How I Broke Into Digital Marketing Without Experience / Education / Connections

in this video i'll be walking you through exactly how i was able to break into the digital marketing industry without any connections education or experience my goal with this video is to break down the behind the scenes literally every step i took from the messages i sent the lucrative youtube video that really helped me stand out in front of a hiring manager all the way to the cover letter i used to essentially get me my first digital marketing job without further ado let's get into it alright so here as you can see on my linkedin profile if i scroll down here near my work experience section you'll see that i actually didn't study uh marketing in school in fact i studied psychology and i was like i don't like this so screw this right anyways don't worry about that uh but over here you'll see i actually got my first job in the hr space so i was working as a recruitment coordinator in the recruiting space and then from there i made a big pivot into the marketing industry so you can see marketing assistant digital marketing automation specialist marketing specialist digital marketing specialist all that good stuff the reason why i'm showing you this is because i want to show you prove to you that like this is possible literally if you never worked in marketing have any connections in marketing or even have any education in marketing uh if i did it out of all people then you my friend you definitely can do this all right so uh let's get into exactly what i did so i was working in this recruiting job and i essentially sort of low-key-headed my life and i wanted to work in marketing i operated a side business while i was working in this recruiting job and in the side business i loved the market marketing aspect of the side business and i was a career coach so uh through the side business i started learning a lot about marketing oh i love this funnel building stuff i love this copywriting i love generating leads oh my god email newsletter this is so fun i love doing this um and through the side hustle i started realizing wait why am i in hr why do i do hr when i really like marketing like that's literally where i want to be so i made a big decision and i was like screw this i'm gonna quit my job and somehow break into marketing uh the advantage i had was i knew some series of unconventional job search strategies that i could leverage to break into the industry but you can imagine i was there in my room and i was scared to death i was like did i make the right decision all the coworkers i told about like me wanted breaking into marketing are they making fun of me right now all these feelings started came to mind right and i was kind of going through this weird like anxiety period and i was like you know what screw this i'm gonna make a plan and i'm gonna make this freaking work right so i devised the plan and uh this is essentially what i did so first thing i did was i knew i wanted to work in marketing but specifically i knew i wanted to work with a small team of really smart marketers that was very number one key thing for me in my new workplace so i knew i wanted to work in an agency a digital marketing agency specifically so first thing was i need to figure out what are the digital marketing agencies here in the toronto area so very simply i googled uh digital marketing agencies in toronto and then you can see over here there's like a bunch of different agencies uh all i'd have to do is just scroll down and then i get like a list of all these different digital marketing agencies here in the toronto area now i don't have the excel sheet but i actually kept a tracker of all the different marketing agencies i would be interested in it was a big excel sheet with like links to the website and the company's name and all this stuff right and eventually uh doing this research i found one specific company that i really really actually was interested in and they were called candy box marketing and you know display just by their website and all that stuff you can see that they're really cool i love what they were doing i love the vibe of the company and i was like yes okay i need to somehow work in this company i need to break into this somehow get someone to refer me into a role or you know on on top on top of getting me to refer me to a role i need to show them that i actually have the skill sets to be able to be successful in the agency okay cool well at least now at this point i know exactly what kind of company i want to work in so now that i knew i wanted to work in candy box marketing i went to linkedin and i searched up candy box marketing because i knew that if i can somehow convince someone who works in this company that i'm first likable enough to refer into a role in this company and second i have the skill sets required to be successful in a role within this company if i can just establish those two things i knew i had a solid chance of breaking into this agency so as you can see i went on their uh linkedin page essentially and i clicked this little tab over here uh 24 employees and after clicking that i had a list of all the different people that worked in candy box marketing and you can see there's like a bunch of different people and i knew when i saw this list i was like okay cool now i just need to somehow convince one of these people that i'm good enough for a job there and hopefully get a job there like i that that's the next mountain i sort of had to climb so i was kind of going through this list and i was like okay this is a little intimidating do i really know what i'm doing this is kind of scary whatever anyways i was going through this list and uh specifically i knew that i needed to reach out to a senior team lead a manager or someone influential within the company who had the power to make a referral and you know refer some refer me into a job so i was scrolling through this uh list over here and i decided to send out a bunch of messages to a number of people here on this page um but more specifically i'm gonna go over the message that actually helped me to get a job now keep in mind i did this process for other digital marketing agencies as well so i would literally look them up on linkedin send all the managers there a message on linkedin um so it's not just specifically for candy box i did it for but i did do it for other agencies i'm just trying i'm just showing you the one the route that actually worked for me so it's remember it's a numbers game uh just because you do it one time doesn't mean it'll be successful you gotta do it a number of times okay and i'm just showing you what worked for me anyways i sent a message out to everyone here in this map in this like little list over here uh as long as they were like a manager or someone influential and then i uh i sent i found someone's profile which is really interesting and they actually worked at candy box marketing and their name is mafu's over here my friend mafus i'm good friends to him with him this day and i was like okay cool so this person um you know they're obviously a brand manager at candy box marking they've been there for they've been there at candy box for 10 years so like i feel like this is sort of my way in so uh you know i need to get this guy on a phone call with me to like basically get him to understand my personality what i'm all about and hopefully it'll refer me into a role but i knew that i couldn't just message him being like hey can you give me a job hey here's my resume can you refer me into a role hey do this can you like i can't ask him for much right so i'm going to be very careful with my messaging and how i basically uh approach him essentially right so i was going through his profile and everything and i noticed that he was like the host of a podcast and he's the author of a book so i went on his instagram and uh i looked through his poses like wow this guy is really really interesting it seems like he's doing some really cool stuff so i decided to consume his podcast i skimmed his book and everything and i got a really good idea of like what he was all about and then i had an epiphany moment you see i uh in and in this epiphany moment i realized oh this is my way into a conversation with this guy and i'll show you what the exact message was okay all right so as you can see here this is the exact message i sent him and i'm gonna break down this message to show you why this is effective and why you should never say like hey god kiss my resume can you give me a job hey can you refer me into a role don't do any of that stuff in fact follow my exact message that i sent him and i guarantee you that you're gonna have so much more success when you reach out to people on linkedin okay so let's go over the message hey mufus i've been noticing your podcast and your book on amazon and i absolutely love your content since i find it so relatable right so again i led with like some the first sentence essentially established that i did my research and i got to know this guy i didn't just like randomly send another call pitch no none of that instead i got to know them so the odds of them replying to me and actually caring for me is gonna be much more higher compared to someone who just sends off a cold message and doesn't give a damn about anything okay i'm looking to get into the digital marketing space and i was wondering if i could ask you for some career advice over a 15-minute phone call during lunch and this this sentence over here i want to break it down for you a little bit so notice how i didn't say uh can you help me get a job again i did not say that but instead i asked him for some career advice now the reason why i asked for career advice is because first it sort of implies you're looking for a job in a very indirect way so there's going to be assuming you're already in the job search process you're looking for a job and over here you'll see that i asked them for a 15-minute phone call during lunch specifically 15 minutes which pretty much anyone can do and more specifically during lunch so then you know they can just probably spare 15 minutes during lunch it i i basically sent this message with the intention that it's going to be almost near impossible for them to say no to me and you can see why this is effective and over here you'll see high leaf can you do tomorrow at 11 am awesome perfect my number is blah blah blah we got a phone call now during the phone call and this is really important it was 80 him talking and 20 me talking and 20 that i talked was mainly like asking for advice like genuine advice of how i can break into the digital marketing industry he knew i was looking for a job technically because i was asking for advice around how to break into it but the key here is i was asking for advice i wasn't trying to sell myself i was like oh look at me 15 years look at me certifications no no no no my friend it was all about him and how great he was and how i can like maybe pick his brain just a little bit all right so uh during the call honestly i was a little nervous i'll be honest with you when i first got the call i'm like dude like i feel like the universe aligned in some way so that we can get on this call and anyways i was being really awkward and weird at first i remember feeling cringy because i was so nervous regardless when you're getting called with whoever it may be a senior manager a hiring manager whatever it is you want to make sure the conversation is about them and not you make sure you're asking for advice and eighty percent of the time they should be talking you know you know um have you ever had a cousin or a little cousin come up to you and they're like hey joanna bob muhammad whatever the hell your name is i'm nervous about going into university and i was wondering if i can maybe ask you for some advice just for 15 minutes is that okay with you and you probably were like yeah oh my god i'd be honored and then during the call they were asking you all these great questions they were taking notes and they were so curious about you it sort of made you feel special right you can't you probably left the conversation being like man that was that was really really nice i enjoyed that right well my friend that same effect is what you want to replicate here when you're on the phone call with these people the same feel good effect because if you read the book how to win friends and influence people you'll know that great conversationalists are people who talk only 20 of the time and the other person talks 80 of the time so keep that in mind anyways we got a phone call i took a lot of notes and this is what i did that really helped me to really stand out for my foods over here so he basically gave me a very specific piece of advice he's like take your side hustle make that a work experience on linkedin and make sure you include digital marketing terminology in that work experience and because of that and because you included the terms the recruiters are going to reach out to you for a potential job and i was like this is actually smart let me try this though so i executed his advice i made a work experience and i made my career coaching stuff and i optimized it for marketing related terminology and what's interesting is uh i got actually i actually got a message from a recruiter being like hey i have a job opportunity for you it's a great salary all this good stuff this recruiter ended up being very like flaky and nothing really happened but the key here is i implemented his advice you can see here i followed your advice on making linkedin experience in my side just a little filled with keywords after that i got a message from a recruiter for a role your strategy worked you can see that right and um that really i believe that really helped me stand out because most people they'll get on the phone calls right universities will teach you university career coaches they'll teach you oh if you want to get a job go on a phone call with them do an informational interview and ask questions and then from there you'll land a job somehow but the truth is 90 of those people who get those phone calls they don't actually execute on the advice they just go on the phone call forget about the person the next day and just like go on with their lives and not never land a job but you are not 90 you are not that 99 that doesn't do anything you are the one who actually executes and stays one to your goals am i right so i executed on this piece of advice then he mentioned to me that there's a potential opening within the company and he was highly considering me for the role now at this point i was like okay okay i am excited oh i finally got an opportunity into a job that i want in marketing holy crap in marketing this is something i've been dreaming of and it's right here so i can't f this up do not whatever i do do not f this up so i decided to go above and beyond with my application and i believe this is exactly why i was able to get the job in my first get my first digital marketing job without any connections education or any experience for that matter so you can see over here this is the cover letter i made i'm not gonna go too much into details pretty self-explanatory three points why i would be a good fit for the role whatever right but this is this is the key here right i'm gonna click this link over here i made i basically to really help me stand out and to really secure me for this dream job that i wanted i decided to create a youtube video where i walk the viewers or mafus or daryl the founder of the company here uh i've walked them through how to get more attendees for their work social media workshops literally by changing the words on their website page let me give you an idea of what the video looks like so you can see here in this video and damn have i lost weight but you can see here in this video that i'm actually walking them through how to rewrite one of their landing pages on their website so that they can get more attendees for their online for their ver not virtual interesting ritual so they can get more attendees for this social media workshop and literally it's a whole video where i break down exactly what to do and the whole thing was 20 minutes long i remember it's funny uh mafus now that i'm good friends with him he told me afterwards he's like yo when you sent me that video i was pissed i was like what dude like you you were pissed you're pissed why why are you pissed and he's like because you're telling us the marketers what to do and i'm like oh well i'm sorry bro like that sounds bad i didn't mean to do that and he's like but here's a thing everything you said in the video was totally right and after like five minutes into the video i was like maybe this guy has a point and what i love the most about your video leaf was the fact that you smiled and you laughed and you made jokes and you messed up in certain ways and that really showed me what your personality was via this video and by the time i was done watching the video i knew i wanted to hire you in fact i actually watched the video multiple times and i shared it with the entire team and everyone was so blown away that we knew we needed to hire you and i and i listen i heard that i'm like whoa like this is this is the effect that it had because from my end i'm just making a video 20 minute video how to optimize a bit uh landing page and send it over right but it didn't know the effect that it would have on all these different people anyways you can see after i basically made the whole video and everything uh i messaged my food letting him know i made the video in my application so here's what i said so hey buffalo thanks again for sharing that link with me i've gone ahead and applied fingers crossed that it will work out to stand out from other applicants i took your advice see execution my friend execution i made an entire video where i demonstrate how candy box can get more attendees to their advanced social media workshop just by changing some of the copy you guys currently have on your website that's promoting the workshop i've included a link to the video in the cover letter itself feel free to have a look if you are interested uh thanks again for everything and obviously i'm very impressed well done i spoke with daryl and i will bring you in for an interview in the upcoming weeks based on daryl's availability stay tuned you can see i ended up finally getting that interview and because i worked in recruiting my job was to literally interview people i was able to have a deliver a solid interview performance and uh from there i essentially got hired into candy box marketing and now if i go back to my linkedin profile here and then from there you can see i went from an assistant to a digital marketing automation specialist to a marketing specialist to a digital marketing specialist and completely revamped my entire career path without ever having studied marketing or had any connections in marketing or even work in marketing in the past through an internship or anything like that and that's how you do it so again recap real quick make a list of all the different companies you want to work for reach out to the senior leaders within each company ask for career advice and do some research about the person that you're reaching out to execute on their advice so that you really stand out and they know that you are serious as hell and then create a project of some sort that really makes you look qualified for the role itself when you apply for the job all right so i think that's like five steps right there and i promise you this does require a lot of work i'm not saying this is easy in fact here's the here's the truth okay you are going to watch this video right now and maybe you're job searching maybe you're looking to break into digital marketing maybe you're already in marketing but you want to go into a new role i guarantee you and i'm sure you can agree with me on this if you replicate this exact process for all the job all your dream jobs that you want there is almost no way that you will not land your dream job sure you'll have to do this a couple of times and sure this will like require a lot of work but isn't having your dream job worth it right and again the sad truth is 99 of people watching this video this they're not you're not going to be executing this but for the one percent and i know you're watching the one percent that's watching this video and you're like okay i got the formula i'm gonna do it i'm gonna execute i'm gonna do it i'm gonna break into digital marketing i'm gonna get into a new role whatever it is that one percent you are literally the person that i am speaking to right now so take what i taught you right there this is how i did it replicate the process for yourself and i can almost guarantee you if you do this a number of times and don't give up you my friend will land your dream job no matter what industry you are looking to get into whether or not you have connections education or even experience so my friend i hope this video has been helpful my name is leaf be sure to subscribe to my marketing newsletter down in the description of this video and if you enjoyed content like this be sure to subscribe to my channel and lastly uh follow me on instagram if you want to keep up with my life or if you have any questions around digital marketing and what it's like to be in the industry anyways with that being said my name is alif and i will see you my friend in the next video peace out y'all peace out

Channel: Alif Huq

Views: 41,815

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Id: 1ondVMg2yJ8

Length: 21min 45sec (1305 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021