My journey so far as a Digital Marketer

It’s been almost a year since I started my digital marketing journey. I quit my first job as a business development executive around this time of the year and started learning digital marketing. After I quit my job, I had no idea what I will be doing with my life. I just knew that I didn't quite enjoy working under someone else and i wanted to do something of my own. For that I knew I had to upgrade my skills. And that's when it all began..

1) Started digital marketing accidentally

One day I was just browsing courses on Udemy and I came across this 26+ hours long digital marketing course. I thought I'll give it a try and I actually started learning digital marketing accidentally. Once I started learning there was no turning back. I spent almost every day of my life learning something new about marketing and testing out things as i learnt.

2) Experimented what I learnt

I started experimenting with building websites, writing blog posts, SEOing my website pages, social media marketing, and many more things. I still remember building my first website and the challenges I faced. 

I built my first website as a personal resume to showcase my skills, and it was a personal branding website with my name as the domain name (currently down). That website helped me crack many interviews, because it was kind of an interactive website where potential employers can play around with a bunch of options to know more about me. Also, that website helped me stand out from the rest of the crowd because no one really puts in that much effort to build their presence online.

Around that time, I also experimented with my YouTube channel. I gained some experience in video SEO and also learnt some analytical skills. You can check one of my old videos below (though it wasn't perfect, I enjoyed doing it a lot)

3) Monetised my skills

Soon within a few months, i had gained quite good amount of knowledge and experience in digital marketing. Since I was just a jobless graduate, I then thought about monetising my skills and start earning some side money. (i badly needed a source of income to support my needs)

So I started freelancing and taking clients as a Social Media Marketer. In the first 2 months, i got to work with 2 clients (one was a fashion retail store and another was a real estate company). Although I didn't earned a great amount of money, it was enough to help me manage my expenses. Also it was something that I enjoyed doing, so money wasn't an issue for me because I had the time and freedom to spend the day as I wanted and still manage my expenses. 

4) Learnt advanced marketing

During this time I also learnt paid advertising, building funnels, e-mail marketing, chatbot marketing, and many advanced concepts (but haven't actually applied for any business). I was constantly reading books and going through online trainings, upgrading my skills every day. 

Many people make the mistake of knowing how-to do things in digital marketing, but hardly anyone focuses on why we do the things we do. If you don't understand these fundamental concepts, you'll see a lot of you money and energy being wasted and you won't get a good ROI on your hard work. 

It's important to understand the basics of why people buy, what makes them tick, their psychology, their fears, their ambitions, etc. If you don't know all these things, then you're just another digital marketer who just knows 'how' of digital marketing.

5) Developed graphic designing skills

I always had an interest to learn graphic designing. So now since I was working for clients, it was a good time to develop that skill. As you can see, even this is the skill which I developed on the go. 

I designed posts for my clients, and also started an Instagram page and used to share my knowledge in graphical format. You might have probably seen such content on Instagram. I was inspired by a few pages, so I started developing my own posts with my own taste.

This also helped my with building a base of followers from scratch. I took that page from 0 to around 600 followers in about 2 months.

6) Worked with e-commerce brand

Later on, I knew that I had to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I then applied for an internship with an e-commerce shoe brand as a digital marketing strategist. Although it was an internship, I used to approach my projects as though they were my own clients. I helped them set-up and optimise their Shopify store, Amazon listings, improving blog posts, etc. 

I worked there for around a month. Again, I learnt many new things working with an e-commerce brand. I also helped the brand with some video production. You can have a look at this rough draft below.

Around the same time, i also learnt about digital entrepreneurship and how people are earning a living online. I got really intrigued by this concept so I started exploring about this in detail. So now I'm on my journey to learn and master these skills and hopefully earn some money through my efforts. 

Right now, I have just set a goal of earning ₹1,000/- from the internet. But more importantly, I want to do this because I love doing this. I can go on doing this for the next 1-2 years without getting paid even a penny. Money is not a motivator for me. The joy and excitement of trying and failing and achieving is what motivates me to keep doing this. 

Conclusion

So that's a brief description of my journey so far. Obviously I haven't stopped learning new things. And now I wish to share what I learn, so that's the intention of starting this project of Desi Marketer. I want to share all my experiences as I try and experiment with online strategies. 

If you're someone looking to start a online business journey, now is the best time to do it. There has never been a time when such knowledge and resources were available so easily. And if you need any help along the way, I'll be more than happy to help you out. I know the anxiety that comes while starting a new path in life. 

One last piece of advice, just take action. Don't go for perfection, you'll learn along the way. Just keep creating and eventually you'll be a master someday!