I spent 12000+ hours in marketing till now 🔥
I never aimed to become a digital marketer when I was in college. In fact, I didn’t know that such a field exists
I was in Engineering hopelessly wondering what I could do with my career 😅
This is how I became a self-taught T-shaped marketer –
Phase 1: Content Writing
I’ve been journaling since age 12. In 2016, I decided to take my thoughts online. They were random thoughts on Quora. I started writing on every possible topic that I knew of – tech, social issues, internet, books, travel and so on.
I got my first client from Quora. Till then, I had no idea that I could earn from my writing.
Phase 2: SEO
Then clients started asking about SEO-optimized content. SEO what now? So, I rolled up my sleeves and dug out Search Engine Optimization. Started learning its concepts.
Phase 3: Web Designing
SEO needed a playground to practice my learnings on. I built a couple of websites for myself. Tried everything like WordPress(.com), Wix, Squarespace, Google Blogspot, and so on. Finally settled on WordPress(.org)
Phase 4: Copywriting
Now my website needed some catchy lines. Copywriting it is! Time to experiment with words and see what sticks. So I started practicing copywriting for my website pages.
Phase 5: Social Media Marketing
Building a website is cool but how will it get traffic? I could see social media boosting SEO. So I entered social media marketing. I got so aggressive that I was posting on 19 platforms simultaneously. No chill.
My social media marketing journey taught me graphic design along with copywriting.
Phase 6: Funnel Building, Whatsapp Marketing, Email Marketing
Traffic was coming and going, but how do I capture the visitors and become their friend? I knew they were all like-minded people. Built some simple funnels, started Whatsapp broadcasts and groups and sent out emails.
Phase 7: Affiliate Marketing
My websites and projects needed funds. I have a simple rule – I will never mix resources from my job and side projects. So funding my projects from my full-time job was not an option. Solution? Dive into affiliate marketing. Splash! 🏊♀️
Phase 8: Building Products
Realized I had zero control over the products I was promoting as an affiliate. Plus I lost interest because of various reasons. Time to change that. Started building no-code digital products – eBooks, templates, video courses, tools, directories, documents, SOPs and so on. I even provided consultations.
Phase 9: Outreach
I built products, now what? Outreach! To get people to try it, network, and get shoutouts from other relevant people. I even reached out to directly sell them products and pitch my consultation services.
Phase 10: Facebook Ads
I realized that outreaching was fine but it consumed my time and I didn’t really like outreaching people. So I started running Facebook ads for my products and unlocked leads and sales from FB ads.
Phase 11: Team Building
Balancing a full-time job and side projects became a juggling act. Solution? Hire a team for side projects. I hired content writers, ads specialists and business development specialists. That’s how I learned team building for marketers.
All this with ZERO COURSES, NO CERTIFICATIONS – purely self-paced learning through experimentations.
What next?
One thing I realized for sure is that core marketing fundamentals never changes. It’s more about psychology. Rest of the things are just channels and tactics.
While doing all this, I stayed with one thing right from the beginning – content marketing. That’s how I call myself as a T-shaped marketer. A marketer who has broad knowledge in everything but specialized in one thing.
Content marketing gives me power to integrate all the skills within it, whatever I mentioned above.
I don’t know what I will be doing 5 years down the line. I am open for what comes ahead with changes in industry trends, personal interests and so on. But these skills are surely compounding with time 💪
Cheers to accidental journeys and the unpredictability of it all! 😄
✍ TODAY’S ACTION ITEM
No practical action items as such. You can just read and forward/share with someone who is looking to get started with digital marketing career 🤗
✔ WHAT I DID THIS WEEK
I spent some time curating the designs and copies of Black Friday deals that can be used as inspiration later. I love website designs in this season 😍
Attended our society’s meeting. Can’t believe that I am a grown-up independent kid now! The crowd is usually full of seniors there. It’s a good chance to network with people living in neighborhood. People in metro cities generally don’t mingle much.
Then I attended Ankur Warikoo’s webinar which was hosted to promote his new upcoming book. I know it will be all about his finance playlist on his YouTube channel but still went ahead to purchase it. I even plan to donate it once I read it. Just a fan moment? I don’t know 🤭
I kinda overworked this week due to Black Friday sales this week. I used to get so tired by evening that I felt lazy to even cook my dinner and manage household chores. Happens to the best of us. Just busiest time of year for marketers! 🥵
Things cooled down from yesterday. Workload reduced and got some time to breathe.
Got a power-packed mentorship from our CEO (yeah, the same person I talked about in my last email) yesterday and I feel so light and sorted now. The clarity such people have is phenomenal! 😬
It happens at times that we feel stuck and an experienced person just sorts things out so easily. Such support systems are good to have.
🌐 AROUND THE WEB
If you ever travel on a flight, try using this website called “SunFlight .org” ✈
It shows you the direction of the sun throughout your website. Let’s suppose you are flying in the early morning, you can book your seat in such a way that you won’t miss that sight of breathtaking sunrise coming out of those mountains or majestic ocean 🌊
Very niche website and good to have it handy 🙂