Step-by-Step Process on how to Become a Digital Marketer [UPDATED]

Updated September 2026: tools, certifications and skills brought up to date, including GA4 and where AI now fits in.

In short: to become a digital marketer, learn the core skills (strategy and personas, SEO and keyword research, analytics in GA4, content, social media and paid ads), practise them on a real project such as your own site, a friend’s business or a charity, earn the free Google, HubSpot and Meta certifications, follow people who do the job well, and add AI tools to your workflow. A course speeds it all up.

Do you want to start a career in digital marketing but have no idea where to start? What should you learn, and which skills should go on your CV?

I had the same problem! So I did some research, got on a plane, and when I first wrote this in 2019 I was living in Thailand doing a digital marketing internship. I met some top digital marketers and they taught me a lot. I’d like to share that with you here: the step-by-step process I went through to start my digital marketing career, updated for how the job looks today.

So what do digital marketers do every day?

If you imagine a cool hipster with a tattoo, sipping a cappuccino all day while scrolling Instagram, you’re probably way off. Most digital marketers are cool (tattoos not required), most of them love (and need) coffee, and most of them are active on social media platforms.

From outside the coffee shop it may look carefree: playing with pictures, writing articles, being online all the time. Spend one day watching them work and you’ll be staring with your mouth open.

Our day starts with numbers. (Let me call myself a digital marketer already. I’m still learning, but as I said, they’re cool and I want to be cool too.) We open Google Analytics and a scheduling tool such as Hootsuite and look at what happened the day before. Who read our new articles? Did they click through to our other pages? Did our social posts work? We also check that everything is scheduled for today.

After the morning warm-up the roller coaster starts, and we have fun (and some adrenaline too). Here are the main activities that keep us busy every day.

How to start a new digital marketing project

With every new project, the first question is always: “WHAT IS THE TARGET?”

The answer depends on the industry, but it usually ends in sign-ups, awareness, shares, comments and, of course, profit. The point isn’t one number but understanding the strategy, brand positioning, product, short- and long-term plans and vision.

For example, back then we were working on SEO for our client Steps with Theera, an accredited vocational training centre in a health-focused coffee shop in Bangkok (now known simply as Steps). Before we discussed anything else, we had to clarify their priority: the vocational centre or the coffee shop?

Once we have all the information, we start creating PERSONAS creation. In other words: who is my target audience? I recommend creating two to five personas and giving them real names. It may sound strange, but it really helps you understand your customers. How old are they? What do they like? What annoys them? Where do they live? What do they earn? What education do they have?

One of my first personas was for a yoga studio aimed at relieving stress and anxiety. You can easily make a persona template in Canva, which has free templates, photos, icons and shapes, and it’s fun! I like to use a brochure-style layout because it divides the sections nicely, and I add a background photo that brings in the look and feel of the product.

AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude are now handy for a first draft of a persona. Treat it as a starting point and check it against real customers: reviews, interviews and your analytics.

Used skills: #brandmanagement, #strategicthinking, #strategyplanning, #projectmanagement, #presentationskills

Learn how to check a client’s online presence and audit their site

If the client doesn’t have a website yet, check whether the name is free as a domain (any domain registrar will tell you) and as a handle on each social platform they’ll use.

If they already have a website and social accounts, check their presence across all of them. I have seen companies present themselves as a coffee shop on one platform and as a seller of homemade soaps on another.

Then review the website itself. Here is the checklist I use:

• Is it easy to see WHO THEY ARE, thanks to a clear logo, usually in the top left?
• Can you see straight away WHAT THEY DO?
• Is there a clear CALL TO ACTION button on the landing page?
• Does the site show TRUST SIGNALS: reviews, awards, logos of clients or of media that wrote about them?
• Can you connect with them on their SOCIAL MEDIA?
• Does the OVERALL LOOK and feel make you want to learn more?
• Does it work well on a PHONE? Most visits now come from mobiles.
• Is it FAST? Google’s free PageSpeed Insights will tell you.
• Is it easy to find your way around (good UX), with clear, readable fonts?

Used skills: #SEO, basic #UX, you may use basic #WordPress and #graphicdesign

Keyword research can make a real difference

We want websites that are easy to find in search engines, so we choose our keywords carefully. Keyword research is key to growing organic search traffic (visitors who find you through Google’s unpaid results). It matters even more for pay-per-click (PPC) ads, where the right keywords decide your return on investment. For a step-by-step method, see our guide on how to choose keywords for SEO.

We make sure the words are clear, on topic, and that people actually search for them.

In Google Keyword Planner, part of Google Ads and free to use with an account, you can look up the keywords people search for and check existing websites. For example, I checked the site of a friend who had just started selling property in the Austrian Alps and was ranking very low. Keyword Planner showed us that his page was being matched to people searching for “investments” and “stock market” rather than “buying property”.

Quora is also good for inspiration, and so are Reddit and the “People also ask” questions in Google. You can explore what people ask about a topic. For “yoga for relieving stress and anxiety”, I searched “yoga anxiety” and looked at the questions people asked, then repeated that for our other keywords. I also read the answers to see which other words people used most. Here they included depression, decrease, reduce, techniques and therapy. On top of that, I got ideas for future articles. Isn’t that great?

Reviews are another source, because people describe a service in their own words. I used them for Steps with Theera to see how people described it: “for young adults with disabilities”, “with special needs”, “educational training center”.

Then we use the keywords on the website. We make sure these six places are covered: the page title, the first paragraph, the H1, the H2s, image alt text and the body text.

Used skills: #keywordresearch, #SEO, #googleads, #PPC

Master reading Google Analytics

We check progress in Google Analytics every day. It’s a great tool for spotting a problem or finding the content that works. Today that means GA4: Google switched off the old Universal Analytics in July 2023, so any tutorial showing the old reports is out of date.

At first it looks like a world of numbers with no story behind it. But I learned to ask the right questions and what to do with the answers. Here’s an example:

Used skills: #googleanalytics, #analyticalthinking

Dig into content creation

The purpose of content is to sell a product or service. Content ideas depend on the client, but above all on the target audience.

At the start of each piece, decide whether you want to educate, entertain or inspire your audience, and in what format: blog post, video, short video for Reels, TikTok or YouTube Shorts, newsletter and so on.

Content has to be posted regularly, be engaging and be relevant to your audience. If you can tailor it to a specific group, even better; for example, send a newsletter only to people who have already bought your product.

Here’s an example: Web Courses Bangkok’s articles. Some are educational, some are inspiring, we post regularly, and the articles are grouped into topics our students care about.

Beyond good copywriting, we want content to bring traffic to the website, so we make sure it has these must-haves:

• A title with the keyword
• A clear message and a story with a conclusion
• Examples and stories
• Internal and external links
• Easy-to-read fonts
• The author’s name
• The date it was published or updated
• Ways to share it and follow you on social media
• Calls to action (read this next, find out more, and so on)
• Real images and videos that show what you’re saying; avoid generic stock images
• Enough length to answer the question fully, and no more

AI writing tools can speed up research, outlines and first drafts. The marketers who stand out use them that way, then add their own experience, examples and voice, which is exactly what readers and search engines look for.

Used skills: #SEO, #copywriting, #blogging, #emailmarketing, #AItools, basic #graphicdesign, basic #videocreation, basic #photography

Explore social media platforms and advertising

We work with social media every day. With a new client, the first thing we do is look at their social presence:

• Which platforms are they on?
• How many followers do they have, and how many of them engage?
• How often do they post?
• How do they interact with their followers?
• What is the competition doing?
• Are they on other relevant sites, such as TripAdvisor or Google Maps?
• Is their communication on brand across every platform?
• Do they use ads to promote their company, products or events? How do they choose the target audience?

With the client, the product and the audience in mind, we propose a plan in a content calendar, based on short- and long-term goals. We used Trello to plan all our content across social platforms, newsletters and articles.

The amazing thing is that everything can be scheduled in advance, which saves a huge amount of time. Hootsuite is now a paid tool with a free trial; Buffer has a free plan for up to three channels, and Meta Business Suite schedules Facebook and Instagram posts for free. Besides the client’s own feed, you can follow mentions, new followers, competitors’ pages and hashtags, and see the client’s analytics in one place.

Used skills: #socialmediamarketing, #facebookads, #copywriting, basic #graphicdesign, basic #videocreation, basic #photography

So, my question at the end of the day: do you still picture a digital marketer as a hipster in a coffee shop? Don’t get me wrong, it can be a hipster, but a very, very busy one, which brings me to my conclusion:

A digital marketer is a new superhero.

How to learn all of this

As you can see, digital marketing is a broad subject, which gives you the chance to specialise. You could focus on copywriting and still have a successful career. If you love statistics, you could specialise in Google Analytics and data.

First, identify your skills and strengths

What qualities does a digital marketer need?

A digital marketer is passionate about brands, eager to learn and keen to stay up to date. They face problems bravely and try to solve them, and they are responsible and dedicated. They are creative, understand people whatever their culture, background or age, and can also think analytically and learn from what they did before.

Where do you fit? Are you more analytical or more creative? Do you prefer thinking about strategy, or finding out why a website scores low in Google? Build on your strengths and develop the areas where you feel less confident.

Add AI to your toolkit

This is the biggest change since I first wrote this. Digital marketers now use AI assistants every day to brainstorm, draft copy, summarise research and analyse data, and the ad platforms from Google and Meta use AI to choose audiences and create ad variations. Employers expect you to use these tools well: to write good prompts, check the output, and keep the brand’s voice and facts right.

Practice makes perfect

Once you know what a digital marketer does, nothing beats learning from your own experience. If you already have a business, use it to move your skills and your company forward. Or try one of these:

• Present yourself as a professional: write a blog, be active on social media, and build a simple website on WordPress.
• Do you have friends with a small business? Help them. Or explore, for example, Etsy and offer your help to sellers there. I contacted seven Etsy stores to practise my skills. I chose shops with five-star reviews that were already making sales, and checked their online presence: did they have a logo, how many followers did they have, and when were they last active? Two replied that they were interested. Guess what the one I chose was? A coffee shop (that also sells homemade products).
• Want to do something meaningful? Volunteer for a non-profit, as we did for Steps with Theera.
• Do you have a passion? A friend of mine promotes his favourite band. That’s awesome.

Earn the free certifications

Certifications show employers you know the tools. The most useful ones are free:

• Google Ads certifications and the Google Analytics Certification (GA4), both on Google’s Skillshop.
• HubSpot Academy certifications in inbound, content and email marketing.
• Meta Blueprint courses for Facebook and Instagram advertising.

Follow key opinion leaders

The good thing is that you can find everything online. The bad thing is that you can feel overloaded and unsure what’s relevant.

The best approach is to follow digital marketing influencers in your field of interest. Find them on social media and LinkedIn, read their blogs and newsletters, attend their webinars, ask them questions. Learn from the best.

I also recommend going to events. One I attended back then was a panel on Trends in digital marketing with experts from Bangkok. You can ask the panel questions directly, or talk to them one-to-one afterwards, and widen your circle of contacts. I took notes, so here are my key takeaways from that evening:

• Thailand is a growing market, with consumers who want more marketing activity.
• Key opinion leaders (influencers) are an important channel. Start with relevance to your product. Influencers with huge followings raise awareness, while those with smaller audiences build trust and engagement.
• B2B: start with a clean website, a strong call to action and an active social presence. Don’t forget LinkedIn.
• Viral video is a cost-effective way to spread the word, but there’s no checklist for creating one. Great content is the key, either funny or emotional.
• Paid vs organic: if you want results immediately, PPC is a great tool and can lift organic growth too, but organic visitors tend to convert better. On Facebook, ads are important for reach.

Equally important, ask questions of everyone already working in the field. I had a great opportunity to help organise a focus group on “Which skills should digital marketing professionals have?”. I met 20 marketers and interviewed some of them. Here is one of my interviews, with Jeremy Guessoum, Marketing Director of the agency Grey Alchemy:

Take a course to speed up the whole process

Imagine yourself in the starting blocks. That feeling when you settle into the right position. A long breath in as you raise your eyes to the finish. Your focus is there, your head is up and you know exactly where to go when you hear the signal. Bang… and you run!

A course is the same: you have your focus and you know exactly what to do and where to go. It accelerates your learning and your career. You don’t have to spend time researching what to learn, because someone has already done it for you. Your task is to study, prepare for classes and practise. That’s it.

How do you choose the right course for digital marketing?

• CONTENT: make sure it covers the subjects above: brand and strategy, content marketing, social media, analytics, SEO, landing pages and conversion, email marketing, paid ads and AI tools, with a clear outline of what you’ll learn.
• REAL CASE STUDIES: as the saying goes, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Your school should use real industry examples and let you practise. If you work on real cases, you build your portfolio at the same time.
• CERTIFICATIONS: check which certificates you’ll get, and plan to earn the free Google Ads and Google Analytics certifications as well.
• MENTORING: is there personal support from the teachers, or only a group class?
• ATTENTION: the smaller the class, the more of the teacher’s time you get.
• MEET THE SCHOOL: visit or talk to them online, meet the tutors and ask questions.
• Think about the practical criteria too: price, timing, location or online.
• Make a spreadsheet of the criteria that matter to you and score each school you find. It may sound a bit crazy, but you’ll see all the pros and cons on one page and decide quickly.

Kick off your digital marketing career

With the skills above and the effort you put into your studies, you’re ready to become a digital marketing professional. Good luck! Inspire others, create beautiful campaigns and never stop learning. This world changes very quickly.