How to Qualify for Digital Marketing Jobs

share icon share icon icon calendar April 13, 2021

In today’s world, most people use the internet when they are looking for products and services. They head to a search engine such as Google, type in a query, and see what comes up. With research showing that online sales are poised to pass brick and mortar sales shortly, it is essential for every business that wants to compete in the modern era to have a robust online presence. This is where digital marketing comes into play.

First, it is vital to define digital marketing, so what is digital marketing? When people talk about digital marketing, they are talking about an advertising strategy that focuses on tailoring a company’s online presence to increase its visibility and reach in the digital world.

There are many shapes and forms that digital marketing can take. For example, some forms of digital marketing are tailored to meet the needs of search engines. On the other hand, different digital marketing strategies might focus on the user experience. Given the breadth and depth of digital marketing, it is crucial to look at why digital marketing is so important.

What Makes Digital Marketing so Important?

Just because something is popular and that popularity is growing, doesn’t mean it’s important to a business, right? Well, in the case of digital marketing, it’s very important. There are a few primary reasons why digital marketing is so critical to where a business is today and where they can be tomorrow. These include:

  • When people are looking for products and services today, they tend to use the internet first, so digital marketing is often the first touchpoint that potential customers have with a business. 
  • Because most people use the internet every day, digital marketing is an easy way to reach many people in a short period. This is especially true of things like social media marketing, where you connect with followers and friends on various social platforms. 
  • Compared to the cost of other forms of advertising, the cost of digital marketing is relatively low while the potential reward is exceptionally high. 

These are just a few of the many reasons why digital marketing is important to businesses’ success in today’s world, but what’s more important is – how can you stake your claim in the digital marketing landscape?

Digital Marketing Training

Whether you’re a newbie to online commerce or you’ve been around for the entire evolution, you need to complete digital marketing training to stay on top of the trends. This includes on-going training because, as we all know, the internet is constantly changing. 

In general, there are two significant prongs when it comes to digital marketing training. These include:

  • Computer Science: Those who want to learn more about digital marketing are going to get a crash course in computer science, learning how distributed systems, servers, and networks operate to tailor the digital marketing campaign to the online world.
  • Marketing: In addition to studying computer systems, those who are looking to start a career in digital marketing are also going to learn about the basic principles of marketing, learning how to structure an advertising campaign in the digital world to minimize overhead expenses while maximizing the payoff.

Finally, those who enter training programs in the world of digital marketing are also going to learn about the various digital marketing methods, which we’ll discuss shortly, so that they can find the ones that best suit their needs.

Workforce Training

In addition to the educational training that goes into digital marketing, people looking for digital marketing jobs with a digital marketing agency are also going to learn about digital marketing strategy while on the job. They will learn about companies’ products and services, how a digital marketing campaign can be structured to meet those products and services, and how they can target the specific market that might benefit from those products and services.

It is possible that workforce training in digital marketing might also consist of training some of the other employees at the company on digital marketing principles. This can help the company take a well-rounded approach to its digital marketing needs and take some pressure off the marketing team. 

There’s also the growing trend of training and promoting from within newer companies, but to get that digital marketing entry-level job, you’re going to need training of some sort first before you can start workplace training. 

Digital Marketing Certificate Programs

One way that people in digital marketing might be able to strengthen their ability to compete for a digital marketing job is through certificate programs. There are a few digital marketing certificate examples that might help people strengthen their resumes. These include:

  • Google Ads Certificate
  • Hubspot Content Marketing Certificate
  • Hootsuite Social Marketing Certificate
  • YouTube Certificate
  • Facebook Blueprint Certificate
  • Digital Marketing and Analytics Certificates
  • Digital Media Marketing Certificates
  • eCommerce and Interactive Marketing Certificates

Having an extra certificate or two on the resume could make the difference between someone earning digital marketing entry-level jobs and someone competing for a higher position in the world of digital marketing, such as a digital marketing manager. Not all certificate programs cost money, so if you’re looking to get a leg up without a large investment, take time to dig through some of the programs available.

Degrees in Digital Marketing

Finally, to compete for jobs in digital marketing, it is crucial to have a degree. The vast majority of people looking to get promoted in digital marketing have two- to four-year degrees from colleges and universities. Some examples include degrees in:

  • Social Media Marketing
  • Interactive Marketing
  • eBusiness Marketing
  • Management with Focus on Digital Marketing
  • Management with Focus on Social Media Marketing

These are just a few of the many digital marketing degree examples that people might earn if they look for a career in this field and remember, the field is growing daily—literally. So, new degrees are popping up all the time.

Jobs in Critical Parts of the Digital Marketing Landscape

People can take lots of paths if they are looking for a career in digital marketing. By taking the right digital marketing course, it is possible to become a digital marketing specialist and compete for jobs with digital marketing programs in some of the most critical fields. 

Search Engine Optimization

After completing digital marketing education and learning about digital marketing best practices, one of the top fields that people might enter in digital marketing is search engine optimization. Also called SEO, search engine optimization focuses on tailoring a business or company’s online presence to meet specific search engines’ needs.

Those looking for a digital marketing manager salary will have to learn about SEO, the Google algorithm, and how to get a company’s websites to rank highly for specific keywords and phrases.

Those who take a digital marketing course or complete a digital marketing online certificate will learn about essential SEO parts. Some of the most important factors when it comes to developing a robust online presence include:

  • The location of keywords throughout the website, including keyword density
  • The competitiveness of the keywords and phrases
  • The amount of traffic that goes to the website
  • The reviews that the business has gotten
  • The regularity with which a digital marketing expert updates the information on the website
  • The presence of images and videos, along with their alt tags

Those who earn a digital marketing online degree or take digital marketing online classes will learn about SEO and some of the most important trends taking place.

Also, one of the significant focuses of digital marketing classes is going to be local SEO. Offline marketing and digital marketing work together to drive traffic toward websites, including local traffic. Small businesses that would like to compete with large corporations need to have a strong local presence. If someone conducts a local search, the search engine will track the IP address of the user and pull up relevant results in the local area. Some of the queues that tell the search engine to conduct a local search include:

  • Searches with town or city names
  • Searches with zip codes
  • Searches the include “near me”

Local SEO is important and those who would like to earn more than a digital marketing entry-level salary will have to be able to talk about some of these trends. They are going to play a significant role in the success of a business moving forward.

Search Engine Marketing

Another topic that might be covered in digital marketing bootcamp is called search engine marketing. SEO focuses on the technical nuts and bolts of helping a website rank highly for specific keywords and phrases. Search engine marketing, also called SEM, refers to how people can accomplish those nuts and bolts. In essence, SEO is only one of the parts of search engine marketing and other digital marketing tools are used in the world of search engine marketing. Some of the features of search engine marketing include:

  • Links: It is essential to conduct a strong backlink campaign to drive traffic from high authority websites to boost the visibility of a website, increasing its search results rankings.
  • Paid Ads: Another part of search engine marketing involves paid aids, such as Google AdWords and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, to instantly increase the visibility of the website on key search results pages.
  • SEO: Of course, SEO is going to be an important part of search engine marketing as well, as this is a cost-effective way to boost organic traffic.

Many people who are looking for a job in digital marketing start in this department. This is an excellent location where people can learn more about the various parts of digital marketing and how they work together to boost a website’s visibility.

Content Marketing

There are lots of professionals in digital marketing who start off doing something called content marketing. This involves producing creative, organic content that has been designed to meet the individual needs of potential customers. Those who take a job in content marketing are going to be developing lots of different types of content. Some of the most prominent examples include:

  • Blog Posts: These are going to be the backbone of just about every content marketing campaign. This is a great way to incorporate more keywords into posts that will be helpful for potential customers, driving both search rankings and user interest.
  • Technical Articles: These are also helpful for providing critical information to potential customers, teaching them more about the topic at hand.
  • Podcasts: This is one of the fastest-growing types of content marketing. With so many people working remotely and spending their lives on the go, podcasts are a great way to fill the time, making them a key form of content marketing.
  • Infographics: There is a saying that a picture is worth 1000 words and this is undoubtedly true with infographics, which are great for people who do not want to read a wall of text.
  • Social Media Posts: Finally, social media marketing is one of the most important types of content marketing, driving traffic from social media profiles to the websites themselves.

These are just a few of the most common content types that will play a role in digital marketing. Professionals in this field will have to track every kind of content, see how it performs, and adjust the digital marketing campaign to maximize the benefits of each of these types of content to drive revenue for the business.

Social Media Marketing

In the world of digital marketing, social media marketing is one of the most important methods. There are hundreds of millions of people who use social media daily. Some of the most popular social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, and Pinterest.

Those who take a job in social media marketing will be responsible for figuring out which of these platforms the target market of the business uses regularly. Then, social media marketing professionals will have to figure out how to structure the company’s social media presence to reach the target market effectively.

While a business does not have to have a profile on each of these platforms, it is a good idea for a company to have a profile on more than one. For those who work in social media marketing, the good news is that it is free to set up a profile on these platforms. Social media marketers will then have to interact with the business’s followers to increase subscribers and drive traffic to critical websites.

Conversion Rate Optimization

Anyone who wants to learn about digital marketing is going to have to focus on conversion rate optimization. A conversion occurs when a customer takes a specific action that meets the digital marketing campaign’s goals. While it is true that the goal of every digital marketing campaign is to increase sales, there are lots of steps that have to take place to meet that goal. Some of the key conversions that professionals studying conversion rate optimization might track include:

  • Leaving their contact information on a particular form
  • Becoming a subscriber to a specific page or platform
  • Liking, sharing, or following a social media profile, platform, or post

All of these conversions are important for digital marketing campaigns. A professional in conversion rate optimization will be responsible for finding ways to increase conversion rates without increasing marketing costs.

Email Marketing

Even though email is one of the oldest forms of digital communication, it is still one of the most important. Today, most people have their emails sent straight to their phones. As a result, communicating with customers via email is one of the fastest and most direct ways to reach them. Those who work in email marketing will be responsible for building email marketing campaigns that will reach customers in a personal, reliable manner.

There are two significant forms that email marketing can take. The first is called an email drip campaign. Professionals who construct an email drip campaign will be responsible for moving potential customers and clients down the sales funnel until they finally convert or become a paying customer. This campaign is usually spread out over a long period to simply keep the business at the forefront of potential customers’ minds.

The second type of email marketing that digital marketing professionals might use simply involves keeping customers in the loop. This type of email marketing aims to remind customers that the business cares about them. Some of the most important emails that digital marketing professionals will be responsible for sending include:

  • Order confirmation emails
  • Shipping emails
  • Account creation emails
  • Product delivered emails
  • Order update emails

Given that eCommerce is a rapidly growing field, these emails are going to be critically important. Professionals in digital marketing will be responsible for finding ways to automate these emails, saving the business a tremendous amount of time and money.

PPC Marketing

When it comes to digital marketing, all businesses are wary about spending too much money; however, paid search marketing is a critically important part of digital marketing. Whereas SEO is a free but long-term way to enjoy digital marketing success, pay-per-click marketing, also known as PPC, provides immediate results. Both of them are important.

When professionals take a job in PPC marketing, they will be responsible for formulating a comprehensive campaign that will reach customers as quickly as possible. The good news is that marketers will not pay for an ad every time it is displayed. Instead, they are only going to pay for the ad when someone clicks on it. These could be ads placed on social media profiles, or they could be placed directly on search engines such as Google. These ads usually show up above the top-ranked search results, ensuring that people see them.

If someone clicks on an ad, the business is going to get a conversion. Therefore, digital marketing professionals will be responsible for designing landing pages in such a way that potential customers are going to like what they see on the landing page and make a purchase. Professionals in this field will track each ad and landing page, measure their performances, and adjust them if they do not perform well. In this manner, PPC marketing is one of the most important types of digital marketing.

Affiliate Marketing

Finally, it is also essential to talk about something called affiliate marketing. This is one of the fastest-growing areas of digital marketing. Many people have become social media “stars,” and they have lots of followers who care about what they say. Some companies partner with these social media stars, termed influencers, and ask them to promote the business’s products and services. Then, every time the affiliate makes a sale, they get paid a percentage of the product’s overall cost.

There are lots of ways that affiliates generate followers. Some of them have followers on Facebook, while others have followers on Instagram. They might make a video that shares the benefits of the product or decide to make an “unboxing” video that adds to its suspense and excitement.

Regardless, digital marketing professionals who work in this field will be responsible for setting up affiliate programs and partnering with them to figure out what programs work well and how they can grow the business’s revenue.

Digital Marketing Career Outlook

These are a few of the most important examples of digital marketing. Because so many people turn to the internet for their products and services, digital marketing’s career outlook is excellent. As demand for this field grows, salaries in digital marketing are going to go up as well. Those who complete the right digital marketing online course and degree will compete for a high digital marketing salary.

There are numerous opportunities for people to earn promotions when it comes to digital marketing. Eventually, those with experience in digital marketing might even be able to rise to executive positions. In this manner, digital marketing can be a rewarding and lucrative field. Anyone looking for a career in an area that will be in high demand in the future has to consider digital marketing. These jobs are sure to be competitive in the future.

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