One of the best career fields to pursue in modern times is digital marketing. Digital marketing jobs combine creativity with vocational prowess and a highly anticipated growth rate through 2030.
Most businesses today have already converted from using traditional marketing and advertising strategies to digital methods. This means businesses currently on-board with digital marketing trends need top candidates on-staff now. Businesses new to using digital marketing strategies are also looking for the best candidates to help them make a successful transition.
One of the best career fields to pursue in modern times is digital marketing. Digital marketing jobs combine creativity with vocational prowess and a highly anticipated growth rate through 2030. Most businesses today have already converted from using traditional marketing and advertising strategies to digital methods. This means businesses currently on-board with digital marketing trends need top candidates on-staff now. Businesses new to using digital marketing strategies are also looking for the best candidates to help them make a successful transition. Continue reading to learn about digital marketing jobs and how to obtain the career and salary you desire. [page_img]
What is Digital Marketing?
The primary concept of digital marketing is the placement of products and/or services within view of consumers who might become customers. This is accomplished by using a wide variety of specialized techniques, including keyword placement, search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) sponsored advertisements. Email campaigns and social media management are also core elements of a successful overall digital marketing strategy.
How Digital Marketing Is Used
Successful businesses utilize digital marketing to create and design aspects of a product or service in such a way it attracts both new and existing customers to spend more money. Determining which method of digital marketing is used the most overall is challenging to do. This is because each business is different, with different needs and unique customer demographics as well. This is also because, what works best for one business might not be effective for another.
Some companies target most of their efforts through PPC and paid search advertising strategies. Others realize highly refined SEO-savvy online content combined with social media marketing campaigns best serve their needs. A significant number of businesses also rely heavily on recurring email campaigns. This strategy is especially effective for entrepreneurs and sole-proprietors working in creative and service-industry fields (such a musicians and life coaches).
Digital Marketing Courses – Typical Tasks and Required Skills
To obtain a high-paying career as a digital marketer you will need to master all hard skills and techniques associated with each marketing strategy used. What is a hard skill? A hard skill is particular a skill or skill set, which is specifically applicable to your job and duties. For example, necessary hard skills associated with most digital marketing positions include proficiencies in SEO analytics, marketing, communication, advertising campaigns (social media, email, etc.) and affiliate marketing strategies. Hard skills in business, English and writing are also highly beneficial.
Examining the Required Hard Skills for a Digital Marketing Career
SEO hard skills emphasize a proficiency in structuring your managed content to rank atop results lists on search engine websites. Google is the most profound search engine worldwide, although Bing, Yahoo and numerous others are also important for marketing and attracting customers. Digital marketers must have a complete grasp of SEO basics. They must be able to both evaluate and improve the SEO for every website on which they work. On-page and technical SEO aspects must also be mastered, as well as:
- Keyword research and implementation.
- Link building.
- Backlink strategies.
- SEO reporting.
- Using SEO to create and increase organic traffic.
- Create and post SEO-rich content.
- Analyze SEO statistics to help find ways to improve results.
Pay-per-click (PPC) hard skills include a proficiency in search engine marketing (SEM). SEM is the most common type of digital marketing strategy used by businesses today. Keywords relevant to a product or service are generated, which increase an advertisement’s chances of appearing at the top of specific search results. A Google quality score and funding amount must then be determined to establish each advertisement’s resulting placement.
Fundamental PPC platforms only require you to pay for each time a visitor clicks on your linked advertisement. PPC combined with SEM tactics place your products and services in front of consumer demographics your company might otherwise have not reached without them. Additional hard skills associated with PPC proficiency include:
- Creating viable marketing budgets.
- Traffic generation.
- Increasing profits.
- Improving the ranking of websites on which you work.
- Google Shopping-specific strategies.
- Display advertising training.
- Remarketing of advertisements.
- PPC via social media posts.
Email Marketing and Digital Marketing Soft Skills
Email marketing proficiency is another vital hard skill necessary to be successful as a digital marketer. Email marketing contributes to approximately twenty-three percent of a company’s sales. What are soft skills? Soft skills refer to personality qualities and intangible traits that make you the best person/candidate for your job. Digital marketing employees need to be detail oriented and intuitive pursuant to consumer trends and needs. Flexibility, dependability, self-motivated and willing to grow are also vital soft skills to possess as a digital marketer today. The biggest soft skill overall, however, is compatibility with company atmosphere and goals.
Education Required
To ensure the best chance of success as a digital marketer you need to obtain viable education and training. Obtaining your education in applicable digital marketing fields also helps ensure you receive the best salary offers available. Graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and/or communications is recommended. Not all employers require candidates to possess a bachelor’s degree, however. For some companies, an associate degree is acceptable. For others, a certificate in digital marketing from an online school, community college or bootcamp might be required. Based on which one of these you choose, obtaining your education in digital marketing might take anywhere from three months to four years before you enter the workforce.
Jobs and Salaries Available in Digital Marketing Now
Specific positions and titles available in the digital marketing fields are quite diverse. Email marketing positions include jobs as an email marketing coordinator, email marketing specialist and email marketing manager. Jobs combining these skills and additional proficiencies might pay over $102,000 per year.
Social media manager positions involve the management of social media accounts for companies, artists, entrepreneurs, and influencers. Salaries for these types of jobs range from $18,000 to $95,000 per year. The median salary for a social media manager is approximately $51,000 per year, however. Additional jobs available in digital marketing today include:
- Content strategy expert (average starting salary of $63,604).
- Virtual reality (VR) development ($24,000 to $150,000 per year).
- Data analyst (median salary of $70,033 per year).
- Bot development (from $83,500 to $150,500 per year or more).
- User Experience (UX) development and design ($89,108 average salary per year).
