Hi!
Welcome to another blog on the numerous big benefits of a digital marketing career.
If this is your first blog on the topic then well, Hi Welcome.
Benefits of Having a Digital Marketing Career
Digital Marketing is booming because people see a lot of advantages in the function. From the time of its conception, it has only grown. Statista reports the Digital advertising revenue from the financial year 2008 to 2020 and a forecast for 2022. The curve shows exponential progress
Source: Statista
Apart from revenues and numbers, the real sustainability of digital lies in the fact that it makes the lives of its stakeholders better. The impact that it creates in the daily lives of a business, as well as consumers, makes a career in digital marketing even more meaningful.
As businesses and consumers are happy with the medium of communication a digital professional who lies at the fulcrum of this has a very significant role to play.
The main responsibility of a digital marketer is to deliver the right message, in the right digital channel, in the right format to the right people at the right place at the right time. Yeah RIGHT!
Digital platforms and skills for Digital Marketing
As a digital marketer, you would be doing some or all of the below function
1. Frame buyer persona and perceived buyers’ journey :
The digital specialist needs to have a mind frame of who your customers are. Accordingly, the content, the message, and the platform could be decided. It also helps you to perceive the buyer’s journey and plan content to satisfy consumers at various stages of the buyer’s journey.
Choose digital channels to be present and prioritize
Multiple digital advertising channels help businesses reach their customers.
- E-mail Marketing
- Social Media
- Affiliate marketing
- Pay-per-click advertising
- Video advertising
But not all customers are present in all channels.
Besides, it is difficult for businesses to be effective in all the channels. So digital marketers should identify the digital platforms that most of their buyers use and roll out consumable content in those channels to ensure targeted reach.
Other factors like the nature of business, business goals, the budget also affect the channels you choose.
2. Search Engine Optimization
Though a website could be considered one of the digital channels, it is mandatory to the digital presence and not a choice. To make websites more effective, SEO is essential.
Choosing the right keywords to target, planning content around it and being displayed at top of the results page, and sustaining in the spot is key to online marketing.
3. Social Listening
Social listening is the process of being attentive to any user-generated content related to your business or your competitors. It helps you to build a strong understanding of how your product is received by users and where do you or your competitor stand in the spectrum of user consideration.
3. Strike strategic partnerships
The digital universe enables you to broaden the scope of your business through strategic partnerships. It could be a content partnership with influencers or a product partnership with experts in allied fields.
Edtech firms are a great example of this. Learning platforms like Digital Vidya, UpGrad collaborate with foreign universities like Deakin University, Australia that are experts in the respective field. This would not have been possible in the physical environment.
Digital space merges boundaries on various levels geographical, cultural, demographical creating umpteen opportunities to add value to our consumers.
4. Measurement, analytics, and improvement
Emerging technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud have taken data collection, storage processing, and reporting to a higher level of proficiency. Where market research used to be a separate exercise, current advancements in technology has integrated data collection and analytics into everyday marketing activities that could be revisited at regular intervals to analyze the status of key performance indicators and improvise marketing strategy to get the business closer to the goals.
Ok Digital marketing is great for businesses and consumers. What about a career?
Take a look at the below video. It gives a good idea of the various benefits of this career.
Don’t stop here. Read on as I have some additional points to convey.
10 Benefits of Having a Digital Marketing Career :
Find below my list of benefits that could be derived from a career in digital marketing :
1. No pre-qualification and no age limit
The Digital platform is for everyone who knows how to use it. That is all that is needed. It’s a profession that transgresses sectorial boundaries and does not require any pre-qualification.
The youngest digital marketer is 12 years old and there is no maximum age limit to be a digital marketer.
But if you have an inclination towards the field and want to build a career in it, digital marketing courses could guide you in the right direction.
For further information, you can explore the digital marketing courses offered at Digital Academy India.
So the will to study the basic concepts, Creative and Out-of-the-box thinking will help you establish and do well in this career.
2. Perpetually growing industry
Some may have the wrong assumption that Internet marketing is booming because of the pandemic and the demand would come down post-pandemic. This is not true.
Of Course, the pandemic made it a mandatory function for businesses to survive but it was gaining momentum even before the COVID 19.
A survey about Digital spending in the US reiterates the fact that it showed year-on-year growth even before the pandemic.
When all the areas showed a slump during the lockdown, digital marketing might be the only sector that showed an increase in spending. This shows that digital marketing is here to stay and grow.
3. High demand and high paying jobs
A Linkedin report revealed that 50% of the top ten marketing job opportunities are in the digital and media space. The report also names 5 skills in-demand SMM, Paid Search Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Marketing. All are parts of internet marketing. No surprises here.
Marketing falls under the top ten highest paying jobs in the industry and having expertise in digital marketing will only improve your chances of being successful in marketing.
According to Payscale, the average salary of a Digital Marketing Manager is about 5.5 LPA and it grows with experience.
4. Flexible
One of the crowd-pulling qualities of digital advertising is its inherent flexible nature. As a digital marketer, all you need is a laptop and internet connection and you can work from anywhere.
It can manifest into a part-time job, full-time job, or an internship as the jobs can be divided into worklets.
5. Entrepreneurship and freelance opportunities
Human sentiment is to be independent. Everyone at some point of time in their career would like to go solo either through freelancing or by building their firm.
Studying the India Startup scenario shows exponential growth from 2015 to 2021. The number of unicorns has shown a whopping 66% year-on-year growth in the past 5 years.
And you know what fueled this growth in a pandemic hit economy?
Digital businesses in India!
Similarly, Digital marketing is considered among the top 5 fields that offer maximum freelancing opportunities. Companies mostly seek freelancers for functions like SEO, SMM, Analytics, Branding, and web design.
6. Ability to Work across sectors
Digital advertising is essential for every sector. The pandemic has proven this pretty much.
Some of the industries that use Digital advertising the most include
- Retail
- Consumer Product Goods
- Financial Service
- Telecom
- Automotive
- Electronics
- Entertainment
- Health & Pharma
As a digital marketer, you can transcend between different industries and contribute to the growth of the company even though you are a fresher or have work experience in a different sector.
The digital-marketing strategy may change between industries, but the underlying basics would be the same.
This opportunity to work across industries makes the job even more interesting.
7. Closer to reality
Digital advertising allows companies to directly reach consumers and encourages them to have one-to-one interaction with the company regarding products and services.
Before the digital era, consumers hardly knew the executives of a company. A business was mostly viewed as a third party from whom consumers can buy products.
But with the advent of Social Media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc, people can follow CXOs, sometimes even get to interact with them. This gives the companies a more human image and makes them accessible. People like Anand Mahindra and Elon Musk who are active on Twitter have contributed more in making Mahindra and Tesla or SpaceX household names.
Not only consumers, but businesses also no longer view consumers as people buying their products and services. They view them as a persona and think of ways to serve them rather than just market their product.
Digital marketing has changed the way marketing is dealt and as a digital professional, you would be able to enjoy that openness and honesty in your career.
8. Creativity
Online Marketing is a collection of concepts, tools, analytics, reporting, and strategizing. All the resources are available easily online either for free or at a low cost, which any digital marketer could use.
So to be a class apart from the pack the resources should be used creatively.
The profession encourages out-of-the-box thinking in keyword research, content planning and formats, social-media posts, and customer service.
Being a digital marketer you always have the creative freedom to test out ideas. The advantage in this field is that you get instant feedback through consumer reviews or real-time data analytics on what is working and what is not. You will mostly have the time to make changes to your strategy before any damage is created.
9. Greater reach and visibility
A career in digital marketing does not stop at just being your breadwinner. The skills you learn as a digital marketer can greatly help you build your personal brand. Many digital marketers have grown into influencers. Neil Patel, Ankur Warikoo, Gary Vaynerchuck are some of the prominent names who shot to fame through their digital marketing skills.
And why is personal branding important? Because the times demand it.
Gone are the days when recommendations would fetch you jobs. Qualification and work experience are still relevant but a good social-media profile does create an additional impact on recruiters.
Social Media platforms like LinkedIn have become a popular recruiting ground. Your profile acts as your Digital resume where you can showcase your expertise, your previous work, and your interest area.
This not only maximizes your visibility among potential employers but also helps you draw the right kind of opportunities towards you by following relevant companies and individuals.
So even if you do not pursue a career in digital marketing, having digital skills will be a great boost to yourself and your career.
10. Impactful
Many of us go through a crisis not only in our personal lives but also in our careers. The questions like “Why are we doing this?” eventually rise at a stage when a glossy remuneration is not exciting anymore.
As a person who has been closely observing this field for the past two years, I am utterly baffled by the amount of impact it creates in everyone’s lives.
Factors like deeper internet penetration, increasing time spent by a user on digital space (AppAnnie’s report reveals that Indians spent close to 4.8 hours on mobile apps in a day) have made it a powerful tool that has a massive reach.
Digital marketing can steer democratic elections in countries, establish a diplomatic dialogue between countries, popularize social movements (#metoo, # Blacklivesmatter, #climate strike), spread positive messaging on a large scale.
Even UN Peacekeeping forces have established a digital toolkit for mediation. It recognizes Social-Media, Data Analytics, and Virtual Reality as important tools that will contribute to mediation and maintaining peace.
So the scope of Digital marketing is endless. Being a digital marketer you can explore any area of your interest and create an impact in that field using your digital skills. Wouldn’t that make a fulfilling career?
Conclusion
As I am writing this blog 1.18 billion websites exist in this world. You can check this website for real-time data on this https://siteefy.com/how-many-websites-are-there/.
Let me know the number when you read this blog. You can post your answers in the comment section.
Though 2,52,000 new websites are created every day only 17% of the total websites remain active. I wonder why?
There is a high probability that they are inactive due to a lack of digital marketers promoting it.
So, if anyone says that Digital marketing will become stagnant, they are just not reading the future correctly.
Digital marketing is a future-proof career. It has survived through the pandemic when most of the sectors failed. Digital is what kept most economies afloat from being lost in the locked-down world.
The career can take any shape you want it to. That is the beauty of the field. And there are a lot of allied careers that could be explored like Training, graphic designing, media planning, public relations, influencer interface, affiliate marketing, etc.
But the picture is not all rosy. Digital marketing is still not very easy. It requires certain inherent skills like
Adapt to a changing environment :
This field is rapidly evolving. The strategies that work today may become obsolete in a few months. The tools used keep on adding new features. Our marketing communication should keep up with the trend. All this requires the marketer to be updated and vigilant.
An appetite to learn :
You will never know what skills could be used for digital marketing. Earlier designing was an artist’s job. But if you are a marketer with designing skills you would be in a better position to carry out your job. Good language skills can help in keyword research and content marketing. So there is no limitation to learning new things in this field. On the contrary, not learning would be a deterrent.
Team player :
It may seem that digital marketing is a one-man job as it’s only a laptop that is needed. But the function is an amalgamation of various other functions like content, graphics, communication, advertising, PR, customer service, measurement, and analytics.
To run a successful digital marketing department experts in each area should be able to work together. Hence being a good team player can help you sustain in this career.
Empathy :
Online Marketing increases the communication frequency between the business and the consumer. As someone handling communications, you should be able to recognize your consumer’s needs and know the right thing to say which would create the maximum value to your users.
Being empathetic towards your customers will help you and your business in creating a lasting relationship with them.
As Uncle Ben from the Spider-Man comics puts it
“With great power comes great responsibility”
Digital marketing could be a great career making you all the more responsible.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of growth can one see in a digital marketing career?
As a fresher, you may start in any one of the following roles
- Digital Marketing Executive
- SEO Executive
- Search Ads Executive
- E-mail Marketing manager
- Web Analyst
Post 3-4 years of experience you can take up specialist roles in the above-said functions. In the later part of your career as a digital marketing specialist, you would be considered for department lead roles in Marketing, Strategy, Digital Marketing, etc.
Is a Digital Marketing course necessary to establish a career in it?
Attending a digital-marketing qualification course is highly recommended. Digital marketing is growing in popularity and subsequently would become a competitive field. Getting a professional certification would not only pave the way to well-paying jobs but also would help you learn digital marketing concepts in a structured manner.
Most of the institutes like Digital Academy India offer placement assistance on successful completion of the course.
What are some of the popular digital marketing certifications that would help in your career?
There are many free and paid certifications that are widely recognized in the industry. Some of them are listed below.
- Google Skillshop
- HubSpot
- VSkills
- Hootsuite
- MOZ SEO certification
You can take up certifications for a particular function like SEO, Social-Media, Email Marketing, Search Ads, or Web Analytics that is in line with your specialization.
Which kind of Digital Marketing Courses would help in getting digital marketing jobs?
There are many online platforms like Digital Vidya, Digital Academy India, Delhi School of Internet Marketing offering different types of digital marketing training.
If you are already in the field of digital marketing and want to specialize in one particular area of digital marketing then you can go for short-term certification courses in that function.
But if you are new to this field a 6 month-1 year program which could be a Master’s program or Executive Degree, will be a good enough time for you to learn the concepts of digital marketing.
Before choosing the course see to that they provide practical training and offer internships and placement assistance.
Is a digital Marketing career popular in India?
The number of internet users in India was around 636 million in 2021. This number is still 50% less than the Indian Population. So you can imagine the scope that digital marketing holds in this country. With the Indian Government’s Digital India Initiative, internet penetration is sure to reach deeper pockets of the sub-continent.
So this is a very good time to be a professional and be a part of this digital revolution that is unfolding.
