Why choose a career in digital marketing
Selecting one career out of the thousands available is a tough decision to make. That said, it’s important to consider what you’ll enjoy and can see yourself doing for years to come.
If you’re searching for a good salary, the ability to climb the corporate ladder and the opportunity to learn each day, a career in digital marketing might just be the one for you.
But what does a career in digital marketing look like?
Learning is continuous in digital marketing
The digital world is evolving every day due to changing algorithms, which can be both a marketer’s worst nightmare and an exciting challenge.
When algorithms change, strategic decisions change too, which means we’re always learning and thinking outside the box to keep up with Google. The reason Google changes its algorithms is to ensure that online users find the most useful and relevant information possible.
So if you’re wondering what an algorithm is, according to Oxford Language, it’s ‘a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.
When announcements like this are made, it’s important for digital marketers to take the changes on board and look to create a strategy that’s in-keeping with the new rules. It may seem tiresome but the rewards will be worth it, and there are some hints and tips about how you can go about meeting the new requirements, here are a few to give you a flavour:
Show how the product will be used
- Provide information about how it differs from competitor products
- Consider writing about comparable products to help advise the user what might be best for them.
Digital marketing in-house or agency
Most digital marketers are likely to try out in-house and agency life but we’ve put together insight into what you can expect from both to help you make your initial decision.
What to expect as an in-house digital marketer:
- Gain in-depth knowledge of one company
- Become specialised in one industry sector
- Slower-paced and no requirements for external sign-offs
- When working in-house, you’ll be devoted to the company itself and will only work in one sector but across a wide range of projects. In-house literally means that the marketing will be done by the brand’s direct employees and won’t be outsourced to a third party.
- When working in-house, it’s more likely that you will have to dabble in lots of different areas of digital marketing. From brand guidelines to shop marketing and media publishing – you’ll be a whizz at various areas of their digital marketing projects.
What to expect in a digital marketing agency:
- Work with people from a wide range of industries
- Become specialised in one digital marketing discipline
- Fast-paced and requirement for external client sign-offs
- Agency life is quite different, you’ll be working on multiple client projects from a wide range of industries. This tends to mean that no two days are the same and that you’ll have to be ready to dip in and out of different accounts during the day.
- You’ll work closely with a number of different clients that will want to share their input, so it’s likely that you’ll have to collaborate with them to ensure they’re happy with your campaign.
It’s likely that you will have a particular role – instead of doing a bit of everything – you’ll either focus on SEO, PPC, copywriting, social media, web design, PR, graphic design, or photography.
Digital marketing culture
The culture of a company can make or break your feelings towards a certain career, so it’s important to get a feel for what you can expect when it comes to digital marketing.
In most digital marketing companies, you can expect to enjoy:
- Casual dress
- Flexible hours
- Ability to work remotely
- Support of like-minded people
- Dynamic and creative atmosphere
- If you’re looking to wear suits and travel to meet clients every day, you might find that the digital marketing space isn’t quite right for you.
Digital marketing jobs are everywhere and evolving
The internet advertising spend worldwide has been steadily increasing for the past decade and a half, which means the demand for digital marketers has also risen. For online advertising to be worth it, customers paying for this service need people who can provide them with digital marketing strategies to help them gain a return on investment.
That said, it’s not nearly as black and white as that. There are direct and indirect factors that assist ROI, ones that make up an overall successful marketing strategy – this nearly always involves omni-channel marketing. This is where all digital marketing services come together to boost one another which leads to a watertight digital presence.
If your goal is to boost your website’s rankings, you’ll want SEO and PR but to keep those users on your website, you’ll want: blogs, infographics, resource centres, an easy-to-use shop, straightforward checkouts, contact forms… the list goes on!
Why digital marketing is important
Since there are 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide, it’s a good place for businesses to start when it comes to promoting their brands. Having immediate access to this huge audience gives businesses equal opportunities as there’s a marketing package to suit a variety of budgets, but that’s not all, here are some more digital marketing benefits:
- Influencers buyers
- Boosts brand reputation
- Responsive websites = mobile traffic
- Drives more conversions
- Cost-effective
- Target the right audience
- Achieve measurable results
