Read Umair’s Journey through Digital Marketing Training
I have always been interested in technology from a young age, when my cousin first introduced me to video games. This was the starting point which eventually led me into learning about digital marketing and hoping to have a career in said field. Hold on, I have leapt to the current moment in time, but let me show you how I got here. My name is Umair Aslam I was born on 14 February (yes I know valentine day) in Derby, England. I have 2 siblings and many relatives, we have always been in a comfortable living situation which was what allowed us to have many different video game consoles growing up. However, when me and my brother got our first pcs we became obsessed with technology. I eventually taught myself how to build computers which came in handy when a more graphically intense video game came out.
After completing my studies in secondary school it was clear to me that I wanted to pursue a field with technology involved and so I did a BTEC in business and IT at Derby College. It was there that I was first introduced to marketing, I found it intriguing at the time and after I had completed my college studies I decided to pursue a marketing course at Sheffield Hallam University. Nearing the end of my studies I realised that I didn’t enjoy Marketing as much as I did IT and was struggling to decide a career path for myself. This was when I first heard about Digital Marketing and decided to do further study when I realised that it was a mix of IT and Marketing which seemed to be the perfect fit for me.
What I Learnt from Digital Marketing Training
I have learnt a lot from the start of my Digital Marketing Qualification journey and in this section I will share to you the knowledge and experience I have gained from my DIGITAL MARKETING COURSE at Osborne Training.
SEO
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation was the very first thing I learnt about in digital marketing. A search engine like Google or Bing crawl for websites to add to their servers so users of search engines can look for them. During my studies I have learned there are two types of SEO which are on page and off page.
On page is basically everything you do on your website to help a search engine find your website and to rank highly. These could include linking to other pages within your website, creating blog posts, site speed, meta tags, functional design, etc.
Off page SEO is what action a digital marketer takes that is outside of the website. Link building to other websites is a major factor however they must be quality links for example if an sugary drinks manufacturer linked to a gardening website this would be a low quality link as it is not relevant to the user. There are many other factors that contribute to off page such as Social media, comments on other websites, blogging for other websites, etc.
My own experience of SEO is that I have created websites in the past and I am conscious of factors such as design which lead to a high ranking on Search engines. I have also used keyword planner tools during my Digital Marketing Training at Osborne to find high traffic keywords to use for my friends and families websites. I believe there is room for me to grow in terms of HTML coding and CSS coding which could aid me further in SEO.
SEM
SEM or Search Engine Marketing is using the tools that a search engine provides to advertise to users on that platform. For example Google has a service called Adwords which provides Digital marketers a way to target specific users that they wish to target using a number of different methods. One method is creating keywords that a user may likely use to try and get a higher ad ranking so that the advertisement shows on the first page of the search engine. There are 3 factors that contribute to ad ranking, the first being how much the marketer bids for an ad which will compete with other bids. The second is the quality of the ad things like ad relevance, landing page experience and expected clickthrough rate which all affect quality. Lastly the format of the ad will contribute to overall ad ranking.
SEM or Search Engine Marketing was something that I found difficult due to the fact that you must have a website and then pay for advertisements using an adwords account which I lacked. However after watching many Osborne’s Digital Marketing Training tutorials, youtube tutorials and creating an Adwords account during my Digital Marketing Training I have a better understanding of SEM.
Email Digital Marketing
When organisations send an email there is always a purpose behind that email. There are two types of emails, transactional emails and marketing emails. The former is when a customer takes an action such as purchasing a product and then an automatic email will be sent to them about their purchase and delivery date. The latter is when a digital marketer has a specific purpose such as wanting the customer to follow the organisation on Twitter, Sign up for an event, etc.
My experience with email marketing has been a positive one as there are many websites that offer email marketing services that are simple to use such as MailChimp with great tutorials on Youtube or even on their website.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the major driving forces of SEO as good content on a website means you have a higher ranking on organic searches. There are many examples of Content marketing such as blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, etc.
My experience of content marketing is limited as I have never owned my own website however I have a lot of assignment writing experience and so I believe I would be able to create blog posts quite effectively.
Analytics
After you have done an array of digital marketing techniques a good digital marketer should look at their analytics to track whether something is going to plan or not. Analytics can display different data that a marketer would need for example, tracking conversions of a web survey can easily be done by analytics and so if there was a lack of users filling in that survey the digital marketer can use this information to try and drive more traffic to said survey. There are many other features that analytical tool Google Analytics can track such as, Adword campaigns, web traffic, demographics, etc.
I have used the Google Analytics service and used many of the tools for friends and families websites however more practical expertise could be needed for an organisation’s needs.
Affiliate Marketing
There are three parties that are involved during Affiliate marketing, the advertiser, publisher and consumer. The advertiser is usually the digital marketer who creates the advertisement that a consumer will see, such as a display ad. The publisher is the party that publishes the advertisement on their website or they might blog about a certain product that the advertiser sells. Lastly the consumer is the person that reads the blog or advertisement and interacts with it by clicking on the link and then purchasing the product, which would then entitle the publisher to a small commission of that sale.
My theoretical knowledge of affiliate marketing is good and I believe I would be able to effectively create an affiliate marketing campaign.
Social Media Marketing
Social Media networks are websites/apps that have a large user base that offer them a way to interact with each other. These Social Media platforms allow for digital marketers to interact with certain individuals that would be interested in their product offering. In recent years there has been a push from Social Medias to business to create ads rather than just create free content on their accounts to get more traffic coming their way. Networks such as Facebook and Instagram offer marketers ways to advertise on their platforms in exchange for money.
I have a lot of experience using Social media and I believe I know now what makes viral content, however I have never advertised on a Social media platform and could use more practical experiences.
Mobile App Marketing
There are millions of apps being downloaded a day and so for a company to not only create an app but then to market it is daunting. However there are a few ways in which a marketer can advertise their mobile app. Firstly having a website can benefit the marketer as a call to action to download the mobile app could drive downloads. App store optimization can help consumers find the app by using keywords similar to SEO. On the app store there are categories of apps and so for example if a educational gaming app was created the two categories that the app could go under would be “education” and “gaming”. Branding is a key focus for mobile app marketers as a consumer must be able to recognise a brand, when a user clicks on a app download page they will see the screenshots, brand identity and app description which are all key parts of converting consumers into downloads.
My experience with Mobile App marketing is limited as I have never worked for an organisation let alone an organisation that has an app. I believe that my theoretical knowledge learnt during my Digital Marketing Training could be expanded as well as my practical skills for mobile app marketing.
My Plans For the Future
After having completed my Digital Marketing Training course at Osborne Training I have decided to pursue a career in Digital marketing with the eventual goal of being a Digital Marketing manager. I am currently doing the Google Academy certificates to expand my knowledge and gain further experiences in Digital Marketing. With more knowledge of digital marketing I would like to be more flexible so I could go into more focused roles such as content marketer, SEO specialist or PPC specialist. After the digital marketing internship I am hoping to find a junior digital marketing position to start me on the career path with the goal of being a digital marketing manager.
