It is but natural that one seeks growth in his career. This doesn’t always mean a promotion or a higher pay. Career growth could also be, and most importantly, your growth in skills on your chosen career. Hence, the importance of career development programs in every company. It is the same thing for online marketers. You too, can grow as an online marketer if you want to. Wanting to grow and learn more always stems from the desire to.
Online marketers should have that same drive as any professional. The will to grow and learn more should always be there – or even more. The very fact that online marketers depend much on the growing technology, there’s always the need to update knowledge and skills that come with the profession.
Here, we give you some suggestions to help you up your game in the online marketing industry.
How to Grow as an Online Marketer
We created a list of suggestions that you might have picked up somewhere else, but we elaborated it more and emphasized how these could help you grow in your career.
Check them out and see which one fits your current situation – given your time, budget, and willingness to learn.
Enroll in Online Courses
One of the most accessible ways to acquire new knowledge is enrolling in online courses.
Learning and re-learning is always the best tool for you to level up on your online marketing skills. While physical or in-classroom learning would be a breath of fresh air, but sometimes, time doesn’t allow you to.
One thing you would probably love about e-learning is that it is very much flexible especially with your time. Take the weekends off and learn more about online marketing in the comforts of your home. You can just turn on your laptop, connect to the internet, and head on to your chosen online course.
Be on the lookout for e-learning websites that offers free courses or have discounted offers and see if it interests you. You can take online courses on SEO/SEM, Google Analytics, Social Media Marketing, and even Video Production or Advertising. (elaborate on this probably bullets and a quick description).
If you can’t find any free courses, you can ask your company to shoulder it for you. After all, the skills you learn will benefit them in the long run.
Another great advantage of taking online courses is you get to learn at your own time and pace. Unlike classroom learning where you have to keep up with the pace of your instructor, taking online courses would allow you to play and rewind the lesson or move to the next lesson if you have time for one more. Also, some websites would allow you to go access past lessons that you paid for.
Although growth is best earned hands-on, but nothing beats the power that knowledge brings.
Join Seminars
Just like online courses, joining seminars can add new knowledge to what you already know. While online lessons may be a bit basic, joining seminars can be as specific as something that you want to learn. You also get to learn from the experts and recent thought leaders.
Most seminars would often require a fee, so it’s best to coordinate with your HR Officer/Manager on this one so you can ask for the company to fund it. But if you’re willing to save up and pay for it, feel free to do so.
Seminars allow you to expand your knowledge and experiencing it first hand. Some seminars would give workshops that would allow you to apply new knowledge right then and there.
Another advantage of going to seminars are (we’re not ashamed to say this!) FREEBIES! We’re not only talking about material freebies like notepads, pens, etc. You can also get handbooks and even free software if you’re lucky!
You can always ask the organizers who are the partner and/or participating companies so you’ll likely have an idea what you’re getting (literally and figuratively speaking).
Expand Your Network
Engage into conversations and expand your network whenever you go to seminars, conferences, and other business functions.
Having a wider network would allow you to gain friendships, establish relationships, and create your little circle of online marketers that you call all gather over lunch or coffee and share your knowledge and insights.
You don’t have to worry about accidentally leaking an industry secret. Just take note of what you can share that could be valuable to your circle. Share what you can without spilling too much. Don’t go into very specific details and you’ll do just fine.
So how does this help you grow as an online marketer? Simple. It is through these networks that you would grow and know more about the industry you’re in. As you share knowledge with each other, you get to correct some practices that doesn’t work for your brand, or enhance what you already know.
Plus, you can all keep in touch with the latest online courses and seminars in town!
Acquire the Technology
You can always request from your human resource manager to look for, shoulder, or fund skills training and development seminars for you and the rest of the online marketing team. However, since you’re not the only resource in the company, they might be hesitant to send you to more seminars especially if they’re not for free.
But if you really want to pursue your craft, you can acquire everything by yourself. Be it the tangible technology or the intangible seminars. If you think you can save up for something that would be worth spending for, then go for it.
As we mentioned earlier, you can save up for online courses and seminars that you want to take or attend. However, there are many things you can acquire to grow as an online marketer.
You can hone your skills by buying software or applications that can help you understand and learn the growing market out there. You can search online for best mobile apps and software used for online marketing and see which one suits you best. This could include social media and management applications, RSS news readers, blogging and news apps.
If you can get them for free, the better. But if it’s something you think would be worth any penny, then go ahead and purchase them.
Think of this as a long-term investment. If you think you’re in it for the long haul, might as well think ahead and invest in your knowledge and skills and you’ll find your way up the ladder in online marketing.
Ready to Grow as an Online Marketer?
Searching for a career growth may be difficult. It takes a lot of guts to finally say yes to things you pushed aside from yourself.
As we often mentioned above, this is an investment. The knowledge and skills you acquire from doing this would pay off twice as much as you could spend. Expand. Learn and re-learn. Update. In an industry and career that’s so fast-paced and is ever-changing, keeping up will keep you on top.
