How to start your Ecommerce Digital Marketing career!

Jun 14, 2018 4:05:34 PM

What can I expect going into my Digital Marketing and Ecommerce career? Any tips?

Some candidates starting out in their career can make the mistake of keeping their skill set too detailed. It is important to be skilled in what you have to offer but it is also vital, especially within Digital Marketing, to keep your options open. Keep your responsibilities as broad as possible so, while working your way up in your career, you can then focus on what suits you best.

If you start out only focusing on one aspect, it will be harder to be considered for other roles in the future. Especially management positions, where they need to be able to understand all avenues and can comprehend what all their staff members are doing.

Try to work across all channels in marketing; social (organic and paid), email, display, paid search, SEO and so on. Within site management ensure you have the knowledge and practical experience of technical trading and merchandising.

Now if you decide to stick to client side, these roles tend to be in abundance at the junior level and are the most attractive to most candidates. Again, learn everything you can and then over time pick your specialism.

Almost all candidates will have a business or marketing related degree, followed by roughly 6 months to a year of internship experience. This is when you will stand a good chance of getting a full time permanent role in a client-side position. This is our biggest tip! Follow the above and you will certainly stand out from the rest. However, especially in Ecommerce start up brands will hire massively on culture fit over aptitude. Ecommerce brands want the drive, passion and confidence to be part of the team and work exceptionally hard to support those around them.

So, if you find yourself a candidate with a relatable degree, internship experience and the ability to fit into a culture of ambition … you have certainly got the 3 assets you need!

How much money will I be making? What is my wage packet going to look like?

As expressed in our other career finding blogs, salary will be very much dependent on the size of the company and what responsibility falls to you. It is common to think that starting in your first role or even second junior position means you should take a pay cut. Remember you have the skills set and qualifications required so just make sure the role you are taking on and what you will be paid is acceptable! For more information on this why not read our blog ‘Warning signs it is time to move on from your junior role’.

But back to those just starting out and are curious as to what their salary path has in store, let’s have a look at the below!

  • Digital Marketing Assistant/Coordinator: £20k - £25k
  • Digital Marketing Executive: £25k - £35k
  • Social Media Assistant/Coordinator/Executive: £20k - £30k
  • CRM Assistant/Executive: £20k - £35k
  • Paid Search Executive: £25k - £35k
  • SEO Executive: £20k - £35k

To find out more about what salaries you can expect as you progress our 2018 ecommerce salary survey report. If you work your way up to Digital Marketing Manager for example, you can be earning £50k - £90k! I think it is definitely worth a read… (that kind of salary amounts to a lot of food and treats!)

I want to stand out - what skills can I bring to my new company?

We have had a chat with our clients, and the best advice we can give for standing out is what is in demand! If our clients and the brands you want to work for are looking for the following criteria – I would take some notes!

Our first tip is to demonstrate technical onsite analysis. This is something which is always highly sought after by our clients who are looking for good ecommerce executives and coordinators. Often junior candidates only have a basic understanding of Google analytics, so any extracurricular qualifications will be very useful.

This year so far, our Ecommerce and Digital Marketing panda John has seen lots of digital marketing executive positions where the clients are requesting experience across all campaigns. Hands-on execution of paid campaigns is rare to see in junior candidates and those with good paid marketing experience can often demand substantially higher salaries.

Additionally, luxury experience is more often than not valued very highly, so if you find your current role does not include this, then it is worth considering some side projects for high end brands. This can include writing blog posts or running a personal Instagram/Facebook focusing on reviewing those products. It will make the transition easier down the line to work for a global luxury name.

Is what I have been studying enough? Do I need any skills or extra qualifications?

The degrees are similar for both onsite and digital marketing professionals, it is not uncommon for most to figure out what they want to do after interning or after their first full-time role. That is why internships even for 6 months are an excellent way to expose yourself to the Ecommerce industry. In smaller companies the job can often encompass all aspects as their team is small than that of global companies.

For Ecommerce (onsite candidates) Google analytics experience is a must! Experience with as many CMS platforms as possible (Magento tends to be the most common) is also preferable, but do consider Shopify, demandware and woocommerce (these tend to come up to most).

For digital marketing candidates, a digital marketing/marketing degree is the most common. There is a huge selection of paid search courses available, but they can be quite expensive. Larger companies will often pay for their employees to do these as an onboarding process. A knowledge workforce benefits the company massively! But it really is the hands-on campaign experience they look for at a junior level rather than specific qualification. Taking an opportunity to work on small freelance projects about London to build your experience is something cranberry panda cannot recommend enough.

Want to know more or are you ready to find that role ... contact us! (I promise we are not going to bite ... pandas are vegetarians)

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