How I learnt to use Digital Marketing

My first experience of digital marketing at a start-up was in fintech in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, in 2009. We had a free stock trading dashboard, that over 400,000, mainly private investors, used to trade. 

Cambridge was buzzing. Tech giants were emerging all around us, including Akamai, where my wife worked, and HubSpot, whose headquarters were only three blocks from our home. Both were founded by MIT graduates, reflecting the city's remarkable entrepreneurial energy.

We had a lot of big banks and financial trading companies advertise with us, and use our email lists: FXCM, JP Morgan, Etoro (I worked with their founder & CEO, Yoni Assia, and have made a fair amount of money over the years, using their excellent trading platform), IG Group, & Etrade. 

We also exhibited at a lot of trading events, like the fantastic Money Show in New York City, and at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas. 

Later on, we brought out a tool that allowed you to scrape data off the web, analyse and publish it, which the Wall Street Journal called 'Twitter for numbers'. We signed up Masschusetts State Treasury, Dallas Fort Worth Airport (owners of the Dallas Cowboys), and San Francisco airport, amongst others.

During the last 9 years, I've mainly worked in the business-to-business field. Therefore, I have tended to gravitate towards managing email marketing, events, and using contact lists and business intelligence (Zoominfo, Discoverorg). However, over the last 5 years, I've been increasingly moving into digital marketing. 

Back in 2013, I took a course on HTML5 & CSS3, which enabled me to design web pages. These programming languages have also been useful when I've designed email templates for Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics (the two main CRM/Marketing Automation systems I've worked with). 

A few years later, I began to experiment with paid search. I took a course in Google Analytics, SEM and Paid Search in 2015. Typically, I've worked with an SEO expert, but over the last few years, I've also run quite a few organic, and paid search campaigns on my own. I feel confident doing so, but at the same time, I always feel like I can learn more, which I endeavour to do.

Becoming adept at digital marketing is a journey, not a destination So if you're looking to get into this, I suggest just getting started as soon as possible, as I did. 

'A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step' says the old Chinese proverb. So far I've found nothing to be overwhelmingly challenging. It's simply a case of application and learning.

Currently, I'm taking a Diploma in Digital Marketing at the Digital Marketing Institute. This is more costly and in-depth than the previous digital marketing courses I have taken. However, so far, I'm pretty happy with my progress.

This course has been great both to refresh basic concepts and learn new ideas. Some of it goes over old ground - like how to run campaigns on Twitter, Linkedin or email. 

Other parts are definitely teaching me new skills; for example, in content marketing, strategy, metrics and Search Engine Marketing and Optimisation or running campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.

I also like that I get to take a formal exam - Certified Digital Marketing Professional - at the end of it at a Pearson test centre (the same place I took the GMAT). These tests are a great way to 'check' my knowledge.