What I Can Do For You As Your Digital Marketer

With graduation right around the corner, I have been spending a lot of time reminiscing on my final quarter at WWU. One of my best decisions this past quarter was taking Digital Marketing. I learned so many skills that I can actually use in the real world after I graduate. Skills that will hopefully get me hired. Not only did I get certified in several marketing tools, I also improved my writing skills after writing 15 blogs. Here’s a quick run through of everything I learned.

Google Analytics

In the beginning of the quarter I wrote a blog about Google Analytics. This was my most viewed blog, with 16 views (someone from New York City even read it). Digital analytics is the basis for everything I learned this quarter. With Google Analytics you can track everything about your website, including who is visiting, where they are located, what device they are using, and everything they do on your site to name a few. To prove my knowledge about Google Analytics, I took the time to get certified.

A/B Testing and Optimization

Next, I learned about optimization and A/B testing. I learned that A/B testing is the process of comparing versions of a webpage or app against each other to determine which one performs better. With A/B testing, you can test to see what will make your website be the best it can be, from comparing the best color scheme to figuring out where to put a “buy now” button.

Inbound Marketing and HubSpot

My next blog was about HubSpot and Inbound Marketing. Inbound marketing is using marketing strategies and techniques focused on pulling relevant prospects and customers toward a business and its products. In other words, it’s showing people information that they are actually interested in. Instead of pushing advertisements in customer’s faces, they seek out your content because it is relevant to them. I also got certified in HubSpot Inbound.

Social Media Marketing and HootSuite

After that I learned all about social media marketing. Social media is a great way for companies to communicate and engage with their customers online. I learned about different platforms, like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat and how businesses can use these platforms to connect with consumers. I was able to get HootSuite certified too.

UX/UI

I also learned about UX/UI. User Experience (UX) is how a product or website feels and how it flows from one step to the next. User Interface (UI) is how the product or website is laid out. Put together, UX and UI make up a beautiful, interactive, exciting website or product that people will revisit again and again.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was a very interesting topic for me. I learned how search engines like Google and Bing! crawl the internet and scan webpages to determine if the site should be included in the results for search queries. Using keywords and creating excellent content can get your website in the top of the search results at virtually no cost, meaning more people will see and visit your website.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

In addition to SEO, businesses should also perform some Search Engine Marketing (SEM). SEM is using multiple forms of marketing a website through search engines, including both organic search engine optimization and paid search strategies. You can increase your chances of being at the top of the search results by combing your SEO efforts with some paid advertising. With Google AdWords you can bid to have your website show up in the top of the results. Google will evaluate your ad based on keywords, the content, and your bid amount to determine where your ad will be placed.

Email Marketing 

Another marketing strategy I learned about is email marketing. The goal of email marketing is to nurture leads into actual customers. You do this by creating the right content for the right audience at the right time. All customers are in a different stage in the buyer’s journey, and depending on where they are in their journey, they will need and want to see different content. Understanding what customers need to see is crucial for email marketing.

Coding 

My favorite thing I learned was coding. I spent several hours on Codecademy learning some basic HTML and CSS coding language. I made my own website and also got down the basics of using Squarespace. Learning to code is a valuable skill to learn because it makes a marketer more independent in digital marketing. With a basic understanding of coding, you can fix any problems that involve playing around with coding on your website without having to rely on your developers. It also allows you to speak the same language as your developers.

SQL 

Another “language” I learned was SQL (or SEQUEL). SQL is like Excel but easier, more efficient, and less prone to mistakes. It allows you to communicate with your database by querying and manipulating the database. Queries ask the database a question about your data that the database then returns results with data that are relevant to the question. This information can help you understand your data better in order to make the best marketing and business decisions.

Google AdWords

To build on my knowledge of Google AdWords from my SEM blog, I wrote another blog on Google AdWords. AdWords is Google’s online advertising service that allows advertisers to compete to display ads on the Google Search and Display networks. With AdWords, you can narrowly target your ads while having almost complete control over your ads. You can also track everything (literally everything) about your ad’s performance. In just a week from today I will be certified in AdWords as well. 

Native Advertising and Programmatic Ad Buying 

A few weeks ago I learned about Native Advertising and Programmatic Ad Buying. This is the advertising of the future. Native advertising is a type of advertising that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears. It’s the promoted tweets on Twitter and sponsored posts on Instagram. Programmatic Ad Buying is basically online shopping for advertising placements. Instead of using an ad agency to make your media buying decisions, you go through a computer.

Mobile Marketing 

Finally, I learned about mobile marketing. Mobile marketing is an essential tool for the modern marketer. 156 million people in the U.S. alone own smartphones and spend 85% of their time on smartphones using apps. Because people are spending so much time on their phones, marketers need be on phones too. Mobile marketing can be used to maximize your mobile presence, reach your audience no matter where they are, to more narrowly target your audience through apps, and to keep your audience engaged and loyal to your brand.

Whew! What a jam packed quarter. My college experience is coming to a bittersweet end, but I am excited to be able to apply all of the knowledge and skills I have gained over the past four years, and especially over the past quarter in Digital Marketing.