Building a career in Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing. What does this term remind you of? The Internet? Or Marketing? What exactly is Digital Marketing? Simply,Digital Marketing is marketing a product/ service on digital media platforms using the Internet and digital technologies such as Laptops and Mobile phones.
How Do You Become a Digital Marketer?
It’s simple! The key to becoming a Digital marketer is ‘Curiosity’. “If you have the curiosity and some knowledge of what’s going on in the market then that’s it,” says Malinda Senanayaka, Head of Growth at Roar Global.
If you’re a person eager to know what’s happening on the internet such as trends and shifts on Google or on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, or if you can figure out such things, then being a Digital Marketer would be the perfect career choice for you.
Digital Marketing Career Routes
There are many paths you can pursue in Digital Marketing. A few are;
Travel & Hospitality Industry
This is a massive industry relying on Digital Marketing to drive most of its success. Well, you might be thinking how?
Some of the most well-known platforms such as TripAdvisor, Booking.com and Airbnb are digital platforms using digital channels to reach their target audiences. Peoples’ curiosity is piqued get inspired and curious to travel when they see an amazing video or a picture of a certain destination/ restaurant/ different culture/ nature, or even food which triggers their interest in visiting that location. All this is done across digital platforms by Digital Marketers.
This simply explains the role of Digital Marketers as well! In three steps these are:
1 - Take the message about a great experience.
2 - Turn that message into great content using catchy videos, photos or posts.
3 - Deliver and promote the experience/ service to potential audience who are likely to come and experience it.
Real Estate Business
Today a large number of real estate companies rely on Digital Marketing as their primary source of growth. We have seen many Ads for buying and selling land, apartments, houses, and other things primarily done through Digital Marketing.
IT Industry
IT is a massive industry with subsets such as, Software as a Service (SAAS) businesses which are at the frontier of pushing Digital Marketing forward. Of Course, Digital Marketing is an essential skill and a tool for any tech company looking to grow.
Financial Industry
Digitalization is moving the banking industry forward and has made accessing banking facilities a lot easier in recent times. Many services have been digitalized providing convenient methods of banking in a safe and secure manner.
So, these are a few examples and paths you might be able to explore in Digital Marketing.
Tips and Techniques to Become a Successful Digital Marketer
How will you make a place for yourself in the Digital Marketing industry? How can you be unique in your own way? Or what should you do to secure your place in the industry using your uniqueness?
“It’s very simple!” explains Malinda, with a few tips from his experience as a successful marketer;
Tip 1 - Be Curious.
To achieve this, you can get more qualifications for yourself by trying and learning about marketing as much as you can.
Example - You can do a Marketing course where you can learn the fundamentals of Marketing and apply them to Digital Marketing. You may build a solid foundation for your quest by doing so.
Tip 2 - A Tiny Dose of Mathematics.
This is to understand a few simple things to carry on successfully in your journey as a Digital Marketer.
Example – Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), Cost Per Click (CPC) and more.
You'll need a little bit of math to gather these facts, comprehend them, and to be able to act on the results and insights you get from them. This will be beneficial to you in the long run as a Digital Marketer.
Tip 3 – Be Creative.
This is the most exciting, yet the most crucial part of being a Digital Marketer. If you’re a person who has that creative mindset to think things differently, then this is your piece of cake!
Creativity has different borders. Creativity can come from your writing skills, the concept that you come up with, a campaign, a photo, a video, a post or anything. However, as a creative person, you must be able to recognize and understand what type of things would attract people and what type of biases they already have that you can exploit.
Talking about Biases, one type of biases is the Cognitive bias. A fantastic example for this is the Black Friday Sale/Discount; people are unlikely to buy an item if the price is 1000/=, but if a 20% discount is offered?! It would almost certainly be purchased. Simply put, cognitive bias states that lowering the price increases the chances of the goods being purchased. Understanding such human behaviors and knowing how to use them intelligently in your marketing strategies or to attain your business goals, is an important attribute to have.
If you possess a combination of the three qualities listed above, then Digital Marketing is the ideal career path for you.
Earning Potential in Digital Marketing
Now you may have all these attributes and be wondering if this career choice will provide a solid platform for you to make a living? Will there be enough earning? Will there be opportunities to progress further?
“Absolutely!” exclaims Malinda, smiling. The reason for this is because boundaries are irrelevant when it comes to Digital Marketing which can be done anywhere in the globe. Also, it is one of the most in-demand skills, and skilled Digital Marketers are still in short supply in many industries.
Whatever you are doing, whether you want to establish your own business and become an entrepreneur, or if you're in a completely different profession as a musician, dancer, vocalist, footwear maker, chef, or anything else, having Digital Marketing as a skill will help you grow exponentially in your field.
“This is why even if you don’t plan a career in digital marketing, knowing a little bit of Digital Marketing is going to help you go a long way to achieve whatever that you have set to achieve” concludes Malinda Senanayaka.
Link for the video on youtube channel -