Career as a Digital Marketer – Comprehensive Guide to Digital Marketing

You click on an ad on social media, check out the product, and close the tab. But soon you realize, that every platform you use will show you an ad for that product. Ping* you’ve got an email from them too! Welcome to Digital marketing. 

In 2020, the digital advertising and marketing market was valued at $350 billion, and by 2026, it is expected to grow to $786.2 billion. With an estimated 3.2 billion internet users, brands and companies want to thrive in the digital space. 

If you are someone who can come up with quirky ad campaigns for brands on a digital platform? Digital marketing is just for you! Read the blog to learn more about a career as a digital marketer, the job roles, career paths, skills, and the qualifications required to become a digital marketer. 

What does a Digital Marketer do? 

A digital marketer is a person who generates leads and builds brand recognition through various digital channels, including social media, emails, blogs, and online advertisements. Marketers typically have the last say over a company’s overall digital strategy.

The nature of the job will demand the following duties and responsibilities in your career as a digital marketer:

• Creating social media posts and email campaign plans.
• Carrying trend research on the internet and approving marketing copy.
• Strategically interpret “big data” and make use of findings.
• Collaborating with the management of the organization to modify marketing strategy.
• Leveraging the sales funnel to establish objectives and performance measures.
• Analyze the motivations behind consumers’ use of various channels and gadgets.
• Recognize the potential offered by various channels and devices.
• Remain current with ever-evolving trends, techniques, and behaviours to maintain the competitive edge.
• To produce engaging encounters, and manage dynamic customer relationships.

Job Roles for a Digital Marketer

There are niche-specific job roles that one can have in their career as a Digital Marketer. Here’s a brief about a few of them:

• Content Marketing Specialist: A content marketing professional is in charge of planning, producing, editing, and optimizing a company’s content. You would develop a strategy for selecting the formats and how to use them, including suggestions for social media videos and brand style guidelines.
• Digital marketing manager: A digital marketing manager is in charge of creating and executing plans to advertise the goods of a business or brand. To effectively reach their customers, they handle a variety of channels, including social media, Google Ads, website content, and email marketing.
• SEO/ SEM Specialist: Your expertise in SEO will be put to use as an SEO manager to assist promote and enhance a company’s content. Your suggestions would be utilised to keep content producers on track and provide them with insightful information about the approach necessary to improve success on social media and search engines.
• Email marketing specialist: A digital marketer that specialises in establishing email lists, producing emails, and nurturing leads through written interactions is known as an email marketing specialist.

• Social media marketer: Social media managers design and manage marketing initiatives, company information, and brand promotions for their organizations across various social media platforms.

Career path for Digital Marketer

An estimated 33% hike is seen in digital marketing jobs today. Thus, the potential for this career to grow in the future is very high. There are two career paths through which one can pursue a career as a digital marketer.

Path I

• A minimum of 60% in Grade 10
• Diploma in Digital Marketing/Sales and Marketing Management
• Qualify for entrance exams such as NPAT, CMAT, SET, CAT, MAT, XAT
• Bachelors in BBA (Marketing)/ (Digital Marketing)/BCom (Marketing)/ Advertising or related fields. 

Path II

• A minimum of 60% in Grade 10
• 55% minimum in Grade 12 from any stream (preferably commerce)
• Qualify for entrance exams such as NPAT, CMAT, SET, CAT, MAT, XAT
• Bachelors in BBA (Marketing)/ (Digital Marketing)/BCom (Marketing)

After completion of either pathway, one can go for a postgraduate degree in digital marketing in India or abroad. Internships would be a great opportunity to learn practical skills and transition to a full-time job. 

Salary in different stages of a career as a Digital Marketer

Digital marketing has shown to be more efficient focused on the target market and motivated by income. As a result, careers in digital marketing are increasingly in demand.

Job role	Content Marketing Specialist	Digital marketing manager	SEO/ SEM Specialist	Email marketing specialist	Social media marketer
Avg. Annual Salary	Rs. 6.0 LPA	Rs. 7.2 LPA	Rs. 8 LPA	Rs. 8.5 LPA	Rs. 5 LPA

Skills Required to become a Digital Marketer

Following are the skills one should have to become a Digital Marketer:

Technical skills

• Data Analytical skills:
  You may develop superior data-driven solutions that will boost conversions and generate traffic by monitoring campaigns and using findings based on consumer behaviour.
  
• Basic Designing & Design thinking:
  The success of digital marketing depends on the user experience. Design thinking is essential because it teaches businesses how to engage customers most effectively and makes sure that their online experiences are clear and efficient.

• Content writing/ copywriting:
  The knowledge required for virtually any digital marketing function will come from a thorough understanding of content, including its creation, effectiveness, and optimum uses across platforms and to various audiences.
  
• SEO tools:
  Both SEO and SEM assist you in focusing your consumer base and in pushing your content to the intended audience. Nothing you do as a Digital Marketer is meaningful until people see it.
  
• Social Media:
  Social media is inextricably linked to content marketing and SEO. Social media platforms are used by digital marketers to advertise a service, good, or brand. Great marketers, however, go beyond merely posting and disseminating content. They develop a strategy by looking at the unique audiences and algorithms of each channel.
  
• Customer Relation Management (CRM):
  A customer relationship management system, or CRM, adds a further level of personalization and human engagement that your digital marketing methods could be lacking. Customers become more unique as a result, allowing you to establish a more solid and enduring relationship with them.
  
  Check out our JuniorMBA Digital Marketing Program to learn the relevant skills.

Personal skills

• Problem-solving & curiosity:
  No marketer or company benefits by sticking with the same strategies, tactics, or beliefs. Every digital marketer needs to be curious, passionate, and hungry to learn more about cutting-edge marketing strategies, tools, and tactics because the field of marketing is always evolving. 

• Communication skills:
  Be it in your writing or communicating with team members, it is perhaps the more important and interconnected skill. 

• Collaboration & adaptability:
  As mentioned repeatedly, the ever-changing market demands you to constantly adapt to new changes and collaborate with multiple people and platforms. 
  
• Persuasive skill:
  Marketing is about convincing people to buy a thing, therefore it stands to reason that exceptional marketers would excel at this ability. You can align yourself with executive aims through persuasion while maintaining your commitment to what you believe is best for the company.
  
• Creativity:
  To set your brand apart from the competition, you can’t just send any message or share any stock photo. Since there is so much competition online, outstanding creativity is what separates your material from being disregarded and attracting clicks. By generating ideas and images and then putting them into action, you can work on becoming more creative.

Is Digital Marketing a good career option?

Since the COVID-19 crisis swept the world, small and large businesses alike have embraced digital marketing because it was one of the most successful ways to run marketing campaigns even when viewers are confined to their homes.

It was impossible to block the emergence of new digital marketing trends. Many firms were able to survive and re-establish themselves thanks to digital marketing during these trying times.

The digital advertising sector market in India is expected to rise to 539 billion rupees by 2024, demonstrating substantial growth in the digital advertising area. The “Digital Marketing Specialist” position is one of the top 10 in-demand positions, according to LinkedIn.

Type of industries Hiring Digital Marketers

Digital marketers can work in almost all industries. With the rise of digitalization and internet users, there are job openings for them in many fields. Here are a few industries where you can pursue your career as a digital marketer:

• Nutrition & Fitness
• Healthcare
• Food Industry.
• Entertainment.
• Education.
• Legal/law firms
• Retail Industry
• Automobile

Top Recruiters for Digital Marketers in India

Based on the above-mentioned industries, here are a few companies you can work in as a Digital marketer. 

1. Amazon
2. Google
3. HCL
4. Cognizant
5. Hummingbird Web Solutions
6. IBM
7. Infosys
8. Zomato
9. Oracle
10. Accenture

Courses to upskill as a Digital Marketer

Over the past ten years, online certificate programs in digital marketing have grown in popularity. A variety of courses are given by well-known organizations. Following are some online certificate courses:

Name of the course	Duration
LinkedIn Digital Marketing Certificate	month/self-paced
Google Digital Marketing Certification	40 hours
Harvard Digital Marketing Strategy Program	1 week
Duke Digital Media and Marketing Certificate	350 hours
Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization	3-6 months

Qualifications to become a Digital Marketer

It is not enough to publish the same conventional ad on the internet or social media platforms or to produce brand impressions. It requires the marketer to use several strategies and have a thorough awareness of the situation.

A minimum undergraduate degree is a must to start your career as a digital marketer. You can obtain practical marketing experience by signing up for an internship in any industry that interests you.

Though not a compulsion, a postgraduate degree in digital marketing will help you to gain credentials in the field and specialize in a particular field of digital marketing.

Degrees in India 

When it comes to picking a career as a digital marketer, there are no limitations. The ideal option is to enrol in the commerce stream because one will have a stronger foundation for their UG courses in marketing or advertising.

To know more about the eligibility criteria for an undergraduate degree and the top colleges in India and abroad, check out our blog on How to become a Digital Marketer

UG degree names

A bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising, communication, journalism, or a related profession prepares you to participate in a systematic program that teaches you the fundamentals of digital marketing and guides you in determining your area of speciality.

Here are a few 3-year undergraduate degrees one can try:

• BBA (Marketing)
• BBA (Digital Marketing)
• BCom (Marketing)

PG 

In your postgraduate program in digital marketing, you will learn about concepts like – Analytics, Aspects of Design, Digital Advertising, Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Video Marketing, Media Planning & Buying, etc. that will help you grow in your career as a digital marketer. 

The eligibility criteria to apply for a postgraduate degree in digital marketing is a minimum of 50% or equivalent grade point average in your undergraduate degree. The admission is merit-based and the entrance exam score. 

Name of the course	Duration
MA Digital & Creative Marketing	2 years
MA in Advertising and Marketing	2 years
MBA in Digital Marketing	2 years

Degrees Abroad 

The eligibility criteria and colleges in digital marketing abroad are discussed in our previous blog. One can pursue a bachelor’s in Business & Digital Marketing, Business Administration, and Computer Engineering with specialization in Digital Marketing, Communication, Digital Media & Marketing, Applied Digital Marketing, etc. 

For a postgraduation in Digital marketing, you will have to meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field from a recognized university
• Minimum of 55% or equivalent Grade point average in an undergraduate program.
• Qualification scores in exams like- GRE, GMAT, IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, and PTE
• Entrance application questionnaire and interview. 

Name of the course	Duration
Master in Digital Marketing and Customer Experience	2 years
Master Marketing Management (MA)	2 years
MSc Strategic Digital Marketing	1-2 years
MBA in Digital Marketing	2 years

The above-mentioned courses are crucial to building your career as a Digital Marketer. One can pursue higher degrees if needed, or upskill themselves with certificate courses. 

References for a Digital Marketer

Books to read on Digital Marketing:

• Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing by Simon Kingsnorth
• Youtility by Jay Baer
• Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break Through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less by Joe Pulizzi
• Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
• Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Morgan Brown and Sean Ellis
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
• Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger
• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success by David K. Brake and Lon Safko
• Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising by Ryan Holiday
• Digital Marketing by Dave Chaffey and F. Ellis-Chadwick

Digital Marketers you can follow:

• Jay Baer (@jaybaer)
• Neil Patel (@neilpatel)
• Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee)
• Chris Ducker (@ChrisDucker )
• Kim Garst (@kimgarst)
• Jennifer Polk (@JenPolk1)
• Dharmesh Shah (@dharmesh)
• Jeff Bullas (@jeffbullas)
• Ann Handley (@marketingprofs)
• Larry Kim (@larrykim)

4.6 billion people use social media every day. Businesses use this to draw clients and strengthen communities. As a result, the scope and demand for this position will grow in the future years.

You should try to have a career as a digital marketer if you are someone who can keep up with the latest digital marketing trends and portray a business most creatively and strategically possible.

FAQ Section for Career as a Digital Marketer