The Day-to-Day as a Digital Marketer
Digital marketing refers to any strategy used online to market products and services. Digital Marketers create targeted ads seen on a newsfeed, before Youtube videos, or on Google results pages. They also work with influencers on social media, social media posts, and email marketing campaigns.
Skilled Digital Marketers will implement a data-driven and structured marketing strategy for their employer. This may be a B2B or B2C software company, an app startup, a retail store, a service-based company, or a nonprofit. They usually work on a team with specialized Digital Marketers such as Content Marketers, Brand Marketers, and Social Media Managers. Their team might also include a Digital Designer, Data Analyst, or Videographer if thy’re at a larger company. Smaller companies usually only have one or two marketing roles and the Digital Marketer often juggles many responsibilities within a smaller ecosystem.
Digital Marketers can find full-time, part-time, and freelance work either onsite or remotely. A Digital Marketer’s daily tasks might include compiling spreadsheets of data for your campaign, executing keyword research, meeting with your team, creating content, planning a campaign, measuring outcomes, writing content or copy, creating Google or Facebook ads, compiling reports, monitoring current campaigns, track key performance indicators (KPIs).
What Skills Should Digital Marketers Have?
A good Digital Marketer will need to know the major marketing skills like search engine optimization (SEO), keyword research, ranking strategy, Google Analytics, copywriting, and link building. They should also be prepared to create content marketing materials including blog posts, youtube videos, guides, ebooks, emails, social media posts, and podcasts.
A Digital Marketer might choose to focus on social media marketing, paid advertisements, or eCommerce. Or they might decide that analytics, branding, or affiliate partnerships are more their speed. Whichever specialization they choose, focusing on only one or two areas of the digital marketing world will provide a more successful career. This is because they’ll be able to become an expert in a few areas instead of a generalist in many areas. An expert is far more valuable to employers because they feel they can trust your skills and they’re probably looking for something specific when they’re hiring a digital marketing specialist.
While technical skills are not necessarily required, some digital marketing positions might prefer you to have some familiarity or expertise in basic coding languages such as HTML and CSS, basic UX and UI design principles or design thinking and planning, photo editing, basic data analytics, WordPress or another content management system, spreadsheets and slide deck creation, video creation and editing, current relevant social media platforms, or email marketing tools like Mailchimp. These tools and skills can certainly be learned on the job, but it doesn’t hurt to familiarize yourself with them beforehand either.
Learn the Skills You Need to Become a Digital Marketer
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Digital Marketing
Digital marketing utilizes the internet and web based digital platforms to promote products or services. This includes the use of digital advertisements, social media, brand identities, and more.
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SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic using tactics like keywords and backlinks to create organic, high-ranking search engine results.
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Google Analytics
Google Analytics measures your advertising return on investment while tracking your video, Flash, social networking, and applications. Google Analytics works by tracking website activity through a block of JavaScript code that the web developer, designer, or website owner, embeds within pages on a website.
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Google Ads
Google Ads is the new name for Google AdWords. It is an online advertising service that allows advertisers to pay for the display of brief advertisements, video content, listings, and calls to action within the Google Display Network (GDN) to web users. You'll see Google ads on the GDN which includes Google Search, YouTube, and over 2 million other sites.
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Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is the practice of using social media platforms to connect with your target audience or end-user. Social media marketing aims to build brand awareness and loyalty, increase sales, convert leads, and drive website traffic. Social media management can be done through content creation, keyword and target audience research, and the use of social media management platforms like Buffer and Hootsuite.
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Email Marketing
Email marketing is the practice of sending a commercial message to a group of a target audience using email. These emails might be advertisements, business requests, offers, services, sales solicitations, newsletters, donation requests, petition signature requests, and other calls to action.
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Ecommerce
Ecommerce is simply buying or selling products through online services or over the internet. Ecommerce utilizes tech like secure online payments, online shops, online marketplaces, and more to provide users with a convenient online shopping experience.
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WordPress
Wordpress is a content management system written in PHP that is usually paired with a MySQL database. It is free and open-source technology. Wordpress is used to build websites and offers a template system, plug in architecture, and content management.
Digital Marketer Salaries
A Digital Marketer in the United States makes, on average, $61,127 annually, according to Indeed.com.
Salaries for Digital Marketers vary by region within the the United States. Listed below are some Digital Marketer salaries for specific areas with the United States compared with the average national salary:
- U.S. Average $61K source n/a
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San Jose, CA
$94K
source
+54.59%
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San Francisco, CA
$91K
source
+49%
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Boston, MA
$90K
source
+47.74%
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Salt Lake City, UT
$87K
source
+43.69%
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New Jersey
$87K
source
+42.9%
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New Haven, CT
$79K
source
+30.76%
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Connecticut
$75K
source
+23.89%
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Stamford, CT
$75K
source
+23.89%
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Seattle, WA
$75K
source
+23.76%
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Detroit, MI
$74K
source
+22.35%
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Columbia, SC
$72K
source
+18.56%
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Orange County, CA
$71K
source
+17.21%
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Memphis, TN
$71K
source
+16.17%
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New York City
$70K
source
+15.62%
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Dayton, OH
$70K
source
+15.39%
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Washington, D.C.
$69K
source
+14.35%
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Baltimore, MD
$69K
source
+14.31%
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Oakland, CA
$68K
source
+12.38%
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Charlotte, NC
$67K
source
+11%
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Milwaukee, WI
$66K
source
+9.12%
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San Diego, CA
$66K
source
+8.9%
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Portland, OR
$65K
source
+7.93%
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Atlanta, GA
$64K
source
+6.1%
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Chicago, IL
$64K
source
+6.09%
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Philadelphia, PA
$64K
source
+5.89%
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Pittsburgh, PA
$64K
source
+5.85%
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Worcester, MA
$64K
source
+5.76%
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Los Angeles, CA
$64K
source
+5.71%
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Columbus, OH
$63K
source
+4.31%
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St. Louis, MO
$63K
source
+3.71%
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Minneapolis, MN
$63K
source
+3.52%
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Albany, NY
$62K
source
+2.59%
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Omaha, NE
$62K
source
+1.44%
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Richmond, VA
$61K
source
+0.82%
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Austin, TX
$61K
source
+0.27%
- U.S. Average $61K source n/a
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Bakersfield, CA
$60K
source
-1.02%
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Riverside, CA
$60K
source
-1.03%
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Honolulu, HI
$60K
source
-1.4%
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Virginia, VA
$60K
source
-1.48%
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Dallas, TX
$60K
source
-1.61%
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Indianapolis, IN
$60K
source
-1.7%
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Alexandria, VA
$59K
source
-3.45%
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Greenville, SC
$58K
source
-4.27%
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Buffalo, NY
$58K
source
-4.96%
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Denver, CO
$57K
source
-5.36%
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Houston, TX
$57K
source
-5.5%
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Sacramento, CA
$57K
source
-5.9%
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Grand Rapids, MI
$57K
source
-6.47%
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Nashville, TN
$55K
source
-8.4%
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Jacksonville, FL
$55K
source
-8.42%
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Cleveland, OH
$55K
source
-8.67%
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Raleigh, NC
$55K
source
-8.96%
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Inland Empire, CA
$55K
source
-9.31%
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New Orleans, LA
$54K
source
-10.18%
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Tampa, FL
$54K
source
-10.65%
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Miami, FL
$53K
source
-11.71%
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Oklahoma City, OK
$53K
source
-12.27%
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San Antonio, TX
$53K
source
-12.65%
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Albuquerque, NM
$53K
source
-12.99%
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Phoenix, AZ
$52K
source
-13.73%
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Fresno, CA
$52K
source
-14.03%
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Las Vegas, NV
$52K
source
-14.38%
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Kansas City, MO
$50K
source
-16.98%
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Long Island, NY
$50K
source
-17.34%
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Rochester, NY
$49K
source
-19.18%
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Louisville, KY
$46K
source
-23.34%
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Fairfax, VA
$46K
source
-23.82%
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Hartford, CT
$46K
source
-24.18%
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Birmingham, AL
$46K
source
-24.73%
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Orlando, FL
$44K
source
-26.67%
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Knoxville, TN
$44K
source
-27.13%
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El Paso, TX
$42K
source
-30.91%
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Virginia Beach, VA
$38K
source
-36.31%
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Baton Rouge, LA
$37K
source
-37.89%
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San Juan
$37K
source
-39.14%
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Tulsa, OK
$37K
source
-39.35%
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Cincinnati, OH
$34K
source
-43.23%
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Tucson, AZ
$29K
source
-51.33%
Typical Qualifications to Become a Digital Marketer
Many Digital Marketers have a degree in marketing, communication, psychology, or business. While a degree is sometimes preferred, it is not required to land a digital marketing position. Certifications like Google Analytics IQ, Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification, Google Ads, HubSpot Content Marketing, Youtube Certification, HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification, the Facebook Blueprint, and other technical training is always beneficial to a digital marketing career.
Searching for Digital Marketer Jobs
Nowadays, digital marketing is used by almost everyone in business. A Digital Marketer might find a job at a startup, small business, a B2C or B2B business, or a nonprofit. You might work as a Freelance Digital Marketer for coaches and other service based entrepreneurs. You can find work in almost any industry from software and application to retail and services.
You can find Digital Marketer jobs on these sites:
You can find freelance and remote Digital Marketing jobs on these sites:
Tips for Digital Marketers
If you have no experience in Digital Marketing, it might be difficult to land your first gig. To get some experience under your belt and build your portfolio, try making some mock projects for your portfolio site, building your own personal brand, helping friends out with a campaign, or volunteering on a nonprofit campaign. Ask anyone you work with, especially if you worked for free, for testimonials! This will boost your credibility. Focus on the results when sharing projects, especially in your portfolio. Data-driven conversion is what digital marketing is all about.
When you get to market yourself or your freelance services, have an elevator pitch ready. Write custom cover letters for every position you apply to and connect with someone from that company on LinkedIn if you can. Practice interview questions and follow-ups. Skillcrush has some good examples. Before you first interview, master industry jargon like KPIs, ROI, CPA, CPI, and lead marketing. Know what marketing metrics are, what they mean, and how to use them too.
To help you land a job even more quickly and become an expert, choose a specialization. Narrowing your focus to only the data, content creation, SEO, social media, paid ads, audience and community building, or brand development will dramatically increase your chances of landing a gig and becoming an expert faster. If you’re not sure where to focus, try getting a more generalist position first like Digital Marketing Strategist, working for a small company with a combined role, or working freelance. You might also try getting a few certifications under your belt to test your interests.
What Job Titles Would a Digital Marketer Hold?
Digital marketing is used by almost everyone in business. That means that Digital Marketers can find a variety of industries to work in, sizes of business to work with, and even more specializations than ever before. They can also try your hand at freelance digital marketing. Specializing in a specific role, like the ones listed below, often increases job prospects and helps build confidence as an expert – especially if they choose to take the freelance route.
Digital Marketing roles are usually titled:
- Content Strategist
- Content Marketing Manager
- SEO Specialist
- Digital Marketing Strategist
- Social Media Manager
- Paid Ads Manager
- Digital Marketing Manager
- Partnership Marketer
- Branded Content Manager
- Audience Development Manager
- Digital Marketing Manager
Related Careers
You might find that you want to upskill from digital marketing into a more technical role or pivot into a role that interfaces with people more. Technical roles that Digital Marketers could upskill to include design positions like Digital Designer or Web Designer by learning Adobe design software and basic coding languages. If you’d rather focus on data and SEO you should consider Data Scientist, Data Analyst, or Machine Learning Specialist by learning Python or R and data visualization. Even roles like Project Manager might eventually be a good fit for a Digital Marketer if they enjoy roles that involve wearing multiple hats.
Salary Comparison to Digital Marketer
-
Search Manager
$82K
+35.74%
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Digital Analyst
$78K
+28.57%
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Marketing Manager
$71K
+16.97%
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Paid Search Manager
$66K
+9.08%
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Digital Strategist
$65K
+6.53%
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Web Optimization Specialist
$62K
+2.57%
- Digital Marketer $61K n/a
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Social Media Strategist
$57K
-6.5%
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Digital Strategist
Learn about becoming a Digital StrategistDigital Strategy is the work behind digitally rich projects like websites, social media, SEO content, digital marketing, and more. Digital Strategists identify opportunities for growth and make plans for new website releases, content for their client with a specific end goal in mind, or an advertising campaign.
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Digital Analyst
Learn about becoming a Digital AnalystDigital analysts work with a marketing team to analyze the effectiveness and reach of digital marketing campaigns. They use Google analytics and site tagging tools to harvest user data. This data is analyzed and interpreted to provide insights into how to improve the user experience and the effectiveness of the digital marketing campaign.
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Marketing Manager
Learn about becoming a Marketing ManagerMarketing Managers oversee a team of marketing professionals who find ways to grow the business they're working for, execute those growth ideas through campaigns, and analyze and report on those campaigns.
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Search Manager
Learn about becoming a Search ManagerA search manager brings expertise with search engines and a deep understanding of how they work to drive results. They will generally work across search from organic search (SEO) to paid search. In this type of role, the manager would oversee both organic and paid search operations, including strategy, optimization, and reporting. In organic search, the manager would be in charge of finding the right keywords to target, improving rank for those keywords, and optimizing the site for SEO. Within paid search, the manager would build the strategy, manage the campaigns, and continually test and optimize for the best performance.
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Web Optimization Specialist
Learn about becoming a Web Optimization SpecialistWeb optimization specialists are experts at analyzing web traffic and making targeted recommendations to increase user engagement. Acting as user-surrogates, web optimization specialists analyze data on user behavior and advocate for new features or functionalities to improve the end-user experience. Web optimization specialists often work with web developers and designers to create funnels, web applications, and marketing campaigns. These professionals must have experience with data analysis, user-testing, prototyping and digital marketing development.
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Paid Search Manager
Learn about becoming a Paid Search ManagerA paid search manager is tasked with leading search marketing campaigns, generally on Google and Bing Ads. The manager leads the day-to-day strategy, reporting, analysis, and optimization of paid search campaigns. Day-to-day campaign management includes updating bids, adding/removing keywords, monitoring profitability, and more. Strategy and optimization include designing and adjusting paid search strategy to align with overall business goals, running tests to improve performance, and working with other digital partners to develop omnichannel marketing campaigns.
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Social Media Strategist
Learn about becoming a Social Media StrategistSocial Media Strategists design social media blueprints to achieve a client's or company's marketing targets. They also create content and manage client or company accounts.