself as I stared at the computer screen in my university library. 

I was reading a blog about the different skills in digital marketing. 

These were the skills mentioned… 

At the time, I was a complete beginner. 

So, when I looked at all the skills involved, I thought…

“Which skill do I choose first?”  

“What if one skill paid more than the other?” 

“What if I didn’t like the skill I was working on?” 

One day, I looked at an online course that taught email marketing. 

When I went through the course, I really liked how simple it was – you learned how to write short emails that make tons of sales. 

So, I committed to being an email marketer. 

And once I had practiced and became proficient at the skill, I learned how to get clients for myself. 

This was five years ago. 

Since then, I have invested thousands into books and courses, took on multiple clients, worked with an agency and now I work as an in-house marketer within a Clinical Research company. 

I’ve made tons of mistakes along the way. 

But I’ve also gained tons of different skills along the way…

As well as a deeper understanding of how humans communicate & how our emotional desires drive us towards action.

If I could step into a time machine, I would go back and teach my younger self a whole kingdom's worth of knowledge about digital marketing. 

For now, let me show you the 4-step method I would’ve taught my younger self to help him land his first high-paid digital marketing job.

There’s A LOT to learn in this field – from SEO to Facebook ads to Social media management to copywriting to data analysis…to whatever skills become relevant in the future.

On top of that, we just had an AI revolution take place, spearheaded by the likes of ChatGPT. 

Now, everyone is using AI to get ahead. 

While those who don’t get left behind. 

It’s overwhelming. 

I’ve been a digital marketer for 5+ years – even I’m still overwhelmed. 

I’m only just getting started. 

When I first began my digital marketing journey, I asked myself, “where do I even begin?” 

I wanted to learn it all. 

But you can’t be a master at everything. 

So instead, you want to be what people call an ‘M-Shaped Marketer’. 

This is the type of marketer who knows the foundations of all the important skills. 

But has a deep specialty in a few of those skills. 

In a fast-paced, evolving field like digital marketing, you need to be able to adapt. 

And the ‘M-Shaped Marketer’ is ALWAYS in the best position to adapt on the fly, no matter what changes take place in this field. 

I’ll talk more about the M-Shaped Marketer in the future. 

But for now, your goal is to land your first high-paid job in digital marketing. 

So how do you get there the fastest WITHOUT being overwhelmed by all the skills you have to learn? 

Your first step is to get clear on what job title excites you the most. 

Social media management? 

Advertising? 

Digital Marketing Coordinator? – someone who deals with many different facets of marketing. An all-rounder basically. 

The way to do this is to search for different digital marketing job titles and look at their job descriptions. 

Then you pick the job title that excites you the most. 

Your focus is to land that role. 

And once you land the role, you will learn digital marketing skills exponentially faster. 

Much faster than if you just took a bunch of online courses. 

So, all you need to do right now is to have the MINIMUM skill level required to land a job in the first place. 

Then, from there, the companies you’re in can train you…

…Or give you the space for you to learn and apply rapidly. 

When I landed a job at my Clinical Research company, I had never run Facebook campaigns before. 

But since then, I’ve spent countless hours learning and creating Facebook campaigns on the job. 

I got on calls with consultants working in Facebook, who showed me how to make my campaigns better. 

As a result, I was able to consistently lower the CPA of my company’s ads. 

I’m now confident enough to run Facebook ads for myself. 

So, the fastest way to get good is to get hired ASAP!

And the first step to getting hired is to figure out which skills you want to focus on first. 

Here’s how to find that out… 

You can also join online communities for digital marketers, find people with the jobs you want, then ask them what skills helped them to land their jobs.  

Once you’ve chosen a particular job title that speaks to you…

Once you have a decent enough idea on what kind of skills you need to land the job…

…it’s time to start acquiring those skills. 

You can do this through free online courses like Meta Blueprint Certification or Google Skillshop – they have digital certificates that you can post on your resume & LinkedIn profile. 

You can also invest in an affordable course platform like Udemy, Coursera, Skillshare, etc, which have courses for every skill you need. 

The best way to learn is by creating a project.

In school, you learned by memorising a bunch of facts and then taking boring tests and exams.

But my guess is that you’ve probably forgotten up to 90% of what you learned after taking those boring tests and exams. 

Because knowledge without application in real life is almost meaningless. 

But knowledge, when applied, sinks deeper into your brain. 

It’s much easier to retain and understand what you’re learning if you learn the skills WHILE having a project to work on. 

Now, there are two ways to do this…

Option One: Work for someone else 

If you were running your own business, you’d have to make mistakes using your own money, time and resources.

But the best part about working for someone else is that you’re able to use someone else’s resources to learn and make mistakes.

And if you’re just getting started in this field, you learn even faster by working for someone else as you can see an entire business operation being run in front of you.

Option Two: Create Your Own Experience 

If you struggle to find someone to work with…or if you’re thinking of having a side hustle, then this could be a good option.

here, you gain experience by creating your own projects – ie. your own website, social media, SEO, etc.

You can set your website up in a way that impresses your employer. 

For instance, you can…

Write content about what you learned so you look like an expert (this will sell your expertise far more than any degree ever can)… 

Share samples of your work…

Share any accomplishments you have in this field…

Practice improving your website’s SEO…

Set up your own Google Analytics platform to track your website…

All these skills are super important for any company that wants to improve their online presence.  

For almost every business, their website is the ‘first impression’ – and a bad ‘first impression’ will lose customers/clients. 

So by applying what you learn to your own projects and using that to build up your resume, cover letter & portfolio…

You may impress your employers just enough for them to hire you. 

Win win win. 

This is especially useful if you want to get into social media management. 

You can build up your own social media profile and practice skills such as growth hacking, content creation, audience engagement, etc. 

You can then outline your social media growth on your resume & portfolio website. 

When you’ve attained some experience & results, you can use those to impress your employers even more during job interviews. 

Once you have some level of experience (either from helping others or from creating your own experience), it’s time to land your first high-paid digital marketing job. 

Usually, you will choose an entry-level position – these are beginner-friendly. 

So, you would google search for “entry level digital marketing jobs”. 

And if you want a remote job, search for ‘digital marketing remote jobs’. 

Now, if there is a company that you really REALLY want to work for but the job title requires you to have a few ‘years of experience’...

Go ahead and apply anyway. 

Just because a job posting says you need ‘x years of experience’, it doesn’t mean that you still can’t land the job. 

Companies put that on the job description because they think it’s the only way to qualify whether someone is good or not. 

They’re just following what other companies are doing. 

But if you can SHOW your employers that you have the RIGHT SKILLS for the job…the ‘years of experience’ on those job postings may not matter as much. 

Of course, they still matter. But they may not matter AS MUCH!

Especially if the company is struggling to find quality talent. 

They may have no choice but to lower the bar. 

And in future articles, I’ll show you step by step how you can SHOW your skills to companies so you stand out like a sore thumb. 

Digital Marketing is an exciting field to get into. 

It is a field that is growing at such a rapid pace and it continues to open doors to a seemingly infinite level of options…

Want to run your own business someday? – you’ll have the skills to grow and market it to the world.

Want to take on clients and eventually start an agency? – you can do that too. 

Want to just work for someone else and become a key rainmaker in a company, earning 6 figures? – go for it. 

I love this field because it satiates my need for variety, exploration & it gives me the skills I need to carve my own destiny. 

If you’re someone who wants to get into this field, it’s best to build up your skills working for someone else’s established business first. 

That way, if you want to start a business of your own, you have the marketing & business skills to run it. 

Even better…you can work on someone else’s business AND work on your own business on the side. 

That’s what I’m doing right now with this newsletter. 

What I learn on my job, I can apply it to my side hustle. 

What I learn in my side hustle, I can apply it to my job. 

With that level of synergy, you’re constantly learning and applying…

And you get good really quickly. 

On top of that, you’re making a consistent salary. 

You can then take portions of your salary and invest it back into growing your side hustle/business. 

In this field, the world is your oyster. 

You just need to know how to get started. 

So, to recap, the four steps for you to land your first high-paid digital marketing job are: 

Hope this article was helpful to you in getting started. 

Please send an email to [email protected] if you have any questions, feedback, concerns or anything you’d like to share. 

I love feedback and I read all of them as they help to create better articles for you. 

Talk soon. 

P.S. If you want a complete step by step, ‘hold-you-by-the-hand’ roadmap to landing your very first $40K+/year digital marketing job (even if you’re a beginner), then check this out. 

P.S.S. If you know anyone else who wants to get into digital marketing, please share this article with them. 

And if they want to subscribe to my newsletter, send them this link: https://digital-job-formula.beehiiv.com/subscribe.