The term “digital marketing” includes all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet.
Businesses leverage various digital channels, such as search engines, social media, email, and their websites to connect with current and prospective customers. At a high level, digital marketing refers to advertising delivered through these digital channels. This term covers a wide range of marketing activities, such as paid search, organic SEO, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, content marketing, video marketing, and so much more.
In today’s world of modern technology, there’s no denying that digital marketing skills are in high demand. In just a short period of time, digital marketing has grown to a high extent. It truly is the future of marketing, as it may one day be replacing other forms of marketing altogether.
Whether you’re somewhat familiar with digital marketing or you’re starting from scratch, you may be looking to learn more. There are several ways you can learn digital marketing online; for example, you can take digital marketing courses. If you’re on the fence about whether a digital marketing course is right for you, here are a few points to consider and reasons to learn digital marketing:
Become an in-demand professional
Have you heard of the digital skills gap? By 2020, it is projected that there will be 150,000 digital jobs available, but not enough digital marketing professionals to fill them. For those learning digital marketing, this offers a unique competitive advantage: You’re gearing yourself up for a career where demand exceeds supply. This is always a good move.
Benefit from more career choices
If you received certification from one of the web’s many digital marketing certification programs, then you have plenty of fields to choose from. Digital marketing is a vast field and there are a lot of roles and responsibilities to take on. Also, this is the most flexible field to work in because one can move from one field to another fairly easily, which is quite difficult for those working in other industries. For example, a digital marketing professional can shift their focus from social media marketing to search engine optimization or email marketing. There will be plenty of opportunities to grow as a full-stack digital marketer as well.
Additionally, when it comes to career choices and availability, consider the fact that just about every company these days has an internal marketing department with a growing need for digital marketing professionals. From healthcare to retail, to entertainment and financial, you’ll almost always find companies in your area looking to hire digital marketing professionals. And if you want to keep things interesting by working on different accounts and in different industries at the same time, you can also look for a job at a digital marketing agency that serves multiple clients.
Growing salary opportunities
Candidates with proven skills and professional certifications from online marketing certificate programs are often more likely to get paid more than the ones who are just starting their career without any certifications or proven practical skills. Companies are more likely to hire people with the right education, rather than those who have no previous experience or training.
Not only does learning digital marketing and getting your digital marketing training certification put you ahead of the competition when it comes to landing a role in general, but it can also lead to an increase in salary. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American salary is $44,564 annually. According to Glassdoor, however, the average American digital marketer makes $71,127 annually. This is just the average base pay and does not include annual bonuses or other perks.
Image Source: The Balance Careers
Kick start your career
Maybe you’re not necessarily interested in a career focusing solely on digital marketing. In fact, you might have plans to start your own business entirely, which has nothing to do with advertising, marketing, or computers. But as any entrepreneur knows in this day and age, a strong online presence is imperative, regardless of the industry you want to launch a business in. Because, digital marketing will be such an important part of your company’s success, learning this invaluable skill can help your own company take off. Alternatively, you’d likely have to hire a digital marketing consultant or agency, which can quickly increase your business expenses.
There’s no denying that sometimes, you just have to spend money to make money. But if you can do your own digital marketing, that can help you save a lot.
Different ways to learn digital marketing
Once you’re convinced that you should learn digital marketing, you may be wondering about different ways you can learn as much as possible. Some of the ways to learn digital marketing include:
Enrolling in digital marketing online courses
One of the best ways to learn digital marketing is to sign up for digital marketing online courses. Industry professionals often lead these online courses, which include teaching students vital digital marketing skills with practical assignments and hands-on projects.
If you really want to stand out from your peers in this industry, earning your digital marketing certification online will help considerably. Simplilearn’s catalog of digital marketing courses offer practical materials to prepare students for the digital marketing world and can help make them industry-ready from day one.
One of the issues the digital marketing industry is facing is that there are sometimes no barriers to entry, meaning that anyone with a loose grasp of industry terminology can potentially get a position in a company. But as this industry matures, recruiters are becoming savvier about what differentiates a candidate that can talk the talk but could be a costly mistake for the company.
Learn by following influencers or industry experts
Digital marketing is a field in which things are always progressing and changing; something new develops each day and all digital marketers around the world want to stay updated. Gone are the days where we search for all updates on the internet. Instead, we follow hundreds of pages and influencers on social media, so we can stay notified round-the-clock. Following industry experts and influencers who are proficient in digital marketing is not only a great way to initially learn the basic fundamentals, but it’s also essential for keeping up with the latest digital marketing changes and trends.
Learn digital marketing on the job
Another way to learn digital marketing is to learn it on the job. In some situations, it can be somewhat easy to get a job in the digital marketing field and then learn how things work. For example, you may take on an internship or an entry-level position that requires little to no experience. Although learning digital marketing on the job can certainly be helpful, especially if you’re a hands-on learner, most of the people miss out on the latest changes and strategies if this is the only way they are learning about digital marketing. Also, there are a lot of terminologies in this field; if you don’t learn what these terms mean from authorized sources or through your professional training, then you may end up making some unavoidable mistakes that could potentially set you back, or even worse: cost you your job.
Learn by following the top digital marketing blogs
In addition to following some of the industry’s top influencers and experts, keeping up with some of the most respected digital marketing blogs and video channels, which are often the go-to sources for most digital marketing professionals, is a terrific way to learn online marketing.
From the basics to advanced principles, these popular blogs are fresh with actionable information to improve your marketing. Some popular digital marketing blogs to follow include Moz, Neil Patel, Kissmetrics, and Search Engine Journal. If you prefer videos, some of the top YouTube digital marketing tutorial channels include GaryVee, Backlinko, and Digital Nest.
Learn the basics from free online courses
There are plenty of websites on the internet that offer digital marketing courses for free. You can sign up on those sites and learn digital marketing through various courses and programs. Those courses can help you develop the understanding for the field and get a certificate as well, but they are not as authenticated as professional certificates and tend to have low completion rates. These free courses don’t usually offer any interactive projects, practical hands-on learning, or live lectures. Although some of these free courses can help you get your feet wet, if you’re serious about learning digital marketing, you’ll need professional training with a certified online education program. As the old adage goes, you typically get what you pay for.
Wrapping up
There are a lot of paid education programs out there, but Simplilearn is one of the world’s leading certification providers. They offer a wide variety of courses for all levels of digital marketers; there is something for everyone based on what your goals are and what you are looking to specifically learn. Whether you’re looking to sharpen your digital marketing skills in general or you want to focus your studies on one specific field of digital marketing, Simplilearn is certain to have the program you’re looking for. To learn more about Simplilearn’s digital marketing courses and to sign up, browse their online course listings.
Guest author: Awestruck by Star Trek as a kid, Jake Anderson has been relentless in his pursuit for covering the big technological innovations which will shape the future. A self-proclaimed gadget freak, he loves getting his hands on every piece of gadget he can afford.