Digital Marketing is a buzzword these days. All around us we hear the term “Digital Marketing”. It ignites curiosity. There are so many questions that pop into my head.
- Is it the next big thing?
- How different is it from conventional marketing?
- How to learn Digital Marketing?
- What is the job opportunity in Digital Marketing?
- What is the scope of Digital Marketing?
Overview of Digital Marketing
In general, the most important questions on any topic are what is it about and its scope. Here we will look have an overview of Digital Marketing and try to understand its scope of Digital Marketing. To put it simply, digital marketing comprises all the activities using the internet whether free or paid for any desired objective. It is also termed online marketing. It leverages digital platforms such as websites, social media, email, etc to generate traffic to increase sales or create awareness. Digital Marketing has received a lot of attention in recent years. With the huge demand from corporates, digital expertise has emerged as one of the important skills to possess. A lot of job opportunities await digital marketing enthusiasts. Online Marketing helps to overcome some of the challenges of traditional marketing. It helps in clearly defining the audience. It helps in keeping track of the user journey. Internet Marketing compliments conventional marketing by yielding better results with improved targeting at reduced costs. Online marketing enables companies to target effectively, and measure results, and also helps the track the entire journey of a user to optimise the journey for better results. Suppose an advertisement for Life Insurance coming on TV or hoarding of famous Car brand at the prime locations in your city. It is catered to everyone. But the target audience is different for both of them. It is even difficult to measure the true direct impact on the end goal or sales. I don't mean to say that traditional marketing doesn't work.
Will Digital Marketing overthrow Traditional Marketing?
Honestly speaking, I don't think that is the right question. Digital Marketing compliments traditional marketing and also helps in ensuring a better return on investment of the marketing budget. All marketing activities traditional or digital, aim to deliver better results by delivering a sum greater than their individual contribution.
The aim is to achieve, 2+2=5.
It overcomes the challenges of traditional marketing. Internet Marketing augments the results of conventional marketing by using improved and dedicated targetting at reduced costs.
Digital Marketing Courses
Digital Marketing skills are one of the most sought-after skill sets. It needs an experienced mentor and dedication from a learner to become an expert digital marketer. The excellent news is Learning Digital Marketing skills is no longer a difficult task. There are a plethora of options to choose from. You could either enroll in online digital marketing courses or a classroom session. You can also learn a lot from reading blogs and watching tutorials on Youtube. In online digital marketing courses, the mode of teaching is through video. These videos are generally detailed and easy to understand. For doubts related to the subject, one can easily contact the tutors over email.
Some of the most famous Online Digital Marketing Courses are provided by the following:
- Digital Deepak
- Digital Vidya
- Digital Marketing Courses by IIM
- Digital Marketing Courses by XLRI
- Digital Marketing Courses by MICA
- DSIM
Before entering into Digital Marketing, I would suggest watching some of the basic videos on the subject to get the feel of it. It will give you the taste of what you are getting in to.
Coaching institutes generally promise placement assistance. They will send you to some of the companies for jobs. I would suggest don’t rely heavily on the institutes alone. Once you complete the course, get Google certification and start applying for jobs.
Digital Marketing Jobs
There is a huge demand for digital marketers in the job market. In fact, there is an acute shortage of supply. Every company has a website. Even if the company is into eCommerce, the company website stands as the official portal of the company. Be it a freelancer, institutions, or corporates every one is on the web. This automatically creates a need to market the services and offerings of these websites. It needs a dedicated set of skills to build a strong brand presence in the world of the web. Lucrative salary awaits digital experts.
Look at the scenario. Most of us carry a smartphone and an average human spends XYZ time on their handset. Online medium is a great opportunity for brands to reach potential customers. A smart digital marketer helps companies to reach the right set of customers who are willing to pay for the services. Helping them to become a loyal customer. And finally a brand loyalist. All this is within a high ROI on every penny of the marketing budget.
Google AdWords Certification
One can enroll in free google digital marketing course A certified professional always carries a little more trust than others. There are many institutes and online portals offering digital marketing certificates.
Google also offers its certificates for various digital marketing modules. It is easy to become a Google-certified digital marketer. All you need to do is go through the material provided by Google and take the test. A certificate is awarded to those who pass the test by 80% or above. Don’t worry, if you have gone through the material sincerely, you will crack it easily.
Digital Marketing Salary
Like all other fields, salary in digital marketing varies depending upon experience and skill sets. The bright spot is one could start with a decent salary being a fresher. You can easily start a job in digital marketing by getting into any of its verticals such as SEO, PPC, social media, and e-mail marketing. You can expect a decent salary of 15000/ month in digital marketing jobs.
The upper limit has got no barrier. Digital Marketing professional with 5+ years of experience earns in the range of 10 lakh per annum. However, it could also vary depending upon the skills of a professional.
Digital Marketing professionals could also earn by working as a freelancer. There is a massive demand for a digital marketer not just from big corporates but also from small companies, coaching centers, doctors' clinics, and advocates. One can put an effort and successfully create a secondary source of income by starting a freelance project.
How to get freelance work in Digital Marketing?
There are multiple sites where one can expect to find lots of freelance work in digital marketing. All you need to do is create your profile, list your skills and charges for the service, etc on the websites. It is easy to bid for projects and contact prospective clients.
Two of my favorites are : Fiverr & Upwork
Degree needed for Requirement of a Digital Marketing
There is no defined set of eligibility criteria to learn digital marketing. Anyone can learn and excel in digital marketing with dedication and the right exposure. Knowledge of basic English language and computers is sufficient to start with. However, an MBA in Marketing provides an extra edge that enables them to use the marketing tools efficiently at their disposal.
Being said that, it’s not mandatory to be an MBA in marketing to excel in digital marketing. With experience, if you could develop a good understanding of users' behavior and can draw insights then digital marketing would be a lot more fun.
Conclusion
Digital Marketing is one of the most sought-after skills of the present time. There is a massive demand but a dearth of supply. Digital Marketing offers a promising future for those who are passionate and dedicated to learning the desired skills. Those who are looking to venture into the Digital Marketing domain should read blogs and watch Youtube videos to get the feel of it. Alongside regular corporate jobs, one can also work as a freelancer. To become a Digital Marketing Expert, it is paramount to keep oneself updated, and dedicatedly learn by doing and practicing a lot.
