Introduction:

Before diving into the topic, let’s get into the history and evolution of digital marketing. If you are 90’s born, you probably remember those nostalgic TV- Advertisements. Most of them have an aim- They were directed to make you aware of the product and influencing the people to purchase it. Organizations spend a fortune on advertising and marketing their product. It helps them attract new customers and enlarge the customer pool. Marketing is highly dependent on consumer trends. So, now, where does digital marketing fit into it?

Need for Digital Marketing:

Recalling the last time we actually sat to watch Television for a long time. Most of us don’t remember it and the reason for that is the Internet and OTT, people have shifted from TV to Internet. Due to this, Companies and brands shifted from traditional advertising to digital and internet advertising which brings advertisements to your mobile phones and computer screens.

But the Internet is never ending, digital marketing has to deal with lots of new skills and roles to cut through the competition. It has become a very lucrative option as demand of digital marketers is increasing.

What Digital Marketing is:

Before diving into the topic i.e careers in digital marketing we need to understand the concept, what is digital marketing? As traditional marketing, in digital marketing, an organization has a product or service they want to sell, the need is to engage with the customers, introduce the service and products with a catchy logo and slogan and how the product or service will be helpful to their customer and try to close the sale.

The big and small companies, digital marketing is for everyone. Since the companies are trying to gain customers by using the gigantic power of the internet and the customer base available online, the companies hire or employ a workforce for different roles and with specific skills to help the purpose. Digital marketing is very creative and versatile in nature. In digital marketing following are the fields you might come across:

• Video direction and audio production
• Mobile Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization(SEO)
• Search Engine Marketing(SEM)
• Interactive Technology
• Social Media
• Email Marketing
• E-commerce
• Content management
• Web designing and development
• Content writing
• Analytics
• Business and Marketing strategy

IF you are a fresher, it is totally okay if you do not know all these skills. You will require training in all the fields but you will have to expertise in at least two or three skills. However if you are up for the role of the digital marketing manager, you might need to know a couple more of these and have a basic idea of all skills. 

Which digital marketing skills are most in demand?

It’s very obvious that digital marketing is taking the world by storm. Almost every company has moved towards digital marketing and although marketing is a very important part of any company, the demand of digital marketers are quite high. Let’s put light on a few analytics to get an overview. It has been calculated that 90% of all the online activity starts with a search engine.

To rank in a search engine, you need to make sure that the content you write is SEO-friendly. If we are talking about the organization that sells products, statistics show that 70% of people purchase at least one product every month. So for business to bloom, one needs to have a basic understanding of fundamentals of digital marketing. In 2017, social media, content creation or writing, content strategy and digital advertising were the most demanded skills in digital marketing. 

If you have expertise in skills like SEO and SEM that can make a business more profitable, you can easily get a high-paying job. While doing content creation you need to analyze the patterns and trends since content marketing is dependent on traffic. You need to analyze the patterns in a way that it drives more traffic towards the work. 

For whom is Digital Marketing?

When you are choosing a career in digital marketing, you might be thinking – Am I fit for this career? Well, digital marketing holds something for almost all skilled people. If you are a developer you can easily get a spot as a web developer. AI is a growing scope which is being used to help with Interactive Technology.

Data science is another scope in the digital marketing field. Data science can be used to identify customer patterns, how a customer is engaging with the product or service which area has more customers and many more that can be of great use in digital marketing. For creative individuals, digital marketing has an ocean of work. Writers can go for content writing and management. Graphic designers are useful in making logos, banners for the clients and video editing is also an important sector in digital marketing. 

However, since marketing is a dynamic field, once you enter it, learning never stops. You need to be curious as well as learn how business works. The more the person is adaptable, the better are the chances to move up in ranks in the digital marketing field. 

What are the benefits of a career in digital marketing and why should you choose a career in it?

Digital marketing is a very vast field and there are lots of avenues which you can go down if you have interest in it. If you want to learn something new everyday, it can help you move up the ranks to become a digital marketing manager. However there are several other reasons why digital marketing can be a profitable for you:

Advantages

1. Utilization of skills: In this modern world, companies are looking for people with soft skills. If you are an individual from the middle-income set and have some digital skills, you can upgrade yourself by learning more digital marketing skills, especially in the area. Planned learning skills can eventually take you forward in your future career.

2. Versatile field: In many other fields for example in medical, if you have already taken a specialization, it becomes very difficult to shift your path. You might have to go through difficult training again. However in digital marketing, very less training is required to make a switch. In most of the cases, digital marketing has something for everyone. You can build up on your existing skills and learn new skills.

3. Evolving Industry: When a person is looking for a job, he/she also looks for job security. Hence, they would often go to an evolving field and not a risky field which can go on an emergency shutdown. Digital marketing is new in that aspect but it is an ever growing field. You need to be eager enough to learn and improve because there is always something around the corner.

Since there are various roles to fill up the vacancies when you are in this industry and different digital marketing strategies that you can learn, digital marketing will not only place you in a secured area but also help you in investing yourself completely. 

4. Earnings: Let’s come on to the topic for what you have been waiting for so long. Digital marketing jobs are in demand and so there are a lot of opportunities for you to negotiate your salary. One of the cool things about digital marketing is that you can do it just by working at home. You can work as a freelancer and work remotely too. If you have the experience and if you can showcase your achievements, you can talk your way to get your desired salary in the field. In India, there are different salary slabs for seperate digital marketing roles.

Role
Salary in Rupees
Digital Marketing Manager
4 lakhs to 10 lakhs
SEO Manager
3 lakhs to 7 lakhs
SEM/PPC expert
3 lakhs to 5 lakhs
Web developer/designer
3 lakhs to 6 lakhs
Social Media Manager
3.5 lakhs to 7 lakhs
Content Writer
2.5 lakhs to 5 lakhs

5. Creativity: Digital marketing is a very creative field and unlike many technical professional fields, digital marketing offers an opportunity for many creative individuals. There is demand in writing, graphic designing, and audio and video editing and production as well. Developing promotional strategies, marketing strategies, problem-solving, and finding ways to involve audiences require creative solutions as well.

6.Training: It has already been pointed that digital marketing is an area where you can acquire new skills to keep succeeding and increasing the ranks. Plus there is no time limit, you can learn and train at the pace you are comfortable. You can opt for online courses provided by the various universities all around the world and at the comfort of your bed.

You can even work on real-life projects, this helps in clearing and practical implementation of what you have been learning. Many companies choose practical workers over a bookworm because it is the real work they need to do. You can volunteer to build a website or a blog and engage in the social media management of your page. It will help you create an awesome portfolio for yourself.

7. Working in a diverse environment: It is a no-brainer that networking helps, mainly when it comes to professional growth. When you enter the field of digital marketing, you get the opportunity to expand your creative side since you will be meeting different souls.

How to start your digital marketing career?
You must be wondering how to kick start your digital marketing career. Since digital marketing requires lots of soft and technical skills, it is preferable if you have an IT background. If you have a degree of skill in web development, designing, and content writing it is a good way to boost the exposure which you created by creating a personal brand and building an awesome portfolio that will give you a good digital presence.

Be available on every social media platform for better research. Keeping Facebook pages and other social media pages needs to be consistent with your skills set so that they help you get consistent reach and will help you earn some pacific income.