marketing concept with financial graph and chart
If you want to start a career in digital marketing, you can rest assured you will be reading one of the best guides on the subject. I will help you understand the fundamentals of digital marketing and kick-start the process to help you advance in your career.
Before we go deeper, let’s understand the basics first.
Table of Contents
Digital marketing is the term used for marketing using the digital medium. So first, let’s define marketing.
As per the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of marketing is as follows:
The activity of showing and advertising a company’s products in the best possible way
The way I like to define marketing is to convert a user’s wants into needs.
As one focuses on converting a user’s wants into their needs, it becomes easy to convert a potential lead into a customer or a customer into an ongoing paying customer.
So the definition of digital marketing becomes,
Then we have so many tools and online platforms to achieve that. And if you want to start your career in digital marketing, you have to master the art and science of using such online tools to achieve great results.
Before getting into career building, let me help you with some acronyms and jargon related to digital marketing.
The first step for beginning a career in digital marketing is SEO and SEM, analytics, Social media marketing and advertising, and Email marketing.
A/B Testing is the process of testing two versions of a page element. One can test e-newsletters, email subject lines, and ads. A/B testing is also known as split testing or bucket testing.
Affiliate marketing is a business model based on commission. The one who makes sales is called an affiliate and earns a percentage of the total sale as a commission. The business only pays when they have sales, so it is one of the better forms of marketing where the sales are guaranteed.
Analytics are quantitative measurements of the performance of online content, including advertising campaigns, social media and websites. It means how customers interact with your content and marketing campaigns.
Content Strategy is the planning of content about a niche or topic. Includes creating content for digital marketing such as blog posts, videos, e-books, guides, articles, and social media posts.
Conversion Rate is the average number of conversations per interaction. Shown as a percentage, conversion rates are calculated by simply taking the number of total ad interactions.
As an example: If you had 45 conversations from 1000 interactions, Your conversation rate would be 4.5%., Since 45 Divided by 1000 times 100 is =4.5%
CPA (Cost per Acquisition) is a pricing model that means paying for ads only if they lead to a sale. It helps Marketers to know How much a company can afford to pay for leads and new customer growth.
CPC (cost per click) pricing model for ads where an advertiser pays only for valid clicks on ads. Google Ads on search pages are based on the CPC model. It is also known as PPC or pay-per-click.
CPL (Cost per lead) is one form of performance-based online advertising payment based on the number of qualifying leads generated.
CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions or Cost Per Mille) is paid on the impressions. You are paying to show the ads and not to click on them.
CRM (Customer Relation Management) is a SAAS-based platform to manage customer relations and data. CRM tracks customer interaction (from leads to paying customers) and customer experience.
CTA (call to action) is the action the website owner wants his users to take. So it can be for text, web or e-mail, forms, buttons, and banners. CTA guide visitors in their buying journey and impacts the conversation rates.
CTR (Click Through Rate) CTR measures the percentage of people who click on the ad to show. Mathematically, it is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions times 100.
Digital Advertising refers to marketing through online channels, such as websites and streaming content. Digital ads span media formats, including text, image, audio and video.
E-Commerce is selling items or services online using various digital marketing platforms. One can use Amazon or Flipkart or can use a custom website as well.
E-mail marketing is a direct digital marketing method that uses emails to engage with a business audience. E-mail marketing is typically used to create product or brand awareness and generate leads or sales.
Link Building is a way to improve a page’s search ranking for given keywords by building links to it. The link-building process increases the number of inbound links to a website to increase search engine ranking.
Meta Tags describe various aspects of a webpage using the HTML code. Meta tags are typically not visible directly but are used to define and direct search engine bots.
SAAS is an acronym for Software As A Service. Any software you may use and pay for is termed SAAS software.
SEM means search engine marketing, including SEO and paid Google advertising using Google Ads. In other words, SEO is a subset of SEM.
SEO is search engine optimization, optimising websites to rank better in search engines. It includes off-page as well as on-page SEO.
SERP is the page of search engine results page. SERP is often used in SEO circles and other webmaster forums for brevity.
Social Media Marketing is a form of internet marketing that uses social media as a medium to market products. It targets Social platforms like Facebook, Instagram YouTube for brand promotion, target audience growth, and increasing sales.
Web Hosting is the process of hosting your website online. One needs a domain and hosting; generally, both are tied together as web hosting. Technically, hosting the website is also known as web hosting.
If you want to start a career in digital marketing, you will have to deal with lots of tools.
Let me describe a few tools for you to get going.
It may have been a little too much for you to start your digital marketing career, but we will try and help by answering some of your common questions first.
Yes, Digital Marketing is a good career. The world is moving towards digital, and there is no better time than now to start your career in digital marketing now.
Research from business software firm Salesforce found 87% of people began searches for products and brands on digital channels.
A survey by Statista on eCommerce, E-commerce retail sales CAGR 2023-2027, by country, India will grow close to 15% CAGR over the next few years in the e-commerce industry.
Such growth in digital channels and marketing means increased demand for digital marketers, including better job security, work-from-home jobs, and higher pay.
So, yes, Digital marketing is a great career choice to start right now.
Yes, you can learn the basics of digital marketing. So many resources are available on YouTube to learn digital marketing on your own.
However, there is so much crap information, and you should also be able to avoid them. Everyone claims to be a digital marketing expert online and you must read and listen to people who have done it for them and not from those who claim to know it all.
If you wish to start with a few, it will be Neil Patel and Backlinko.
However, you can check out some great courses on Udemy.
No, you don’t need a degree to be a digital marketer. Being a digital marketer in a small business or working at a startup can help you get relevant experience in digital marketing.
One can start a blog or a website and rank it well to showcase it as a sample. Further, one can start a YouTube channel and show its performance to showcase the talent in digital marketing.
Digital marketing is a general subject, so the skills needed can vary greatly. SEO expertise will require content writing skills, and YouTubers will require video-making skills. So the skills needed to be in digital marketing varies a lot.
However, if I have to list a few skills which are a must for most aspects of digital marketing, then it will be as follows:
Yes, Digital marketing is in demand; with the increasing number of people using the internet, digital marketing is in demand. It simply helps companies expand and promote products and services globally.
It is one of the fastest-growing fields in technology, and the demand for digital marketing skills is increasing rapidly. Digital Marketing is among the top 10 most in-demand skills employees seek.
Hard and easy is subjective, but I can understand where the question comes from. Because you want to start your career in digital marketing, you want to know if it will be a roller coaster or a smooth sail.
The answer to this question lies in how much you are interested in sales and marketing. If you enjoy it when you have a situation like whatever it takes, it will be an easy journey; otherwise, it will be a roller coaster ride.
In India, we understand cricket very well, and everyone likes to bat. However, the toughest time to bat is at the start of innings when the fast bowlers are in full swing with the ball. However, the stats of batsmen are best for those who have opened the innings.
So I will say digital marketing is not necessarily hard to learn, depending on your level of interest. The time you must devote to study, gain some basic skills and keep exploring.
Digital marketing is a fast-changing world, and Google and Facebook keep updating algorithms consistently. If you are willing to adapt to it, it wouldn’t be hard to choose a digital marketing career.
The short answer is No; a Digital marketing certificate is not worth the price.
One can easily learn digital marketing using YouTube or Udemy and then start applying the same on a website and learn it. That will give you more exposure to real digital marketing than investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in trying to learn via an institute and then getting a degree.
The average salary for a digital marketer in India starts at ₹3 lakh, and it can go all the way to ₹12 Lakh. However, there is a lot of variation regarding digital marketing person’s roles and salaries. Let me explain in brief here.
Digital marketing can include SEO as well as social media marketing. So the salary can vary if you are doing SEO or Social media.
Moreover, many digital marketing freshers are more or less creating images using Canva, and then if they expect the salary to be on the higher side of the range, it is asking for too much.
However, others make sales using the same images because their idea of images generates sales. They are doing the AB testing of the ad copy and other complicated stuff. They are being paid on the higher side.
So, in short, the salary of a digital marketer depends on the job role.
Now the most important step in building a career in digital marketing is you should be able to get a decent-paying job. Once you have a job, it helps you further deepen your understanding of digital marketing and enhance your career.
So, I don’t recommend a certificate yet, still suggest you get a job. I may feel out of my mind, but if you follow the steps I mention below, no employer can reject you to hire as a digital marketing professional.
So let’s begin.
The first step you will do is to build samples. Starting a blog will not cost you even $100 or ₹8,000, so if you are serious about learning digital marketing and building a career out of it, you should be able to invest that amount.
Even if you cannot take that paid domain and blog, you can start for free on the WordPress.com subdomain.
However, there are some issues when you start on a subdomain of WordPress.com, so let me share them with you here.
So yes, WordPress.com can be a good start, but if you are serious, you must move to a custom domain and host.
So you should find a perfect domain name and use recommended hosts by WordPress to get your blog online.
Now, if you can write articles that rank well in Google, you are bound to be well ahead of people sitting with you waiting for an interview with that piece of certificate for sure.
Similarly, you don’t need a host in the social media world. If you have an Instagram account with over 10k genuine followers, do you need anything more to showcase?
The next step is to analyze websites that can be improved for traffic and sales and let the webmasters know how and what can be done.
So, let’s say you email us using our contact form about the issues or updates that need to be done and offer us to get the same done for free and include it on your resume. I will be more than happy.
Even if you are doing something and want to be paid for it, I may be ok with it.
However, if your email is, I can generate 10k visitors for you; I may not be interested.
But, if you email me, your so-and-so article, if written as I have attached, will get more traffic in Google and may jump from position 7 to position 3. I may be willing to pay attention.
Similarly, if you DM on Instagram what you can do or share some genuinely good content for someone they can share and, in return, requires me to share a review of your knowledge about Instagram marketing, anyone will be more than willing to do it.
The next step is to build a resume.
You have your blog and a few works you can showcase on your resume. You can even ask for testimonials from webmasters.
Your resume includes live samples of your published work, and I am yet to see anyone who can reject a candidate who can deliver such results.
Even if you have no corporate work experience, your resume is full of experience.
Your online performance is a part of your resume.
So now, once you can showcase your talent and prove you can do it, you have a high chance of building a better-paying career in digital marketing.
Consider this example, if two people go for an interview for a position in Instagram marketing, and one has 10k genuine followers. The other has 200; who is more likely to crack the interview?
And then, if you have 200, your answer to the question will always be I haven’t thought about doing it.
So if you can demonstrate creativity and professionalism, you have a better chance of starting a career in digital marketing.
The last and final step is to apply for jobs. Now, you must be careful where you opt to work.
If you do the hard work of following the above steps, you can surely be ahead of many in digital marketing. So opt for a better-paying job that helps you keep learning.
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