The digital marketing market is booming more than ever. Digital skills are in demand. If you are already there, how would you progress your career?
Being in the digital marketing industry provides great opportunities. You can be promoted quickly from the ranks, set up your own business, build your own agency, work as freelance, or begin a blog or video log (Vlog) career.
There are so much potential and opportunities that you are lucky if you belong in this niche. But how are you going to harness the good industry that you have?
Let’s first look at the career paths under digital marketing:
Virtual Reality Developers and Editors
This is an interesting and in-demand job right now that requires creativeness and technology skills. If you have these assets, this field is for you.
People who have knowledge and experience in different creative software and video arts fit in this niche. You can work as an editor, tester, assistant, or or graphic designer.
If you want to pursue this career path, a VR specialist can earn a minimum of $65, 000 to a maximum of $80, 000 to $100, 000 yearly.
Content Managers & Strategists
Content Management is always a part of the digital marketing agency because it covers not just social media and writing activities. Content managers need to have a clear understanding of managing content and SEO. They are in-charge of organizing, storing, and managing content.
Content managers manage the tasks including managing a team of writers, developing editorial calendars, social media strategy, creating engaging videos, reporting, and other associated activities. They ensure that all the concerns of their team and clients are addressed.
They must possess different interpersonal, content, and managing skills in order to manage the content department. Their salary ranges from $80, 000 and up annually.
SEO/SEM Specialists
SEO and SEM are highly in-demand in the digital marketing arena. People who have solid technical knowledge and have a digital marketing expertise are the one who can earn the biggest in this industry.
Due to changes in search engine algorithms, this career is very challenging to specialize in. It can be a big a challenge to master the in’s and out’s of this field.
Webmasters and business owners must stay up-to-date with Google algorithms to get a good return-on-investment. Commercial sites and those that want to boost their traffic must master SEO/ SEM tactic.
With a highly competitive market, businesses must maintain abreast of this area in order to rank their site. The movement in the internet is affected by SEO. An SEO professional can have a salary of $62, 000 but a more experienced SEO/SEM specialists and analysts can earn at least $100, 000 annually.
Digital Marketing Managers & Directors
Digital Marketing Managers and Directors have mastered everything under marketing and business. They are specialists in planning, managing, executing, and financial forecasting.
They are planners and decision makers. These people hold one of the highest positions in a company. They play a huge role in the success of the business.
They can get a salary in the same range as marketing managers, which is over $100, 000 per year. With a longer and deeper managerial experience, people can be promoted to this level quickly.
Email Marketing Specialist
Email marketing is a special segment of content development and marketing. Those who work as an email marketing specialist are also experts in copywriting and editing.
You need to have good writing skills in order to do this job perfectly. From time-to-time, you will juggle between launches, campaigns, and PR activities.
Email marketing is a lead-generation campaign. During campaigns, they will be working in close coordination with the content managers and the digital marketing manager. They have a salary of around $50, 000 per year.
UX Designer
User Experience (UX) designers are in-charge of the end-to-end development of digital marketing applications and sites. They must have technical background or knowledge on the design.
People who work as designers must have a deeper understanding of websites in the marketing perspective. For this reason, they must understand the behavior of the audience and knowledge of the product or service.
They lead the project management for visual design and testing. These people ensure the usability of the application or website. They have a salary of $50, 000 annually but experienced designers can earn more than $150, 000.
Analysts & AI Specialists
Analysts and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Specialists are one of the highly in-demand jobs today due to the rise of new technology. If you will be pursuing this career, you’ll have a promising career in the industry.
People working in this field have computing and technical background. You also need the understanding of data optimization and machine learning. Data analysts can have a salary of at least $100, 000 while AI specialists have as twice as the data analyst’s salary in a year.
Other digital marketing jobs can be worked on at the comfort of your home. Content development and marketing, SEO, WordPress, and marketing are jobs that are highly in-demand.
Other jobs under this niche include audio/ video production, mobile marketing, e-commerce, marketing automation, web development, web design, analytics, and business/ marketing strategy.
Here are tips on how you are going to take your career into the next level:
Define your needs in this career
You need to assess yourself on a regular basis. Answers these questions: What are your needs in this career? Are you motivated or stressed? Are you happy?
You need to evaluate and find out what really matters for you in your career. If you still don’t know the answers to these questions, take a break and reflect on the answers to these questions. When making decisions on your career, it’s the only you who can decide for yourself.
Step 1: Set the priorities in your career.
- Location: Where do you prefer to stay or work? Do you want in the city, in your own area, or stay at home?
- Values: Do you believe in your company’s vision and mission?
- Money: Am I motivated with what I am receiving?
- Culture: Do I enjoy the company of my workmates and immediate superior?
- Progress: Am I in the business where I can grow my career?
- Training and Education: Am I getting continuous training in my career?
Step 2: Evaluate your present career potential.
Now you need to think and assess your present career using similar criteria above. How does your present career fulfill your needs in:
- Location: Do you commute everyday? How far is your home from work?
- Values: Do you believe in the company vision and mission by heart?
- Money: Do you earn enough money? Are you satisfied or not?
- Culture: Do you fit in your company’s culture?
- Progress: Is there a chance for you to grow your career in your company?
- Training and Education: Do you have advancements in your present career?
What is your mission in this career?
How does your ideal career sounds to you? Think before you set your mission in your digital marketing career.
Define your mission by knowing who and what you want to be in your career. List down your inspirations in your career including business owners, influencer, and bloggers.
Do you want to build your own business? Do you want to set up your own blog or vlog?
You have to know what you really want in your career. List the things you need to take to reach you goal.
Find a mentor
Do you have an inspiration in your career? Do you look up to someone like your boss, a former supervisor, or someone you idolize in your industry?
Find a mentor whom you respect and admire. It’s better to choose a mentor who is already in the position that you are aiming for.
Show constant gratitude and connection with your mentor. Let them know how they inspired you.
Be in the company of ambitious people
Being ambitious isn’t bad. In fact, it is infectious. In order to keep your drive, you need to be in the circle of these people.
Ambitious people in their digital marketing career can infect you with their drive to succeed. They can give you tips on how you can reach your goals. They can tell you their secrets on how they reached their success.
Where to find ambitious professionals in your industry?
Twitter: Twitter is one platform where you can track and meet mentors, influencers, investors, and future business partners. Follow these people on Twitter to get updates on their career, and find ways how you can connect with them.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is another platform where you can find them. You can build communities and connection with professionals, experts, and business-minded people in the platform.
Workplace: Are you around with someone who is ambitious like you? Is there someone who is driven to start their own agency or business? Share the excitement with them because it can inspire you to do the same.
Networking Events: You can find professional, ambitious people in the industry through events. Participate and attend industry events. If they are into something, help them in their blog or new business. Helping can provide you with a good return later.
Don’t stop learning
In a progressive industry, you need to equip yourself with the needed skills and intelligence that you need to progress in your career. Aside from content marketing and SEO, you can master other skills that can boost your career.
Set up your own blog where you can share your tips, knowledge, and experience. It can help grow your followers on Twitter and other social media networks. It is also the best way to widen your connection.
To continue honing your skills, read blogs in your niche to stay tuned with the latest and trending topics in digital marketing. Follow influencers and bloggers on Twitter.
You can grow your digital marketing skills through different learning methods like online learning and webinars. You can build your own network under your specialization, engage in social media communities and groups, subscribe to blogs, and conduct informational interviews.
When you are in this field, you become an in-demand professional. One study showed that by 2020, 2 million new digital jobs are created in the United Kingdom. However, there is a lack of digital professionals to fill the jobs.
If you are in digital marketing, there is an influx of jobs for you. You’ll be one of the in-demand professionals which is good for your career and growth.
As already mentioned, this field is always growing. The demand for AI for instance is so strong. There are a lot of job opportunities in many areas.
Another benefit is that you get a higher pay than any other professionals. Since jobs are highly in-demand, companies are willing to pay for experts and professionals to fill the jobs. With the competitive market, companies are willing to pay for the deserving individuals.
If you want to focus on your digital marketing career, you don’t have to wait and finish your training or internship. You can right away start your own business or job as a freelancer in your own home.
To increase the odds of getting picked by potential employers, you can grow your Twitter followers, set up your own blog and site, make your social media profiles to have a strong presence online, and contribute to online conversations. You can also take online tests to boost your CV.
Since digital marketing jobs are needed in any industry, you become a versatile professional. Your knowledge and skills just keep on improving. There are many venues to grow your career.
Another great advantage is you’ll be able to work with different people each day. This niche is so dynamic that you are able to work with different individuals on a regular basis.
If you have a background in copywriting, web development, marketing management, or design, you can start working as a digital marketing professional. It’s important to build your own brand and have a rich portfolio that you’ll need to progress in this filed.