Once upon a time, advertising was not everywhere. Sure, it was in a lot of places – commercial breaks on TV and radio, pages of your newspaper and magazines, maybe a billboard or two when you were driving. But they had a place. And they weren’t smart – they didn’t know what you were interested in buying.
Wow, wasn’t that a boring world?
Thanks to digital marketing, advertising is everywhere. It even knows what you want before you do. Obviously this is a relatively new field. It overlaps in both Business and Information Technology (IT) worlds, and it just so happens to rank in Degree Query’s Top 20 In-Demand IT careers list. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve noticed products or services are marketed online and through digital means more and more, versus using other mediums such as print, television or radio. Every present and future company will be in need of Digital Marketing Managers, so it’s a great field to jump into. You need to secure an education, possibly an internship and most importantly, networks. We’re not talking about wires and cables here, I mean people connections. This is a career that relies heavily on social networking.
Education
A Digital Marketing Manager might start out with a bachelor’s degree in computer science or information technology. A master’s degree in business administration (MBA) might be the difference in higher pay and better employability though, so keep that in mind as you pursue your education.
RELATED: The 20 Best Online Marketing Degrees (Bachelor’s)
Digital Marketers should have a background or coursework in the following:
- Programming (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO/SEM)
- E-Commerce
- Marketing
- Business
- Ad Serving tools (DART, Atlas)
- Web Analytics tools ( Google Analytics, NetInsight, Omniture, WebTrends)
Job Expectations
Of course, a Digital Marketing Manager will need to integrate with those more traditional methods still being implemented, They are often seen as similar to a Social Media Director (also on our IT list), but differing in that they also work more directly with other Marketing team members (Sales, Customer Services, HR). The roles of a Digital Marketing Manager are in managing Content, Community, Social Media and Usability.
Marketing is always evolving and it’s the job of a Digital marketing Manager to be in the know and forecast, and then develop, digital marketing methods such as advertising campaigns to ultimately generate more leads or revenue from the web.
Digital Marketing Managers must fully grasp effective advertising strategies and apply them to digital spaces. The focus will be on brand awareness and customer satisfaction.
Outlook
Digital Marketing being a new field, we don’t have a lot to look back on as far as statistics go. However, future predictions look very hopeful. Digital marketing budgets are expected to increase during the next few years. According to the annual Gartner Digital Marketing Survey, conducted by a leading advertising and media corporation Gartner Inc., ”Marketing leaders are securing bigger budgets to define markets, develop offerings, and attract, acquire and retain customers,” said Yvonne Genovese, managing vice president at Gartner.
Salaries look promising, too. Payscale.com is reporting September, 2014 median incomes of over $66k a year from national salary data. The top 10% reports over $90k for this position.
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