Career in Digital Marketing

Feb 09, 2015

Have you ever received any email offering a variety of discounts on electronic gadgets or inviting you to breeze through an organization’s website? Then you are no stranger to the world of digital marketing. Tapping the internet and social media platforms to bolster business is more common nowadays than sneaking in a midnight cookie.

If the internet interests you and you have more than a modest knowledge of the hows and whats of the digital showbiz, then you are in for a lucrative career. Simply put, digital marketing is the use of internet for advertisement and publicity.

The market scenario and scope of digital marketing

A report published by IMAI and IMRB revealed that the internet penetration has crossed the 100 million mark by October 2013 and it was estimated to cross the 243 million mark by June 2014, leaving behind the US as the world’s second largest internet base after China. Therefore, India has become a burgeoning hub for services like online advertising, social media, website design and more.

According to Manipal Global Education Services executive president, V Sivaramakrishnan, “With both businesses and consumers increasingly shifting their focus to the digital medium, there will be 1.5 lakhs jobs available by 2016”. The increase in internet usage has changed the way companies engage with clients and employees. This has spurred the demand for digital marketers. Unison International MD, Udit Mittal said that the requirement for more skilled and efficient digital marketing professionals is rising at an exponential level.

Ways to get started

A dearth of proper digital marketing courses have led to an unawareness of this sector among students starting college. What traditional degrees lack, numerous institutes mushrooming the country have made up in leaps and bounds. Digital marketing pertains to knowledge of science, statistics, artistic visualization and e-commerce. Anyone with a knowledge of technology and marketing would definitely have an upperhand. However, if you are interested to take up digital marketing seriously, the following courses would come in handy:

Diploma in Digital Marketing
Executive Programme in Digital Marketing (EPDM)
MSc in Digital Marketing (following a diploma or certificate)
IAMAI ( Internet and Mobile Association of India)-approved programmes
Programmes offered by NIIT in management institutes (like IIMs)

Before enrolling in such courses, it is always recommended to ensure that the courses cover search engine marketing, search engine optimisation and e-mail marketing.

In addition to that, you need to constantly keep on updating yourself. SEOmoz, Hubspot and many such other blogs contain useful information in truckloads. You could also get certifications in digital marketing from Hubspot, which are widely recognized in the industry.

Becoming work wise

A digital marketer is supposed to understand the needs of the client, hand over brand promise to the client and execute them successfully.

The Search Engine Marketing (SEM) sector deals with earning revenue from the Pay Per Click advertisements which sends targeted traffic to a website, whereas SEO aims to provide better organic search results.
Social media optimization has also been shoved to the limelight recently. Here, marketers are responsible for promotion through social networking sites.
Digital account managers coordinate the digital marketing campaign and the various other activities making up the domain. The activities include market research, liaison with clients, augmenting digital marketing with other traditional marketing methods, monitoring the impact and successes of the campaigns and more.

Skills that companies are looking for

The qualities that companies are looking for in digital marketers are as follows:

Hands-on digital work experience
Keen interest in the future of the digital industry
Social media experience
All round marketing experience
Commercial awareness
Skills in analytics, mobile marketing, email marketing and content marketing

5 things to know for building a career in digital marketing

Let’s have a quick look at a few crucial bits of information for digital marketing.

Digital marketing is all about integration. The more you understand how your work fits into the bigger picture of the digital landscape, the better your opportunities.
It is all about the business. If you cannot tie analytics to the bigger goals of your business, you are probably wasting your time.
With analytics comes calculations and the most dreaded Math. The downside to digital marketing is that the digital trail is miles long. And you need to understand what your analytics are telling you, because you need to act on that. You could opt for a Google Analytics Certification Training to be extra sure.
Gone are the days of blissful black box tech ignorance. You would need to have a fair amount of knowledge about the basics of the technology platforms. If you cannot tell between an API and CMS platform, you’ve got some learning to do.
The internet is constantly evolving. Therefore, you will be faced with new challenges and opportunities every day. So you need to keep yourself updated.

The rise in e-commerce with online education, shopping and other activities skyrocketing, has resulted in an increase in the demand for digital marketers. Rajiv Burman, managing partner of Lighthouse Partners said that the digital space offers opportunities to professionals working in marketing departments of corporate as well as fresh graduates.

All you need to do is get your bases covered and you will be in for quite a joyride!

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