Choosing which career path to take is one of life’s most important decisions. While many of us have a clear idea of what we want to do from an early age, some of us need to find our calling later in life and make a positive change. Regardless of how you get there, one popular career path to take right now is digital marketing.
This involves marketing your business, products, or services to consumers via online channels. Many people also work in digital marketing agencies that handle this type of work for businesses. It is in direct contrast to offline marketing, which uses approaches such as newspaper and magazine ads to connect with the public. Digital marketing has really grown as an industry over the last decade or so, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Before you decide to move into online marketing, you should know more about it. It is known as a fast-moving space where constant learning is the order of the day – even for seasoned online marketing pros. Why is online marketing so exciting, and how can you break into this industry?
How can you get into a digital marketing career?
Before we look at why the world of digital marketing always has new things to learn and why this makes it so exciting, we should pinpoint how to move into the industry. As with most things in life, this will not happen by chance and is something you must plan for in advance.
The best way to move into online marketing is by getting the right education. Employers in this sector will generally be looking for people with proven knowledge of the latest digital marketing techniques and qualifications from respected institutions when hiring staff.
The online Master of Arts in Communication program at St. Bonaventure University is a prime example of the type of course employers value. In addition to learning about the best digital marketing campaigns in history and how to use the latest digital marketing tools, courses like this give you the confidence to shine in high-level marketing roles.
Why does the learning never stop in digital marketing?
Some industries may have a slow pace of change or rely on traditional methods, but digital marketing is not one of them. Promoting services or goods to consumers online is a fast-changing world. This means that anyone who is involved in it needs to be constantly updating their knowledge to stay in touch.
Why is there such a need for constant learning in this industry? A lot of this rests on the fact that digital marketing is a sector that is heavily tech-based. This is not a surprise when you consider that the whole point of marketing in this way is to use the internet to connect with people online.
The technology that online marketing uses is constantly developing and being updated. In addition, it is an industry that sees brand-new tech, platforms and software emerge regularly. The overall impact for those working in digital marketing is the need to be constantly learning about the latest technology to use in your role.
A good example of this is the need for digital marketers to get up to speed with analytics platforms such as Google Analytics when they first came out or learn how to use software like Mailchimp when conducting online marketing campaigns. The move toward video marketing in recent years has also seen digital marketers needing to learn about video editing software. All these examples give you an idea of how new tech can come along that digital marketers need to learn to embrace.
Regular changes to how key aspects of online marketing works
It is not just changes to technology that mean you will always be learning when working in online marketing. Many of the most important aspects of marketing in this way also see regular changes to how they operate. SEO is a great example of this and remains an enduringly crucial component of online marketing overall. While you might learn all about this when first studying the subject, some of what you know might become outdated within a few years.
Major search engines such as Google might have changed how their algorithms work and how they rank sites on their results page. Understanding updates like this is essential for getting good results and would require you to learn about any changes quickly. Even the generally accepted techniques within digital marketing niches like SEO can change over time.
Many of the early SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing, are frowned upon now in the industry. It is therefore essential to always be learning in digital marketing and keeping an eye on what the sector finds acceptable.
This issue is not confined to SEO. All aspects of digital marketing can see changes in how they operate, what is acceptable and what tactics are considered most effective. Therefore, you always need to be learning in this career.
Digital marketing is a comparatively new sector
Although it might not be brand new anymore, online marketing is still a relatively young industry. This is certainly true when you compare it to the offline print marketing industry. Digital marketing is still a sector that is growing and discovering new things all the time. It is not an old industry that has been around for hundreds of years and has already explored the limits of what is possible.
A direct consequence of this is that people who are involved in digital marketing need to be learning all the time in order to keep up with the latest news in the sector. This helps you to not only remain on the cutting edge as a digital marketer but also to avoid being left behind by others. From voice search to visual search, AI in digital marketing, and more, there is still so much potential for this sector moving forward. It is crucial that anyone who is involved in it does not get left behind and grows with the industry.
Consumers keep you on your toes
Keep in mind that consumers play just as big of a role in online marketing as technology, techniques, and the industry itself. Without people to connect with, there would be no point to what online marketers do.
Consumers are another reason there is always more to learn in digital marketing. This comes down to the changing habits and tastes consumers sometimes show. When you look at the move from offline to online marketing in general, this is easy to see.
People now have gotten into the habit of discovering new products online and finding out about new items on social media. This is something that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago for most consumers and required those involved in marketing to quickly get up to speed with online campaigns.
Changing consumer habits like this are something we see often within digital marketing, whether it’s the social media platform your target audience prefers, the type of content they engage with, or the keywords that seem most popular for online searches.
It is crucial to always be learning about changes in consumer habits so you can connect with your audience more effectively. If you do not make the effort to do this, you could soon be left behind and unable to engage the public.
Why does constant change make digital marketing an exciting choice?
As you can see, working in this industry does require you to accept change, be ready to learn new things, and be able to adapt what you know to the latest trends and habits. Although this may sound complicated, it is actually the key to what makes digital marketing such an exciting sector to work in.
In simple terms, the constant change that working in online marketing entails means it never gets boring. Regular fluctuations in the industry also mean it is a fresh, vibrant sector that always has something new to sink your teeth into. This makes it an exciting career to follow and one that will never get stagnant or dull.
You also have to remember that keeping up with constant change in digital marketing could involve attending seminars, events, or conferences. These are all exciting things to do and mean you get to meet new people while traveling to new places. This is very exciting and makes the pace of change in online marketing a big plus for people who work in the industry.
The rapid pace of change in digital marketing also means that new roles are being created all the time in the field. This is a real bonus because it delivers a wide choice of roles you can move into and a large selection of exciting careers.
A greater emphasis on AI in digital marketing, for example, could see new roles in this area to move into, as could the greater focus on voice search or visual search moving forward. We have already seen how new roles related to data and analytics have taken off in recent years in online marketing, and this shows just how change can make the sector more vibrant. By constantly finding new aspects of the industry to leverage and new technologies to make use of, online marketing can offer an ever-expanding choice of careers to people.
Other reasons to consider a digital marketing career
We have already noted how regular changes within the sector make digital marketing a lively career path to take. What else about this industry is so appealing to potential workers?
First, you have to look at the health of the online marketing sector overall and the demand for people with these skills in business. 2020 saw around 341,257 career opportunities in online marketing and 850,778 openings in the social media niche. These figures show just how much this sector is growing. With online life playing a bigger role in society and online marketing becoming important to businesses across all sectors, digital marketing is on the rise.
In addition to good job opportunities for qualified digital marketers and a growing industry to join, you should also consider the attractive salaries of most online marketing positions. The average salary for content managers in the U.S., for example, is around $61,000, with higher roles earning more than this. These figures show that the sector is well-paid in general for qualified employees.
Digital marketing is a fun, rewarding career
There are many practical reasons online marketing is such a desirable career, but they are not the only factors to take into account. In short, working in digital marketing is a lot of fun and can give you a tremendous sense of job satisfaction.
There is nothing like working on a digital marketing campaign that really connects with consumers to make you feel good. The same is true across all digital marketing roles, where you will get a sense of genuine satisfaction by engaging consumers, creating content, using the latest analytics tools, and connecting with the public on social media.
What skills and characteristics do you need to work in digital marketing?
Much of what you need to work effectively in this sector will depend on the specific role you move into. However, there are some general skills and characteristics that will prove useful.
You should be comfortable using technology and able to use standard online tech, such as social media platforms and websites. Digital marketers must also be organized and able to plan their workload effectively. This ensures you hit key deadlines and carry out your duties to the highest standard.
It is also essential to be able to work under pressure and on tight deadlines at times. As noted earlier, constant learning is crucial for working well in online marketing. This means you must be committed to learning new things regularly. It is also useful to have good communication skills for dealing with clients and the public.
Although the skills you need will depend on the exact role you move into, it is best to have a good grounding in the basics of online marketing. This covers everything from content creation to SEO, PPC campaigns, video marketing, social media marketing, CRM, and data analysis. The best way to develop these core skills is to enroll in a high-level academic course and learn them.
What jobs are there in digital marketing?
As we have already touched on, this is an industry that has a wide choice of roles you can move into once qualified. Here is a look at some of the top jobs in digital marketing.
SEO Specialist is a popular role that sees you focusing on optimizing websites to rank higher in search engine results pages. Working in SEO is a real art and something that is always changing. Whether it is on-page SEO or off-page SEO like link building, there are always interesting tasks to work on in this role. With high demand for SEO Specialists and an average salary of around $49,174, this is a popular digital marketing job.
Another specialized role that is important within online marketing is Email Marketing Specialist. As the title suggests, these marketing professionals focus on creating and managing email campaigns for businesses. People who work in this role usually have strong content writing skills and are good at analyzing how their campaigns perform. This type of role comes with an average salary of around $57,000.
Of course, you will also find more general roles in online marketing, such as Digital Marketing Manager or Digital Marketing Assistant. These jobs often see you working across a much broader spread of online marketing disciplines, which some people prefer.
Digital marketing is an exciting, evolving field
Digital marketing is not only a popular career choice but also an exciting one. There is no doubt that it is a fast-moving sector that requires those within it to be constantly learning. This is not a bad thing, however, and makes it a vibrant, buzzy industry to be part of. When you also factor in the other benefits associated with working in online marketing, the appeal is undeniable. If you have never considered working in this sector before but you feel like you would be a good fit, there has never been a better time to get involved.
