Why Choose a Career in Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing's key objective is to promote brands, build preference and increase sales through various digital marketing platforms. This article explores why many people are choosing a career in the digital marketing industry.

Digital marketing is a booming career path for students. It is one of those careers that require smart ways in professional life, and that the digital marketing industry has grown phenomenally in a year. The Digital marketing industry is both rapidly-moving and incredibly competitive. The industry requires passion and a desire to succeed. For those who are committed and passionate about the Digital Marketing as a career, it is a career with excellent long-term prospects. As the demand for digital marketing has grown, so has the number of specialist digital jobs required in companies and agencies.

If we look at the interest over time on Google Trends for example, we can see the growing interest around the industry worldwide.

Google Trends Data "Digital Marketing" Worldwide since 2004

From new social platforms to new mobile technologies, every day brings a new challenge and opportunity, making digital marketing an ever evolving and exciting industry to be a part of.

Employers are not necessarily seeking job candidates with marketing degrees or years of experience in part because they need people with skills that might not even be taught on a college campus yet. If Facebook marketing is needed by an employer, but a college graduate doesn’t have that specific knowledge, the employer is going to seek out the job candidate that has done short courses, or completed internships in order to gain the necessary skills.

There are some key benefits of digital marketing:

1. It's 100% Trackable

Digital marketing allows brands to get more accurate measuring of data than traditional marketing activities, as everything that people do online is trackable. This enables companies to better understand their marketing ROI.

2. Its Quick to Set up & Optimize

Unlike in TV, radio and print, digital marketing does not require a long lead time to set up. Campaigns can be created on the fly, and are just as easily optimized in real time. This means that if a certain ad is not working for a brand, its easy to pause that ad. Equally, if an ad is performing well, it is easy to increase its budget or lifespan for example.

3. It is more cost effective and accessible than other forms of marketing

Many small businesses rely heavily on social media marketing as it helps them to sell more of their product or service without breaking the bank.

4. Digital marketing is highly targeted

Google and the various social media networks know a lot about their users. This means that marketers can use this information (location, gender, age) to better target people who are likely to convert into customers. This makes it very specific and direct when compared to other kinds of marketing. Here is an example of what you see when setting up targeting for a Facebook ad.

Facebook Targeting Example - People in Cape Town

Digital Marketing is a broad area of study and there are many branches to go in depending on one’s interests. It’s also a very engaging career path which focuses on current trends and relevant aspects of the digital world.

Interested in a career in digital marketing? Why not kick start a bright new future, starting with our Introduction to Social Media Marketing course? We can't wait to have you onboard!