Barely two decades ago, digital was a buzzword that had professionals across industries excited about its transformative potential. Today, there is no aspect of our lives that isn’t – in one way or another – influenced, impacted, or driven by digital technologies and tools. From everyday tasks such as buying groceries to business processes to how we network and connect with our social peers, all things big and small are being completely redefined in the wake of rapid digital adoption.
The growing digital connectivity is also driving an evolution of the marketing domain. It is also unlocking lucrative opportunities for next-gen professionals. So, if you are looking to make your name (and money) in this high-growth space, here are some career options for you to choose from:
Influencer
Why: If you’ve got a knack for creating engaging user-generated content and like to interact with people over the digital medium, then becoming an influencer might just be your cup of tea. With their personalised and authentic content, influencers hold a lot of sway over their target audiences – which is why brands are always seeking out partnership opportunities with influencers to maximise their brand salience with new-age audiences.
How: Influencers often start small and test the waters by consistently creating content in a particular field (fashion, food, technology, art, humour, politics, etc.) that they share with their social circles. This content can be text-based, pictorial, video, or a combination of all three. Based on the traction, you can create your channel on leading platforms and work towards building your digital presence to earn revenues through ad streaming and brand associations.
For you as a would-be influencer, however, it is important to understand what kind of content gets traction and why. You can sharpen your knowledge of the dos and don’ts of “influencing” with courses on online learning platforms.
Data Professional
Why: Data is the new gold standard for the modern business landscape – and marketing is no exception to this rule. Digital marketing is just as much about crunching massive volumes of data in the back-end as it is about devising and deploying engaging user-facing campaigns based on those marketing insights. This is why data professionals remain in high demand in the digital marketing space.
How: Being a data professional requires both technical knowledge and critical thinking capabilities. You must be able to visualise associations between seemingly disparate datasets to identify hidden value. You must also be capable of building models and algorithms that can help you crunch through the available information by asking the relevant questions. This is something which, traditionally, only IT/CS engineers were equipped to do. But with the rise of online learning resources, it has become easier for even non-quant professionals to acquire quant skills and capabilities to benefit from the lucrative growth opportunities presented by the data science domain.
Digital marketer
Why: Digital marketing is an umbrella term which has multiple domains within its aegis – from influencer marketing and social media marketing to SEO/SEM and affiliate marketing, to name but a few. While each of these domains is an extensive and well-realised field in its own right, brands need someone to oversee their end-to-end marketing strategy by bringing together individual campaigns to ensure the maximum RoI.
This is where a digital marketer with cross-functional domain knowledge steps into the picture.
In-depth insights about digital marketing tools and strategies allow marketers to drive higher RoIs for their brand campaigns. It is especially important for new-age marketing professionals to be aware of the latest trends, developments, and strategies in high-impact segments such as affiliate marketing. Doing so enables digital marketers to leverage these marketing channels to deliver better business outcomes for their brands.
How: Learning how to be an effective digital marketer is, more often than not, a case of learning through trial-and-error. While digital marketing courses can help you sharpen and hone your competencies, there is no teacher like experience. This is why it is advisable to opt for innovative online learning resources, which can connect you to leading domain experts and your peers for unique mentoring and networking opportunities.
Organisations are constantly on the lookout for individuals with relevant competencies in the digital marketing space and are willing to pay big bucks to get the best digital marketing talent on board. LinkedIn highlighted this demand in its recent report about the skills that companies need the most, underscoring digital marketing as one of the most in-demand skills at present.
And why not? There are more than 4 billion internet users in the world at present. Reaching out to this massive, increasingly digital-first audience base requires the technical know-how and skills to lead brand communications in a dynamic and interactive digital space. Upskilling in these areas could just be your ticket a brighter, shinier future in our tech-driven, digitally-enabled world!