Getting a foot in the door at a marketing agency can be a daunting and often frustrating endeavour. From fresh faced graduates to experienced individuals with transferable skills, the competition for creative sector jobs is so high that it’s often very hard to land that dream agency role.
As a digital marketing agency we sit on the other side of the fence and receive many speculative job requests each week. Although we’re not often actively recruiting, we are always on the lookout for talented individuals and still give each request our full attention.
Many of these individuals, who apply for various agency roles, are unaware of particular ‘qualifications’ in SEO, PPC or digital analytics that may help them gain an edge over other possible job candidates. Whilst perhaps not academically recognised, these learning resources are extremely useful and provide relevant, practical knowledge that can be utilised in an agency environment.
Note – by no means are we disregarding academic qualifications or the value of ‘hands on’ experience!
Google Analytics Academy
We find that analytics is often an area overlooked by agencies despite it being (arguably) the most important element of any digital marketing campaign. Working through the academy’s lessons, videos and demos will certainly put you head and shoulders above other candidates. Take the IQ tests to earn a few badges and show off your newly acquired knowledge – great to put on any CV!
https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com/explorer
MOZ
Moz offer tons of free resources for inbound marketers which they continually revise and update. This mainly applies to SEO and Social Media. In addition to the basic courses for beginners, there are also plenty of advanced tutorials and discussions taking place in the Moz Blog & community.
https://moz.com/
Campaign Monitor Resources
Email marketing has been around since the dawn of the internet but is still widely misused by many agencies. Learning the basic principles, key industry benchmarks as well as specific email marketing techniques will help set you apart from other applicants. Campaign Monitor provide a range of learning resources covering all the main aspects of an email marketing campaign.
Hubspot Library
The Hubspot Library is a huge collection of marketing learning materials and industry commentary. Although some of the language used can be quite gimmicky and self-promoting, the materials HubSpot provide are very useful and will give a solid foundation to work on. The library offers (and cleverly labels) materials of all different abilities from beginner through to expert.
https://library.hubspot.com/
HootSuite University
HootSuite is great application for managing social media accounts. Their paid-for ‘university’ course teaches beginners how to master their software and how to also implement campaigns effectively. Comprised mainly of video tutorials, the content is easy to digest and doesn’t take long to work through. Graduates are awarded a certificate as proof of completion which will make a nice addition to your CV/portfolio.
https://learn.hootsuite.com/