Marketing is all around us. Every commercial, billboard, and poster is designed for one purpose and one purpose only; to get their product in your head. No product isn’t backed by some form of marketing, even if it’s just the box it comes in. There are many kinds of marketing, whether it’s to show off a product, promote a service, or publicize a person’s work, marketing is how we learn about what the world around us has to offer.
As an average 19 year old, marketing myself isn’t something that’s super important to me yet, outside of job or scholarship applications. However, as a graphic design and photography student, I know that within the next couple of years, I will have to market myself one way or another to get my name out there and convince people to pay me to do work for them. In the fields that I plan to work in, digital marketing will be the most advantageous type of marketing as opposed to physical forms of media like prints. Many jobs in the field of either photography or graphic design require some form of portfolio as part of the application process. For most, a simple website displaying their work would suffice, however, in order to grab the attention of the viewer, creating an interesting, well organized, eye catching website can give you a leg up on the competition.
Content creation is another very useful way to market yourself. As a musician, one of my favorite things to do is record myself playing every part of a song and layering them together to create the full piece. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of those on this computer. To make up for it, here is an example of this type of video. Videos like this can be used, in this case, to show off musical talent as well as a level of recording and editing skills, but short form content can be used in a multitude of ways to show off your skills. As a photographer, I could create videos showing my process for setting up a photo shoot, the shoot itself, and how I edit my photos to enhance them. Another example. As a graphic designer, I could create similar content showing the process of designing something, starting with sketching ideas, narrowing those ideas down to a few options, creating rough drafts in Illustrator, and ultimately deciding on a design or two and fully fleshing out the idea into a finished product. Example number three.
An understanding of digital marketing can be integral to anyone looking to grow in their career field, especially if they work in a creative field. The advent of the internet has opened so many opportunities to the average person that simply weren’t possible only a few decades ago. We’re able to show off our skills, show the world what we can do, and show people why they should give us their hard earned cash to create something that they wouldn’t have been able to come up with on their own.
“If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you.”
-David Brier
Eagle Digital 
As a seasoned graphic designer and now marketer, social media manager, poor videographer… whomever hires you in the future, will assume you can do it all. Socials, Product Catalogs, SEO, website creation…google docs, excel, videography, all while being the creative brain. Graphic designers truly are the glue to the marketing field. Hold on tight, choose your avenues and jobs wisely and say no if you have to. Good luck 19, it’s a wild ride!
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Very appropriate quote for what digital marketing means. For a nineteen year old, you sure have many skills, content and a story to help market yourself.
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As a current ecommerce merchandiser and marketing degree graduate. I believe you hit the nail on the head. Marketing changes so rapidly so you need to know how to market yourself. It’s really hard to understand a specific section of marketing without knowing other parts of marketing. Digital Marketing is rapidly growing and is thrown in our face everyday. With that being said there is also a high chance that something you learned 10 years ago might not be the same as it is today.
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