A 2020 Boston College graduate recently called to ask my advice on how to secure her first marketing communications job. I felt honored to be asked. Here was someone brought up to seek and accept answers from Google and Youtube requesting advice from an alumna who remembers getting answers from textbooks or even, at last resort, a set of World Book encyclopedias. I sent her right back to the Internet.
How can the Internet give her what she needs to start a marketing career? As a history major, her resume showed critical thinking, presentation and writing skills but no concrete marketing experience. She may have a natural instinct for effective messaging, but how can she learn about the tools and best practices that experienced marketers use to build impactful, measurable campaigns?
Luckily, this era of content marketing and online courseware provides countless clickable avenues for learning these necessary skills. Some sites even offer accreditation. And you don’t need to be a beginner to obtain value. Here are just a few of the resources I’ve tapped to keep my skills relevant:
Websites/Content Management Systems (CMS):
All marketing efforts need a website. Larger companies may employ a web team to set strategic direction and manage departmental contributions/edits. In smaller organizations, website content and maintenance is just one of multiple tasks owned by the marketing team. In recent years, most CMS vendors have liberated website upkeep from the techies and now offer block editors to simplify even significant changes to design and content. Over 35% of websites are built using WordPress. Get familiar with website administration even without access to a WordPress site. WPBeginner has step by step instructional videos and more advanced hints on their blog. Enroll for free.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Analytics
Build it and they will come - maybe. Content is key but Yoast is a popular plug-in that monitors your website and suggests ways to improve recognition by search engines. Learn more in this 35 minute video by Ferdy Korp Media. Already getting traffic? Check the volume with Google Analytics and let the data tell you more about your visitor’s experience and the appeal of specific pages in your website. Google Academy offers free online courses.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Contacts! There’s nothing worse than having to rely on outdated lists. Information on potential clients will come into your organization via your website, newsletter subscriptions, events, social media, outbound calling and more. CRMs like Salesforce or Hubspot can provide one container for all this contact intelligence. Both have their merits, (Salesforce is robust but expensive), but Hubspot has gained traction by offering automation tools that support inbound marketing efforts; a recognized method for attracting customers into your sales funnel by providing valuable, digestible content. Not every company has the funds or resources to experience the nirvana of building and tracking a Hubspot campaign that wraps around all of your marketing initiatives, but everyone can benefit from Hubspot Academy. These free training videos introduce their solutions but also give invaluable advice on tried and true marketing techniques and practices.
Social Media
Okay, not many will argue that recent graduates don’t “get” social media. The best personal users have found a way to share their authentic voice among friends. The challenge will be to adapt that voice to business. There are a lot of C’s to consider in business such as Content, Consistency, Community, Correctness and Conversation. Hubspot Academy offers lots of expert advice in videos like this one: Developing and End-End Instagram Marketing Strategy for your Business.
Email Marketing
Social Media gets headlines but emails are alive and well. Just take a look in your Gmail promotion tab. MailChimp, Constant Contact, Emma and other email marketing systems bombard us with updates and offers from favored businesses. All of these email tools have training videos online. They are easy to use and easy to abuse. Seek out hints about best practices. Remember, by now all of your contacts know how to hit Unsubscribe.
Social Advertising
Growing through organic marketing, when an interested client is drawn to your service naturally, is ideal, but it’s often necessary to expand your market through paid advertising. This form of advertising has its own language. Learn what you need to know about PPC, A/B, CTR and CPC at WordStream’s PPC University.
Creativity
Many marketing teams have access to creative services. However, In some organizations you will be the creative talent. Almost all teams use at least some Adobe applications for tasks ranging from PDF updates to brochure layout. Students can get the entire Adobe Creative Cloud set of apps for $19.99 per year. The rest of us qualify for one trial month free. Use their instruction videos or pair your Adobe free month with a LinkedIn Premium trial month , settle on a challenging project, then get to work completing as many LinkedIn Learning Adobe classes as possible. At the very least, this introduction will make you less intimidated when faced with your first Adobe work assignment. That said, the true office hero is Canva. This free app will save you when you need to create a quick social media post or an email banner.
So, thank goodness we aren’t all sitting at home with research libraries closed during this pandemic fighting over the volume missing from the World Book encyclopedia set for marketing terms that obviously wouldn’t have existed World Book’s heyday. Who took J-K? I want to learn more about Key Performance Indicators.……No, I need it. I’m doing a school report on Kangaroos. I’m not nostalgic. Even a history major could get frustrated. Instead, let’s all use this time to learn online.