Digital Marketing- What is it?

What does a digital marketer do?

Good question!

At the simplest level, digital marketers attract customers through any or all digital channels. 

These channels include email, pay-per-click advertising, organic local search, SEO, video marketing, Facebook groups, content marketing… 

Wherever customers can be found online, digital marketers will be right there. They’ll be seeking to attract highly qualified leads for their business. 

Because digital marketing involves the full range of marketing activities, a digital marketer must provide a business the full range of marketing:

• Traditional market research into needs and desires of prospective customers
• Developing a digital marketing strategy 
• Creating (and revising) a strategic plan 
• Designing marketing campaigns 
• Automating, creating and executing marketing campaigns 
• Creative production, such as video, design, copy
• Digital advertising – Pay Per Click (PPC), Display
• Diverse channels, including social media, email, affiliate, public relations
• Creating organic traffic
• Testing strategies and tactics
• Analyzing and reporting on results of campaigns

Each of these categories in turn has numerous smaller categories. 

But at the simplest level, a Digital Marketer is the person in charge of creating the strategy and executing a digital marketing campaign.

Digital Marketing is central to growing businesses–and both entry-level and experienced Digital Marketers are in demand

The U.S. digital marketing industry is estimated at $460 billion, according to Raleigh, NC business management consulting firm Beroe, Inc. It’s expected to grow 150% in the next 4 years – to $786.2 billion, according to market research company Global Industry Analysts Inc.

Marketing directors believe strongly in the power of digital marketing–79% say digital marketing has a huge impact on their business, according to BrainLabs.  

And according to Gartner, 72% of marketing budgets go to digital channels. 

Bottom line: Digital marketers are a growing industry who are relied on more and more by more and more businesses. 

These are skills are in demand:

• Digital marketers average $62,000 a year salary
• Social media managers average $55,000
• Content marketing salaries average $52,000

Even entry-level marketing jobs are $40,000! (These stats courtesy of Talent.com.)

Who is on a digital marketing team (and what skills do they have)?

Becoming a digital marketer and digital automator requires you to be familiar with technology, be able to identify needs and desires, able to analyze results, and some familiarity with working with creative. 

You can also specialize. A typical digital marketing department, for example, may have: 

• A marketing director. This person creates the strategy with other senior managers with input from the marketing department. This person also directs the strategy. 
• A marketing automator/project manager/coordinator. This person takes the strategy and implements it, for example, taking a marketing strategy and creative copy/design, and creating an automated marketing campaign. Often a strong data/analytics role, too.
• A data and analytics person. Sometimes, a separate position. Focused on A/B testing, reporting on results, and making recommendations based on data. 
• Creatives: Graphic designers, copywriters, video experts, animators, and other creative types who create content, advertising, and marketing materials designed to attract the right customers. 
• Specialists: These include SEO experts, organic search experts, individual social media experts (such as Facebook groups, live online events, Instagram experts), pay-per-click/digital advertising experts.
  

Whew!

A lot of choices, aren’t there?

The key is to understand the skills you’ll need. At the most basic level, you’ll need:

1. Strategic skills. 
2. The ability to understand data and analytics.
3. The ability to be part of a team.
4. Comfort with technological tools.
5. The ability to communicate with and work with creatives.
6. Project management (and project participation). 
7. Communication skills, especially online.

What’s Next?

In the upcoming articles, we are going to expand on each of these topics. Stay tuned! If in the meantime, you’d like to speak to someone about becoming a digital marketer, you can schedule a call here.