Learn about online marketing
Where is the best place to learn marketing these days? Is it
- From college?
- Business school?
- In BTS or IUT?
Far be it from me to enter into the polemical register, but from my point of view the answer is clearly “No”. So why not? Quite simply because these channels are not necessarily suitable for learning about online marketing.
Why are these classic learning channels unsuitable?
First of all, let’s face it, online marketing is evolving at a lightning speed, with radical changes, and it shouldn’t slow down in the future in my opinion. So much so that I don’t even believe that the printed “book” format as such is suitable for learning about online marketing.
Second point, one of the risks with traditional learning channels is going to be to fall back on purely theoretical and lecture-based teaching. In online marketing, feedback and field experience is much more interesting and important than long theoretical presentations. This is why, rather than having teachers with a 100% theoretical approach, it is much more relevant from my point of view to have professionals, or “testers” who have already had the opportunity to create a website or, or we have already had the opportunity to implement marketing strategies in concrete terms, in order to then have feedback on these issues.
Is my objective to denigrate the teaching staff? The answer is clearly “No”. Personally, I have a lot of teachers in my family, and I often have the opportunity to discuss these subjects with them. All this to say that I have no prejudice against teachers.
I just think that for online marketing, it’s really a subject that is extremely complicated, if not virtually impossible to teach with relevance in traditional teaching channels.
So how do you learn about online marketing?
One of the best ways, from my point of view, is going to be by feeding you blogs on the subject.
If you are interested in online marketing, you will quickly discover the influencers on the sector. I’ve noticed a few that I like:
Blogs in English
- Backlinko
- Moz
- Neil Patel
- Gotch
My advice on this is to really try to stay on top of the latest trends, so you don’t miss out on the newest releases. In a blog, I’m looking for people who are going to have a “test” approach, with analytical feedback on their attempts.
To learn about online marketing, take a close look at bloggers and influencers. Indeed, there are several blogs, several influencers that are really relevant. So I advise you to follow them.
Follow the Youtube channels on online marketing
If reading articles isn’t your thing, you can also watch videos, there are more and more videos on youtube, you can also see content on Linkedin. So overall, it seems to me it’s really relevant to feed yourself with information and the big advantage of video is that it’s going to allow you to see concretely how people are doing to implement certain solutions, so it’s a very good way to learn.
Podcasts, thinking in motion
Another tool that I personally appreciate very much are podcasts. Podcasts are perfect, if you are on public transport or if you take the car in the morning and you want to learn and at the same time you do a related activity, sports or something else in quotation marks. Well yes, podcasts are a really good way to do it. I especially like podcasts because it’s really about thinking in motion. So it’s something I like.
With twitter you can follow the influencers and thus be fed with the latest information of the important influencers. And be on the lookout for the latest news.
What is the right “mindset” to quickly learn about online marketing?
I will share with you the mindset that I think is best for quickly learning online marketing skills.
Try rather than just talk!
For me, the best way to learn online marketing is far from theory. It’s about reading content and trying to implement it on your own site to see if it can work or not for you. So now you understand better why it’s a learning experience that’s a far cry from a traditional university or business school education.
The virtuous circle: Learn, implement, test
For me the best way to learn quickly and effectively about online marketing is in the following virtuous circle:
- Learn
- Implement
- Test
And keep repeating this process over and over again, because you’re never done learning. And above all, rather than learning for the sake of learning, you’re going to have to get into the hard stuff by implementing it and testing it as often and as regularly as possible. This is the best method in my opinion to improve yourself as quickly as possible.
Having a site, an imperative obligation
As you may have noted, in the virtuous circle I am talking about, there is “implement” and “test”. That is why, from my point of view, it is absolutely essential to have a website for this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about a few things that are a bit optional, but about an absolute obligation to put you in the right conditions to succeed. Why is that? Without it, you will learn a lot of things, you will be able to talk about it, but objectively you will never have the legitimacy that your results can bring you.
A website to test your online marketing knowledge in concrete terms
Much better than theory, your website will become a laboratory for experimentation. So you will go into practice, making changes to your website and see what the results will be.
“Being rich, right away because it’s easy” => This joke!
Another thing that I think is important when you start learning about online marketing is the following: “learn before to earn”. Indeed, there is a nice learning curve in online marketing, it is present and more or less long depending on how much time you can invest to learn. Why do I say that? Globally, flee from all the people on youtube or on the internet who will tell you that you can earn a lot, in two minutes. Online marketing is a very powerful lever, but it requires a minimum of time to focus on it and start getting your first returns.
A vast field that requires persistence
Online marketing is an extremely vast field, with a fairly huge level and amount of knowledge and information to assimilate. Therefore persistence is essential to succeed in this activity. So, if you’re just getting started, don’t think, “ok, I’m going to read 3 articles and take a 30 minute training course and then I’ll know everything about it”. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. You have to dig deeper and go further than most people do in order to be good at online marketing. So persistence is really something that is paramount.
Continuous learning
In online marketing, start from the principle that you have to “learn, learn and learn” all the time. Indeed, this is not a field with notions set in stone forever. Solutions and ways of doing things are constantly evolving, so if you say to yourself at a certain point: “Well, I know everything about online marketing, now I have nothing more to learn, then your mindset is not at all the right one. You’re going to be in the position of learning new things all the time and trying new methods all the time.
Get closer to industry influences
Another way to learn quickly is to get in touch with people who have been doing online marketing for a while, and who have blogs or Youtube channels, etc… Don’t hesitate to get in touch with them, it can be something very interesting while allowing you to develop your own network, so it’s something I recommend you to do. If you’re at the beginning of your adventure, it’s okay, we all started one day. Even when you’re a little bit new, a little bit new, later on by dint of learning, by dint of being persistent and well you will be able to increase your knowledge and therefore bring certain elements, and therefore help people who initially may have been important influencers but was not aware of the latest developments because in any case, you can not be aware of everything that happens all the time in online marketing, there is too much information.
Helping without expecting anything in return?
Then, it is something I believe in a lot, it is the fact of “Helping others”. The English call it “pay forward”. The objective is really to give your time to help others, to inform them about things you know about. I like the idea of creating a positive vibe. Sometimes, some of them will even help you in return. So is there an automatic cause-and-effect relationship between giving and receiving, the answer is no. But if you help a lot of people, you may at some point perhaps get some feedback. So don’t really count on it, but know that sometimes when you help enough, kind souls will come forward to help you in return.
The money will come…
Focus on learning, and implementation rather than money. Indeed, money will come, spend your time learning, focus on learning, executing and testing. You will succeed in the end, I guarantee you.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as surprising as it may seem, I think that online marketing is very difficult to learn in the classical channels of education. On the other hand, having a website is absolutely essential in order to learn, implement and test. Also, never lose sight of the fact that you will always have things to learn in online marketing, and that nothing is ever taken for granted. The best way to approach it from my point of view, and with a permanent “test and run” perspective. After all, this is the most important element that will allow you to progress quickly by getting back into practice immediately.