Why Digital Marketing Is Going To Be The Most In-Demand Skill Of 2017?

Why Online Marketing?

You ask me why online marketing? Let me ask you, why not!?

I mean, just look around you. You are literally in a sea of everything digital and online. Your entire life can be mapped to various links on the internet. Well, at least the transactional part of your life. You manage your relations (Facebook, Instagram), finances (Your online banking accounts), careers (LinkedIn and Indeed), and even opinions (Twitter) online.

This is the same case with almost everyone out there across the globe. Let’s just look at few data points. 

Smart Phone Wave

According to Statista, a reputed online market research and business intelligence portal, following are the numbers for smart phone users. 

• USA – 260 million

• Singapore – 4.3 million

• Hong Kong – 5.6 million

• Australia – 19.4 million

• UAE – 3.9 million

This particular report from Statista puts the overall global smart phone users close to 3 billion by the end of 2020. That is close to 40% of the world population. 

Reuters says “Seventy-five percent of internet use in 2017 will be mobile”. 

Why are we talking about smart phones and internet? Simple, that little 5.5 (or more) inch of a gadget with an internet connection is second to only breathing in our lives. That’s how important it has become. If you just look at your life, you will see that most of your activities are done online with your smartphone. So, it all fits – be online, go digital, use smartphone and connect via internet. The four mantras of modern life!

Digital is the Trend across the Globe 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The following image is a brilliant example of this saying. 50% of the world population is connected via the internet. Social media channels are hugely popular. Smart phones and affordable internet data plans have made it easy to stay connected 24X7 even on the move - a necessity in these times of dynamic market changes!

Source: Digital in 2017 Global View by Hootsuite and We are Social. 

This elaborate SlideShare report on the same topic gives detailed region and country wise digital trends for countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, USA and Australia. The essence of this interesting report is simple – digital is here to stay and thrive. Irrespective of who you are, stay the course now, you will be successful!

If you are an organization, there is tremendous opportunity in the digital space!

If you are a person, there is tremendous opportunity online for you!

As James Manyika, Director of McKinsey Global Institute, rightly says “The Digital Revolution Is Making The Job Market Work For You”. He also says that “Online talent platforms could boost labor markets”. 

The digital space has made opportunities hitherto not so widely known, public now. Freelancing as a full time career option is financially viable now. Even for seekers of full time employment the online space offers exciting and rewarding job portfolios.  

Organizations are falling back on digital channels to find their best talent. The ad spends allocation for various digital and mobile channels have been on a rise; a fact that only proves that best of the opportunities are found and closed online. 

Jobs in the Digital Space

There is wide array of jobs and skills needed in the online marketing sector. Web3Services Inc., a Hanif Sipai Consulting company and specialists in all things digital pulled a report on top digital marketing activities of 2016. The following infographic is a quick reference image.

It is interesting to note that most of these activities will recur for a while. The percentages may change slightly, but the activities as such will remain. These online marketing activities are percolating all sections of the industry. Some experts even say that marketing will not be marketing anymore without a few of these activities. 

Tops Jobs in Online Marketing

The demand for skilled and knowledgeable professionals in the online marketing space has been on a rise across the globe. Be it Singapore in Asia Pacific or Dubai in the UAE or the far flung Australia, digital space has the same kind of needs and jobs. Most popular jobs (in alphabetical order) in the online marketing space fall in the following categories:-

• Analytics

• Brand Marketing

• Content Strategist

• Conversion Rate Optimization

• Digital Project Planning/Management

• Digital Media Manager

• Digital Marketing Strategist

• Ecommerce Specialist

• Social Media Marketing

• SEO Expert

• Web Design

Median Salaries for Popular Jobs

A quick search on the most sought after job portals and networking sites will help you understand popular jobs in the digital space. Here’s a list of popular jobs and the average salaries in different countries. 

It is important to note that job titles for which salaries are not mentioned do not mean that there are no jobs of such nature in those countries. It simply means that there isn’t enough talent that has met the demand. 

Talent Gap in the Online Marketing Space

SmartInsights infographic on Digital Marketing Careers will help you understand the finer details of what it takes to build a career in the online marketing space. Let me sum it up for you in two sentences:-

There is a huge demand for professionals in the online marketing space. 

There is a huge talent gap in the online marketing space. 

As a case in point, this particular report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs 7% growth in employment by 2024. Most of the jobs are in the marketing sector. While this is an encouraging statistic, it is sad to note that recruiters struggle to fill open positions. One of the common complaints from recruiters is that a candidate seldom has the needed level of expertise. 

The level of expertise expected in online marketing is not unidimensional. Professionals aiming for careers in online marketing need to have a broad spectrum of skills pertaining to the digital space. Here’s a graph from 2015 that is relevant even today. 

Source:indeed.com

Most of the job titles from this graph are still relevant and in demand. A generic search on Indeed and LinkedIn will confirm this list. A careful scrutiny of these job descriptions will help you understand that skills expected are many. At the same time, a professional quoting such skills sets needs to have expertise in one area. A combination that is not easy to find. This status quo is mainly because such education hasn’t been factored in the typical system that creates marketing managers. 

One of the main reasons for this big gap in demand versus supply is lack of education regarding online marketing. 

Online Marketing Courses

Online marketing is not a totally alien concept. The basics of marketing apply to the world of online marketing too. The difference is the way marketing channels are used to reach out to the end customer. So, even though the inherent skill needed is the same, the outlook towards applying the skills is different. This is the very reason why taking up a certified online marketing course is important. It helps in bridging the gap in your understanding of online marketing. 

Online marketing course is relevant for everyone. It is important for a fresh student stepping into the world of the corporate. It is equally important for the head honchos of existing organizations. It cannot be ignored by freelancers aiming to build a market for their skills. It should not be ignored by entrepreneurs or small scale businesses. Irrespective of who you are or what you do, an online marketing course will help you with your purpose. 

How Does an Online Marketing Certification Help?

A certification in an online marketing course from a reputed institution will give your career a jumpstart. It will help establish your credentials as a certified online marketer. This is just an initial advantage. There are more than one ways an online marketing certification will help. Let’s look at a few benefits:-

• A certification program generally means rigour beyond regular work. Taking up a certification in online marketing will add to your rigour for sure but also mark you as a person who is serious and dedicated towards a career goal.

• A certification in online marketing improves your value tremendously to your present or future employers.

• Online marketing courses are conducted with experienced professionals from the industry. Learning from the best in the industry will help you get a hands on feel about real issues that are pertinent.

• An online marketing course will help you build a platform for your own venture. 

• An online marketing course will keep your knowledge relevant and current. The future belongs to everything online. Without this knowledge, chances are you will be outdated.

• An online marketing course will help you understand various online marketing strategies and tools. You can use this knowledge to even decide where to deep dive to reach expert level.

Online Marketing Strategies

Online marketing strategies are many. Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Videos and Blog as a marketing tool are some of them. Each of these strategies has a set of benefits. Each of the strategy has worked to get results for many individuals and institutions too. However, knowing when to apply which strategy is important. 

An online marketing course will help you understand implications of these strategies. You can experiment with these strategies in a simulated environment. Better still, you can use one or more of these strategies in real projects or business situations. One of the best advantages of online marketing is it helps you understand the impact of your action immediately. Advanced analytics help in getting to know the result of your strategy. There are ways to test out the strategy pre and post launch in clear numbers. Strategies that are driven by data have proved successful many a times. Online marketing strategies are no exception to this rule. 

A well designed online marketing course curriculum will help you get a full grasp of various strategies and tools. 

Online Marketing Tools

Each trade has its tools; likewise, even online marketing. There is a plethora of paid and free tools available. There are licensed tools. There are simple tools and complicated ones too. There are a few affordable tools and super expensive tools. There are tools that give in depth insights and there are tools that give brief snapshots. It can get quite confusing choosing the right tool at times. 

A well-defined online marketing strategy is a good guiding point in the choice of tools. A well-structured online marketing course will help you get a basic understanding of various tools that are out there. This can be a good beginning point in your quest for the right kind of tools for your trade. 

Online Marketing Courses – Need of the Hour

Online marketing courses are really turning out to be the need of the hour. They help you in quickly getting aligned to the dynamic changes in the market. There are few important reasons why an online marketing course is far better than a contact program. 

Technology is fast changing. Academic programs generally cannot pace up to the changes in technology. This is mainly due to the fact that any academic program is based on an approval system. Sometimes these approvals take longer than the change in technology. By the time an academic program is up and ready, the technology no longer may exist in the same form. An online course can be a viable solution to keep you updated in such a situation. 

Marketing is a demanding and a dynamic world. A quick look into the various formats of marketing channels and marketing mixes of the past will help you understand this. With the inclusion of technology in marketing, the life of any campaign is shorter. The recall value is even shorter. 

Online marketing courses are the only solution to handle the changes that technology has brought into marketing. It is no longer an exaggeration to say that no online marketing means no marketing. Translated it also means, no online marketing course means no marketing job! Or no piece of the pie!

My dear job seeker, with a course on online marketing, you will stop searching for a job. More importantly, jobs (organizations) will find you. I am sure you will love to be chased around!