How to start your career as a successful Digital Marketer?

In today’s world, the Internet is not just a luxury, it is a necessity. These days for almost every work you do, there’s the internet to make it easy for you. Whether it is to buy groceries, for paying bills, to do shopping, or to plan a trip or just for anything people prefer using the internet either through their PCs, laptops, tablets or through their smartphones and with just a click they can do their work in seconds which otherwise would have taken long hours.

This growing popularity of the internet has forced the business companies to expand their business influence into the world of cyberspace. And this is why digital marketing is gaining popularity every day.

Marketing is the activity which a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of its products or services. It includes advertising, selling and delivering products to its consumers or other businesses. 

Marketing is an essential part of any business and every visionary entrepreneur sets a part of the budget for marketing efforts. However, this is an era of digitization. Where more than half of the population uses the internet.

With the revolution in the digital world came the existence of digital marketing, which is gaining popularity day by day. 

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY DIGITAL MARKETING?

Digital Marketing is the modern form of marketing, which deploys all the marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet for marketing of products. In Digital Marketing digital networks such as search engines, social media, email and other websites, mobile apps etc. are used to connect with current or prospective customers.

What are the Different approaches used in Digital Marketing?

Different approaches are used by different firms for digital marketing of their products and services. Some of these approaches are -:

1. Content Marketing- Content Marketing is the marketing approach which focuses on creating and distributing relevant and consistent content to attract and retain customers online. Content Marketing process uses different electronic channels to identify, forecast and satisfy the content requirements of the audience. Once the customers’ needs are identified, through content marketing companies provide valuable information about their products to customers and try to create a willingness in the customer to buy the product in future.
2. Search Engine Optimization- Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic on the website through the editorial, natural or free search results on search engines. Certain changes are made to website design and content to make the website look more attractive to the search engine. This is done to make the search engine display the website as the top result on the search engine results page. This will get the organic and unpaid traffic to the website.
3. Social Media Marketing-  Social Media Marketing is using social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service by creating and sharing content on social media networks. Social Media Marketing includes activities like posting content in the form of video or text as a paid social media advertising tool to drive audiences to your products and services.  Social Media platforms like  Facebook, Instagram etc. are used for marketing.
4. Pay Per Click Advertising- Pay Per Click or PPC is the approach in digital marketing in which the advertisers have to pay a fee each time one of their ads get clicked increasing the traffic to their website. PPC is an attempt to buy visits to the site rather than earning them. PPC lets the advertiser’s bid for ad placement in the search engine’s sponsored links when someone searches on a keyword that is related or similar to their business offering. Every time the ads get clicked, sending a visitor to the website the advertiser has to pay a small fee to the search engine.
5. Email Marketing–  Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message to a group of people, usually the prospects and customers through email. Email marketing allows businesses to keep their customers informed and tailor marketing messages to the audience or prospective customers.  Every email which is sent to a prospective customer can be considered Email Marketing.
6. Affiliate marketing – In the Affiliate marketing process of marketing, the person acting as an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s products. Affiliate marketing involves sharing a product on social media, blogs or websites. When someone purchases through the unique link associated with their recommendation, the affiliate gets the commission for each such purchase.

How to start a career as a digital marketer?

The best part about starting a career as a digital marketer is that like many other sectors, you don’t need any formal qualifications. Knowledge, talent, creativity and an eagerness to learn is always preferred over academic qualification. While a degree can be taken if the person wants to, but the experience is what that counts more.

 The first thing that needs to be mentioned here is no age bar to start a career as a digital marketer. A person at the age of 15 or a person at the age of 45 both can start their career as a digital marketer. 

The different opportunities available in the field of digital marketing are:-

1. Content Writers– Content writers are individuals who create articles, blog posts and all the other forms of written web materials. The content writers are assigned the work to create such contents which give a brief idea about the products and services to the respective clients. Content Writers play an essential role in Search Engine Optimization to drive web traffic and sales. Content Writers are responsible for explaining topics in a clear, actionable way.
2. Content Marketing Managers– Content Marketing Managers increase web traffic and brand awareness through the marketing of content online. They plan, edit and upload data on different social media and marketing channels. Content Marketing Managers are responsible for creating shareable content and distributing them on appropriate platforms to attract prospective customers.
3. Digital Marketing Managers- Digital Marketing Managers are supposed to do the job of planning, developing, implementing and managing the overall digital marketing strategy to promote a company and its products and services. The digital marketing managers keep themselves updated with the new marketing strategies and implement them to improve the traffic on their websites.
4. Copywriters– A copywriter writes advertising promotional materials. They are responsible for writing compelling texts on brochures, billboards, websites, emails, advertisements, catalogues and more to increase brand awareness and attract customers or prospective customers.
5. SEO Executives– The role of an SEO Executive is to improve the website of their clients to increase the number of visitors it receives. SEO Executives have to analyze, review and implement websites that are optimized to be picked up by search engines. SEO Executives should have in-depth knowledge of keyword research, SEO copywriting and behaviours of search engines.
6. Inbound Marketing Manager– Inbound  Marketing Managers are professionals who are experts in attracting customers with the content specially designed to attract prospects and convert them into customers. They design content which best matches the customers’ demand.

These are some of the career prospects in the field of digital marketing. The person interested in starting a career as a digital marketer first needs to select a job profile of his liking. Then before starting with it, he should first try to gain as much as knowledge about it either through search engines, websites, articles or through YouTube channels. After having the basic idea the person should pursue certification or specialization in that field if he wants to. There are many institutes like Udemy, digital marketing institute etc. providing online certification in the field of digital marketing.

When the course gets completed the person should opt for an internship in a small firm or can work on some projects as a freelancer. This is the most important step to grow in the field of digital marketing because practical experience teaches a person more than books do. Also, big firms prefer hiring people with experience over people with academic qualifications.

After gaining sufficient knowledge about the subject practically also, the person can start up with his firm.

Digital marketing is a rapidly growing marketing approach and a career in the digital marketing field is an evolving career path. A career as a digital marketer is a diverse career option for everyone wanting to try something new, creative and out of the box. It is a great career option for someone who has the nature of adaptability, has communication skills, analytic skills and has the nature of being persistent in his work.