In today’s business, marketing is known as one of the best keys. Advertising helps brands and organizations reach out more strongly to potential customers.
Along with the development of technology, this industry has had a strong shift to digital. Everything that makes digital marketing trending and rapidly increasing job demand. So, how to become a digital marketer?
Let’s explore all aspects of it in the article below.
Job Description
Before diving into learning about digital marketing as well as the requirements of this job, you need to understand the job and its duties.
Duties and Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of digital marketers to promote brand awareness and generate leads through digital channels.
Their daily job is to upload, create and update new content. In addition, these people are also responsible for handling and managing social media channels to bring the best interaction for the organization.
Depending on the company, seniority, role, or industry, the job of marketers will change. More specifically, they will be responsible for some or more of the following responsibilities:
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is the field of reaching audiences using social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Reddit.
Interaction is paramount. Therefore, the manager of this segment needs to adjust and monitor the campaigns to achieve the best results.
Besides, they also need to contact and cooperate with KOLs to attract more potential customers for the brand.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is concerned with attracting users to engage and increasing the conversion potential of a company website.
To do that, you need to fill your site with useful and interesting content. These articles need to be carefully invested to rank high on search systems. Besides, it needs to be convincing enough for viewers to share with other audiences.
Although this work is extremely important, it is also very difficult. Articles with too much promotional content will often go unnoticed.
Email Marketing
Many people think that email marketing is outdated, but it is not. This method is the most effective method for cultivating direct customer relationships.
Besides, email marketing is also a good idea to reach new customers without spending lots of money.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is part of inbound marketing. Here, experts will be tasked with creating engaging content in any form, such as text or vlogs on many different channels.
Public Relations
Public relation is an effective method to build a professional image of an individual or a business. You can write expert articles or conduct interviews, and do podcasts to share experiences.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads
With PPC ads, your job is to spend money to advertise your business’s campaigns to more people. You will then have to manage and evaluate the performance of that campaign.
Sometimes, you will encounter some problems in the process of running ads. Experienced digital marketers need to know how to handle this situation so as not to cause serious consequences.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
No digital marketer can work without knowing the concept of SEO. This method helps to increase the ranking of the website on Google and other search engines to drive traffic.
Simply put, experts will have to research the terms that customers frequently search for. They then reshape the content of the site through those queries.
Marketing Analytics
After completing a campaign, you will have to analyze and re-evaluate its aspects. Professionals will not do this work without using support tools.
Use charts and figures to get the most out of your information and learn from your mistakes.
Where Do Digital Marketers Work?
The good news is that digital marketers can work for any organization in any industry. No matter what your business is doing, they still need experts to identify potential customer needs and create rewarding content.
There are two popular forms of digital marketing:
- B2B Digital Marketing: The goal of professionals at business-to-business (B2B) companies is to find and convert leads so they can talk to salespeople.
- B2C Digital Marketing: If your company is business-to-consumer (B2C), professionals will need to drive customers to your website and buy directly without having to converse with a salesperson.
Education
To become a digital marketer, you need to have a bachelor’s degree in advertising, marketing, communications, journalism, or a related discipline.
A bachelor’s degree will help you grasp the basic structure and principles of digital in the most formal way.
For advertising managers, employers are even more interested in candidates with a bachelor’s degree in journalism or advertising. However, those with unrelated degrees can still try their hand in this field.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), you still have lots of job transition potential if you take courses in:
- Finance
- Math
- Management
- Computer Science
- Economics
- Statistics
- Business Law
These courses will help you hone some of the skills needed to analyze data and understand consumer behavior.
The background knowledge is necessary but still not enough for you to be successful in the job. Marketing professionals need lots of time to practice different technical skills.
To save time, you can take part in online skills courses in your spare time. These courses are extremely diverse, but you should choose the skills that are essential for the job.
Courses and boot camps are usually short but provide rewarding knowledge. Besides, these programs also include practical experiences and exercises to increase the experience for learners.
After completing these courses, you will receive the corresponding certificate.
These certifications will make your portfolio more impressive and attractive in the eyes of employers.
Essential Skills
You will need a diverse skill set to do a good job of your digital marketing. Yet, there are several factors and skills that you should focus more on including.
Hard Skills
Data Analysis
Data analysis is work that involves the use of functional processes and modern software to process and collect various types of information from various online interactions.
These online interactions are varied. It could be search queries, content interactions, or online transactions.
When collecting and cleaning data, professionals need to know how to remove duplicates or errors. It ensures easier marketing and decision-making processes.
Content Creation
Content is king. This saying has held for decades, especially as users increasingly focus on finding useful and relevant content.
You must create content that your readers will keep looking for years later. Besides, it needs to be SEO-friendly and attractive enough to make them share.
SEO & SEM
Search engine optimization skills, therefore, flourish and become one of the indispensable elements of digital marketing.
Both SEM and SEO help you shrink your target audience and bring it to the right audience.
CRM
Maintaining relationships with customers will help the company save a huge amount of money by not having to find many new customers.
Besides, they can also understand more about customer needs and behavior through their experience.
CRM deals with the skills and strategies you typically use to track and maximize your experience.
A brand will gain lots of money if it can connect with customers emotionally and personally. This skill is an essential skill that marketing managers should possess.
Communication Skills
Digital marketers need to have extremely good communication skills to be able to build relationships and establish trust.
They must also be able to convey messages that can impact customers in the most interesting, simple, and subtle way.
Social Media
The use of social media for promotion is gradually replacing traditional advertising on mass media channels.
Instead of constantly repeating boring information, professionals need to be creative and get closer to the audience. The three most important factors when creating content are quality, relevance, and engagement.
Different social media channels will have different algorithms for database optimization. Professionals will need to understand this to get the most out of it.
Basic Design Skills
Visual content is gradually replacing text in conveying data and information to the audience.
Eye-catching images not only attract attention, but their conversion rate and SEO ranking are also higher.
Digital marketers can create engaging content like this on their own with basic design skills. You can refer to using software like Adobe Creative Suite, Inkscape, or Canva to create more visual content.
Soft Skills
Advertising Expertise
Digital marketing revolves around advertising only. This aspect is very profound and requires the user to have a deep knowledge of it to be able to work effectively.
Accurate Thinking
Although marketing is dynamic and gives you access to many different streams of information, you still need to have a clear point of view.
Passion for work can sometimes cloud your mind. It makes the process of evaluating and measuring data misleading.
Sales Skills
Marketing doesn’t just ask you to attract leads to your brand; it’s more than that. Sales expertise, although not required, helps to make your business run more smoothly.
Creative and Analytical Abilities
Creative and analytical thinking are both essential soft skills of marketers.
Not only do you need creativity to create unique campaigns or interesting images, but you also need an analytical mind to take accurate measurements.
Essential Tools
Fortunately, digital marketers have made their job easier with the help of tools. The list below includes the most popular tools.
SEMrush
One of the most versatile and popular tools among digital marketers is SEMrush.
This tool provides users with a necessary and in-depth keyword table on the topic they want to learn. Besides, it also provides search volume and word difficulty for you to set up better campaigns.
Hootsuite
Thousands of social media and marketing professionals trust Hootsuite for its multitasking. You can use the tool to handle multiple social media sites and schedule regular post updates.
Vimeo
Video-related content is trending and increasingly proving its importance. Vimeo is an essential tool for marketers to deliver HD quality video to customers.
MailChimp
MailChimp is the absolute dominant name in the field of email marketing. This platform allows you to plan and conduct bulk email marketing campaigns.
The tool also provides security functions and measurement systems to increase efficiency and help you analyze better.
Job Outlook
According to the BLS, occupation groups related to marketing, advertising management, and promotion are expected to grow by 10% between 2020 and 2030. Compared to the industry average of 7% growth, this is a good credit.
However, this growth rate varies based on industry, location, and occupation. You need to have experience to increase compensation and advance in the job.
If you are interested, here is a list of the top companies in digital marketing:
- SG Analytics
- Capgemini, HCL, Cognizant, Adobe
- Myntra, Aasaanjobs.com
- United spirits
- Zoomcar
- American Express
Salary
As a job in great demand, the salaries and benefits for digital marketers are very attractive. However, that number will not be fixed but fluctuate based on location, seniority, and work area.
When you break those things down, you will get the following specific numbers:
- Entry-level: According to our research, junior digital marketers can earn an average salary of $49,000 annually. Depending on location, skill, or experience, this number can vary.
- Mid-level: A mid-level marketing executive can earn more than $73,000 per year.
- Senior-level: The salary for a senior digital marketer ranges from $83,000. A pretty good salary compared to the general level of the professions.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Any job has positives and negatives. For digital marketers, you will be exposed to the following issues:
The benefits of becoming a digital marketer include:
- The salary of this profession is quite high compared to the average.
- Interesting and creative work.
- You can connect with people from all over the world.
- You can always face new challenges.
- This job always has a fast transition, so it is not boring.
- Your colleagues are also creative and interesting people.
- This field is very diverse and has many specific aspects.
- You can learn many different skills.
- You have diverse job opportunities.
- You can set up your own business.
- You can work remotely and have flexible working hours.
However, digital marketers must also prepare for the following disadvantages:
- You will have to work with the computer continuously throughout the day.
- Sometimes ad campaigns go wrong, and it’s frustrating to deal with.
- This job usually requires a bachelor’s degree.
- Being a digital marketer is quite stressful.
- You need to constantly hone and learn new skills so you don’t get left behind.
- There are many black sheep in the world of marketing.
- It will take lots of time and effort before you want to see results.
FAQs
If you still have any questions regarding digital marketing, find the answers here.
Can You Learn Marketing on Your Own?
Yes. Many online resources, such as webinars, podcasts, and YouTube videos, can help you learn the practical details of marketing. You can also access paid and unpaid courses online that can guide you.
However, if you are going the self-study route, it is very helpful to have a mentor who can guide you along the way.
Can You Earn 6 Figures When Being A Marketer?
Yes, six figures can be earned, as long as you can provide the right skill set. If you succeed in becoming an industry expert, you can earn even more.
What Is The Career Path Of Digital Marketing?
The digital marketing career path can be divided into three steps: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
The job titles will often be some form of a digital marketer, but digital marketing responsibilities can be the responsibility of another role on the team.
Can Digital Marketing Be Difficult?
Digital marketing requires a combination of diverse and challenging skills. Hard skills are abilities that can be easily observed and measured.
Some hard skills are essential for all digital marketers, no matter what specific job you’re in.
What Should You Learn First In Digital Marketing?
The skills that you should pay attention to when you want to become a digital marketer are:
- SEO & SEM
- Video marketing
- Content marketing
- Data analytics
- Designing
Can Digital Marketing Be A Stressful Job?
Working in digital marketing can be extremely stressful, so you need to think about how to eliminate or reduce the boring parts.
Whether it’s formal processes or learning to let go and delegate, whatever works best for you, just stick with it.
Does A Digital Marketer Need To Code?
No. Digital advertisers don’t need any programming ability or coding background to start their career in digital marketing.
Can Introverts Be Digital Marketers?
Yes. Overall, digital marketing can be a great fit for introverts as marketers are often more focused on data than talking to people face-to-face.
Furthermore, introverts often exhibit some qualities that are particularly valuable in the field of digital marketing that will help them stand out.
Career Advice
Digital marketing is an exciting job, but it can also be stressful if you don’t keep up with the changing market. The most useful advice is to regularly learn and practice your skills.
This field is very vast and has many different aspects. You can refer to learning new knowledge through courses or get yourself a mentor.
Regularly expand your horizons and stay on trend, and you will be surprised by what you achieve later.