Digital marketing is a growing industry full of opportunities. But there are a lot of people who want to get in on the excitement. Established professionals and up-and-coming marketers all want to create the next digital marketing campaign for their companies, or clients if they work for an agency. The competition for these jobs, quite frankly, can be fierce.
Whether you have recently graduated from a marketing program or want to find the next job to challenge your skills, having an awesome digital marketing resume is critical.
Let us show you how to create a world-class resume that not only outlines your experience and knowledge but also displays your incredible creativity!
How Important Is a Digital Marketing Resume?
Before we dive into creating an awesome digital marketing resume, you need to understand the importance of this document. A resume establishes your skills and shows employers, in clear and precise language, why you are the right choice for the job. In today’s competitive job market, where each digital marketing position can have hundreds of applicants, a resume is a basic requirement.
A resume is important, first and foremost, because it outlines your skills. A well-organized resume will show employers what you have done and what you can do. But it goes beyond simply stating your skills; it tells employers what you can bring to their organization. It shows employers how they will benefit from hiring you. An effective resume will also act as an attention-grabber, helping you move to the next phase of the hiring process, which, in most cases, is an interview.
The importance of a digital marketing resume is clear, but it’s not enough to simply type your skills into a Word document. That may work for other occupations, but you are a marketing professional. The resume should act as an example of your marketing skills. To put it another way, you are marketing yourself.
Digital Marketing Resumes: Your Step-by-Step Guide
While a digital marketing resume needs to meet a high standard and display your creative skills, there are still some basic steps you should follow. These are the six essential steps for creating a digital marketing resume. (After these steps are complete, you can focus on making it awesome!)
Step 1: Review Examples
Before starting your resume, research common practices and review examples of great digital marketing resumes. While you don’t want to follow the crowd (especially in digital marketing!), reviewing digital marketing resume examples will show what’s appropriate, what people are doing, and what you can do to stand out from the crowd.
Step 2: Introduction
The first step in the resume writing process is to introduce yourself. Start the resume with your basic information, including your name, current job title or role (“digital marketing expert” or “digital marketing manager,” for example), and contact information. This introductory section can also include a brief paragraph that shares a little about your goals, personality, creativity, or skill set.
Step 3: Professional Experience
Now outline your professional work experience. Even if you are a recent college graduate, you likely have something to share, even if it’s not marketing. This section can be titled “Experience,” “Professional Background,” or something of that nature. List all the jobs you’ve held in the past, highlighting skills that are especially relevant to marketing. The information for each entry should include the business you worked for, your title, the beginning and end dates, and any noteworthy duties.
Step 4: Education
While your education may not be the most important factor (many employers care more about what you can do than where you went to college), it still needs to be listed. Write out all degrees you have completed, starting with the most recent. For example, if you completed an associate’s program, then moved into a bachelor’s, start with a bachelor’s degree.
Should you list the GPA? Few employers place a massive emphasis on GPA because strong class performance does not automatically translate to a strong professional performance. However, most recommend including your GPA if you have a 3.5 or higher. Also, list any academic honors, such as the dean’s list or honor roll.
Step 5: Relevant Skills
Your experience and education will provide a general outline of your skills, but this is the chance to list them directly. Describe any skills that pertain to digital marketing, especially specialized technical skills that can apply to the industry. Skills with software or specific marketing tactics (SEO or inbound marketing, as examples) should be listed here. This section can include skills that you developed during school or work and should be featured in your digital marketing skills resume.
Step 6: Certifications and Additional Information
This is the section where you can list certifications, credentials, or other information relevant to your digital marketing career. Certifications show additional skills and knowledge and demonstrate proficiency in digital marketing. They may include a marketing certification through groups like the American Marketing Association or Content Marketing Institute. It could also include certification with a specific technology or software, such as Google AdWords.
By following these steps, you’ll create the foundation for an excellent digital marketing resume. But we’re not done yet! We still need to add the finishing touches and a few modifications to create a resume that stands out from the crowd.
Tips and Tricks to Create an Awesome Digital Marketing Resume
Now that we have the basics in place, we can begin perfecting the resume. With these tips and tricks, you’ll be able to finalize your resume so that it grabs the attention of each employer.
Be Creative, Experimental, and Bold
You’re not making a resume for an accounting, engineering, or legal occupation. You’re a marketer! You get to be bold and creative with your digital marketing resume, so it’s okay to use color, add designs, and use eye-catching fonts. As long as the information remains clear and you don’t get excessive, it’s okay to add a little flair.
Include Some Numbers
Numbers help tell a story, giving context to your experience and achievements. Whenever possible, use numbers throughout your “Experience” section to help employers understand what you did. For example, don’t just say “increased leads”; write “increased leads by 42% in six months.” Don’t just state “expanded social media engagement,” but write “increased social media followers by 10,000 users.” For a digital marketing manager resume, you could include the number of people under your leadership or the number of projects you completed.
As a digital marketer, you understand the importance of metrics. So do your best to include numbers whenever possible, especially when they relate to lead generation, web traffic, or company profits.
Tailor the Resume
The steps we outlined above provide a resume template. But, before sending a final copy, you should always craft the resume so that it speaks specifically to the employer. Review the job description and modify the resume so that it highlights skills and experience that are particularly relevant to the job at hand.
For example, let’s assume the digital marketing position will largely include planning and managing the company’s content marketing efforts but not necessarily creating marketing content. In this case, you’ll want to craft your digital marketing specialist resume so it highlights experiences where you served in leadership and organizational roles. Even if you’ve never held a manager title, you likely have an example of leadership in your background. Perhaps you led a school project or organized an event; these could be included on your resume.
Digital Marketing: What Skills to Include
There are a variety of skills you might include in your digital marketing resume. This section, more than any other, should be modified to grab the attention of a hiring manager.
Potential skills you might feature in a digital marketing resume include:
- Analytics: Proven analytical skills are essential for digital marketing careers. This shows employers that you know how to gather, review, and analyze data to make the best possible strategic decisions.
- SEO skills: Search engine optimization (SEO) will help you bring more traffic to an employer’s website, which could lead to higher profits if that information is properly utilized.
- Public speaking/PR: You might not think public speaking is an important skill for digital marketers. But clearly presenting information is critical for internal and external communication.
- Content marketing: Content marketers create effective, useful articles and videos that establish the company as an authority in their industry. The ability to create and manage engaging online content remains crucial for companies of all sizes.
- Email marketing: This is a wonderful skill for digital marketers, one that is employed by organizations of all kinds. It’s effective for gathering new customers, maintaining a client base, and informing contacts about new products, services, discounts, and important news.
- Social media marketing: Be sure to include the social media platforms you have experience with, as social is essential for your company’s brand awareness and reaching potential customers through multiple platforms, namely mobile. Be sure to include your related copywriting skills and highlight successful campaigns you worked on with numbers to prove it.
- Management and organization: With management and organizational skills, you are equipped to run campaigns, lead teams, stay on task, and meet deadlines. All of these are extremely important when you are creating a digital marketing manager resume.
Again, you may have to pick and choose which skills to include. Select the right skills, and you’ll have an awesome resume that helps you land an interview for your dream job!
Earn Certification to Boost Your Digital Marketing Skills and Resume
If you still feel like you don’t have enough skills or experience to include on your resume, consider an online certificate program to boost your credentials. Attending a digital marketing bootcamp online can help you expand your career potential, learn hands-on skills from industry experts, and give you something to brag about on your digital marketing resume.
The Digital Marketing Bootcamp from Simplilearn, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts, is a six-month program created in partnership with Meta that offers real-world experience in creating effective and innovative digital marketing campaigns. You’ll learn in-demand skills like SEO, web analytics, PPC, conversion optimization, and more. Plus, you’ll add a certification with employers and recruiters, putting your resume at the top of the pile
