In the 2014 version of renowned movie Did You Know? – about the relentless development of technology – one of the staggering facts is that jobs in technology change so rapidly that most of them only came into existence recently:
One such area is digital marketing! This article explores briefly what digital marketing is and what a digital marketer actually does.
WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING?
Fundamentally, digital marketing is the marketing of products or brands via digital media. Digital media can include any or all of:
- Social Media
- Emails
- Websites
- Text messages
- Instant messaging
- Mobile apps
- Podcasts
- Electronic billboards
- Digital television
- Radio channels
The main difference between digital marketing and more traditional marketing is that it is interactive rather than static. This has two significant implications:
- It means that instead of simply presenting information, there are opportunities for customers to interact with the marketing campaign and therefore the brand. Customers are able to access information any time and any place, and marketing can be tailored towards specific customers.
- There are a whole host of analytical tools available to evaluate the effectiveness of the digital marketing campaign whilst it is running, enabling the marketer to see and understand what is and isn’t working. Analytics can monitor what is being viewed, the effectiveness of content and the proportion of sales conversions.
WHAT DOES A DIGITAL MARKETER DO?
Just as this is a relatively new field, the content of a digital marketer’s job will vary enormously and will also evolve along with changing technology. However, some of the following are likely to be included in the job description of a digital marketer:
- Develop digital marketing strategies for clients
- Manage digital marketing campaigns and social media marketing,
- Use analytical tools to assess the success of a digital marketing strategy in real time and afterwards
- SEO (search engine optimization) for digital marketing content
To be an effective digital marketer, it is vital to understand the range of digital channels and devices that are used by consumers and the different protocols, specifications and interfaces that these employ. Over and above this, there needs to be an astute awareness of the ways that consumers interact with these devices in order to be able to capture their attention amidst all the other digital content and channels.
A typical day in the life of a digital marketer is never-ending in that the digital world operates 24-7. Even when not at work, digital trends are still happening and the face of the digital world can sometimes literally change overnight. In digital marketing, to stay still is to fall behind!
To put all of this into perspective, you can take a look at the infographic below.
Welcome to the world of digital marketing! In the time it has taken you to read this article there will have been some new technological development somewhere. We encourage you to watch the Did You Know video and see just what has changed over the past few years. Where is it all leading? In digital marketing you can be part of the technological revolution rather than just watching from the sidelines!
*Infographic courtesy of David Liyonala, BestMarketingDegrees.org
