Bundda
Was in your shoes and I focused and trying to make as many things as possible (accounts and projects) that used and tested my skills in marketing. I did this as I was doing my masters in marketing and then I went on a furious dive into LinkedIn till I found an agency to hire me. If you keep making project and doing things, you'll build your skills and portfolio and it makes you look eager to work and a natural creative to future employers.

dankhodor
Intern at an agency. Lots of places would love to hire a person to train up.. as long as they show that they're a self starter.

Search "digital marketing agency near me" and go thru all the agency websites until you can find one offering an internship.

Get your Google certs, Bing cert, whatever else cert is out there now to show that you're willing to learn. Then just start applying

benproconsul
I would hire someone like you.

You're curious. You ask questions. You want more.

There are always projects that need someone who just wants to try new things, see what works, and are in a position to take risks that others might not. Just because it might work.

Find a local new entrepreneur group. Attend some events, and find someone that is doing something cool, that you want to support. Give them three months of your time. Or run a trial project for them, just to help out. That gives you experience, they get new revenue, and if you're great, maybe they hire you to keep doing more.

Find a digital transformation business, and offer marketing support to their end of contract clients. Legacy businesses that transition from paper to digital, or to online, usually don't have any digital marketing expertise either. Easing that path, or creating tools to make it generate online revenue quickly, would be valuable.

You don't really need to know how to get started. You need to know how to be competitive, now. What do you need to be able to deliver, to meet the standard of the group you want to be in? Find out what they're looking for in new prospects. Find out what communities they're in on LinkedIn, and join the conversation (politely) where you can offer real value.

Moxie
I've been running my own agency for 12 years. Here's how I got started.

It was < year >. The economy sucked and I was downsized out of my last real job. After 10 years in my prior industry, I was ready for something new but I didn't want to just throw away 10 years of experience, either.

So I got to talking to a poker buddy of mine (who has since become one of my closest friends) – who owns one of the larger marketing agencies in the area and told him as much. He suggested I try digital marketing since there were some overlapping skill requirements.

He was gracious enough to give me a bunch of resources to study including some programs he puts his own employees through. Over a 3 month period, I collected unemployment and self educated 12 hours a day. I was obsessed with this shit!

Then one day, I felt confident that I knew what I wanted to do. I put together a comprehensive plan to market a series of affiliate products in what I'd come to believe to be a lucrative-yet-underserved market. I sent my plan off to my friend by email for feedback.

45 minutes later, my phone rang. My friend had read my plan, showed it to his partner and they instantly decided to offer me a job at their company.

After a year at his company – where I learned A TON – I started my own freelance biz which evolved into a full blown Search Engine Optimization (SEO) agency.

So my advice to you is try to build as many relationships as you can – especially with people who've accomplished what you're looking to achieve. See where you can be of value, where your existing experience and skillset may be useful and leverage it as creatively as possible.

craftyone
9 years at an ad agency – started as an unpaid intern on the creative side, was offered a job in account services a month later. The key was being willing to work hard, jump in to help anywhere, and share my skill set. Once they saw my capabilities and where I could be a benefit, they created a role for me. That won't happen at all places, but showing your worth will give you an advantage for positions that do open up. Over the years, we'd always consider past interns or freelancers (that fit well) when a position opened up. Reaching out to local places and saying – hey, I want exposure to the world, would there be an internship opportunity (especially if you're willing to go unpaid) will open so many opportunities. If looking for full time foot in the door positions, look at entry level positions – ad traffic role, coordinator, assistant account executive, junior designer – get in, show your skills, and you have the chance to move up, know when other positions open up or at least get some experience to go somewhere else.