Digital Marketing – A very hyped term in today’s era, especially after 2020.
The more the hype, the more the mistakes, blunders, and scams in Digital Marketing.
Digital Marketing is like a vast ocean, so many students make huge mistakes in Digital Marketing in their beginner phase.
It was 2020 March; I still remember the time. The whole world was under the attack of Covid-19. Almost all countries were under a lockdown or fully shut down. Schools and colleges were shut down. Most people lost their jobs. Most business owners had to shut down their offline stores.
The same was with me. I was sitting jobless in my home, hoping everything to be fine. But who knew the world would never be the same again?
As I came from a middle-class family, my thought process was typically the same as that of every parent out there, to get another job as soon as possible to secure both finance and life. Jobs were scarce at that time. I was also pissed off from searching jobs online at a meager package. 6 to 7 months passed, and my height of desperation was at its peak.
Then I suddenly came across the term – Digital Marketing. After doing a lot of research, I found it interesting. But there was a huge problem for me waiting. At this point, as my age was touching 30, I didn’t want to go for a regular job. I was scratching my head to find out if there is some way to earn a good amount of money through digital marketing without going to a regular job. I wanted to try out something different from the traditional way of building a career.
In the hustle of being financially independent doing something different, I ended up making huge digital marketing mistakes, for which I am paying off for the consequences.
Let’s go and explore my mistakes in the digital marketing journey. I am writing this article for you if you are thinking of starting a career in digital marketing or starting any business of your own with the help of digital marketing. Again, I would like to remind you that these are my own experiences, and I am sure either you are going to make some of these, or you are currently making these mistakes in digital marketing.
#1-Mistakes in Digital Marketing
Misconceptions About Marketing
My first Mistake in Digital Marketing before starting on the journey –
As my parents are in the service sector, I misunderstood marketing as a door-to-door job. Because since childhood, I have seen salespeople going door to door to market or sell their products. When I came across the term “Digital Marketing,” I thought of some door-to-door delivery job, or you have to convince people on phone calls to buy some products or services. As I am an introvert in nature, selling wasn’t my cup of tea.
And I was also aware of the Network marketing Schemes as many of my friends already got scammed here.
At that time, I didn’t have a laptop to research this. My curiosity aroused as after wasting a lot of energy and time, I found out something of my own interest. But there were lots of confusion-
- Is Digital Marketing a Phone Calling job?
- Is it a door-to-door delivery job?
- Do I have to be highly effective in communication skills in order to convince people on phone?
As I was not a tech geek, I was not keen on google searches. I used to research some basic kinds of stuff on google but didn’t use google for any detailed research.
While I was browsing my Facebook account, I came up with an online workshop, telling me to register. I remembered it was some personal development workshop. I needed that, seriously. So, without giving a second thought, I registered for it.
For the first time, I came across the word- WEBINAR.
I have heard about seminars but had no idea what a webinar is. Today webinar is very famous for obvious reasons. Online webinars are the trend today as education has shifted from offline to online.
And for the First time, I heard one more term, ZOOM MEETING. I could attend that webinar only through Zoom. Zoom is an online video tool for communication, just as video conferencing.
I installed Zoom on my mobile phone and attended that webinar. It was a nice experience.
#2- Mistakes in Digital Marketing
Binge Watching
My second mistake in Digital Marketing-
After attending that webinar, I became inquisitive to know more about Digital Marketing.
In short, I was addicted to binge-watching videos on YouTube.
So, I started my research on YouTube. From morning till night all day, I was on my cell phone. Slowly and slowly, after gaining more and more knowledge, my confidence went down. First of all, I found out that you need to be fluent in English to communicate with others, and my English was horrible then. This mistake in Digital Marketing cost me a lot. Practice can improve English speaking through regular practice.
After wasting a lot of time on YouTube, I found out that I need to join an institute for one year of a course in Digital Marketing to get a diploma degree in Digital Marketing.
During that period, a thought came that was I in the wrong industry wasting my time? Because at the age of 30 with no job, again joining a new course, again pay the course fee, hostel fee, accommodations, etc. But I had no other option other than Digital Marketing because for exploring some other field you need to waste more time – the only thing which I didn’t have much. I took a break of 10-15 days, and after giving it a second thought, I again started researching as everything was moving online. Because if education is shifting online, there must be some resources online that would teach Digital Marketing.
Then I came up with this definition: – Digital Marketing is nothing but marketing digital or physical products or services through online platforms with the help of some tools and tactics.
#3- Mistakes in Digital Marketing
Procrastination
My third mistake in Digital Marketing-
After doing research, I landed on a free Digital Marketing course. I started the course, but after going through some modules, I was again confused about Whether I was on the right track. I went back to YouTube, and again I started my Research. I was jumping from one video tutorial to another. Look! Today, I know how to go in a structured way of learning, but I wasn’t aware of selecting a structural program.
Suddenly I came across a video about a 20-year-old earning 3-4 lakhs per month through digital marketing. This was a bulb-on moment because I needed a career that could make me financially independent. Then I again started binge-watching YouTube, but I was looking out for all the case studies that have achieved success through digital marketing. My focus shifted from learning to getting dopamine hits by watching the amount of money people were earning through digital marketing.
Then one friend of mine suggested some online paid platforms where these digital courses (not only on Digital Marketing but also on various fields such as data science, project management, etc.) were available at an affordable price. I got one, made the payment, and started the course.
I left the first course and joined this course. After completing some modules again, I went into the Dilemma of actually implementing and earning money.
#4- Mistakes in Digital Marketing
Enrollment into Different Online Courses
My fourth Mistake in Digital Marketing-
I got really frustrated after taking two paid courses and exploring YouTube for about 5-6 months. But one thing was there in my mind: I have to find a way out.
Passing my days in confusion and frustration, I started enrolling in different courses, whichever came to my sight. I enrolled in 2-3 free courses and around four paid courses. But I didn’t even complete any of those courses fully.
The most important problem was that I didn’t have any NICHE.
Yes, My friend —-NICHE!
The word “NICHE” drove me crazy for many days. In all the courses I had taken, everyone recommended finding a NICHE and then starting a Digital Marketing journey around that niche.
NICHE is basically defined as: –
- A particular group of customers.
- Your target markets.
- Your target audience.
- Your expertise area to serve that target market.
These are all the market definitions of NICHE. But, how to find that NICHE? Some told me to discover my passion, while others gave different methods to find the NICHE. After swinging from one course to another, I was totally overwhelmed with the vast quantity of information. Without discovering NICHE- (expertise in a specific market), I couldn’t move forward. So again, I went for a procrastination break.
In simple words, you can’t provide digital marketing services to everyone in the market when you are starting. You have to select a tiny market based on your research, passion, or interest; among all the digital marketing skills, you need to select one or two at max when you start. Then slowly and slowly master those skills and move to other digital marketing skills.
#5 – Mistakes in Digital Marketing
Following Different mentors
My fifth Mistake in Digital Marketing-
This was one of my biggest mistakes in digital marketing.
After a long roller coaster journey of one year, I realized that all other students joining the same programs got results except me.
So, I watched videos of some of the successful students of my batch. Then I found out that my failure was not those courses but my jumping from one course to another without completing any. And more of jumping from one mentor to another.
Look, not all the courses in the market are genuine. They make courses and sell them to make money. You won’t find any practical learnings in those courses.
After making so many digital marketing mistakes in the past year, I understood one point, and by the way, this is the most important point for you- Follow one Mentor at a time. Select your mentor very wisely. Take your time, but at the same time, don’t go into the procrastination phase.
Learn from one mentor, and after completing that course, move to another mentor to learn new skills.
I decided to follow one mentor at a time. Luckily, I found one training program in Digital Marketing. I enrolled in that program, and now I am on a journey of a structured plan. It’s a 3-4 months practically implemented training program, and also, there is a cashback system. If you are new to Digital Marketing, I would recommend you to check these courses: –
You can also check out their free courses on digital marketing. Then you can decide.
My Learnings: –
- There is no compulsion of speaking fluent English unless you work with international clients.
- Making a career in Digital Marketing needs two things: – Laptop & Internet.
- About Niche, if you don’t have an expertise in any field just pick up one, explore it and move forward. You don’t need to marry one niche lifetime.
- Pick up a training program in which you can implement everything practically.
- Follow one mentor at a time and take it to the finishing line then follow another.
- Don’t procrastinate.
- Digital Marketing is all about practical implementation. You have to start implementing as soon as you learn.
If you want to read more articles on Digital Marketing, please check out my blogs.