What is Digital Marketing & How to Become a Digital Marketer

Digital technology has been on the rise for the past few decades. Since the launch of the World Wide Web in 1991, we have seen a massive growth of the internet and other digital devices. How did this impact businesses? It gave them another whole new medium to advertise. Digital marketing has hence opened up a whole new avenue as a marketplace.

What is Digital Marketing?

The process of getting customers via online and digital mediums by advertising on them is called digital marketing. It is not restricted to just the internet or email but is also harnessed by digital devices like smartphones, smart PCs, tablets, TVs etc; digital platforms like social media networks (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn etc), different digital platforms like emails, search engines and social media and the upcoming digital technology like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. The business chooses to be present in one or more of these platforms to achieve its business objectives by utilizing these platforms to garner customers and to service existing customers.

Decades ago, people consumed content via traditional modes i.e. TV, radio, magazines and newspapers. Now they’re replaced with YouTube, Facebook, Blogs etc. This massive shift in content consumption and consumer behaviour has encouraged the growth of digital technologies even more. In a fast-changing, increasingly digital and social marketplace, it’s more vital than ever for marketers to develop meaningful connections with their customers, says the global edition of Principles of Marketing textbook. The latest research also says the US’ internet advertising market will continue to experience growth over the forecast period, expanding at a 7.7% CAGR between 2017 and 2022 to reach a value of US$127.4bn. Hence companies need digital marketing, even more, to catch the attention of consumers where they’re mostly found—online.

How to Become a Digital Marketer?

It’s not very tough to become a digital marketer. How can you become a successful
digital marketer? You need to start from scratch. You can start off by reading some books on digital marketing, which are informative and will teach you the basics perfectly. Such books are easily available online on various e-commerce portals.

You can alternatively opt for formal training in digital marketing (classroom or online) and get certified for it. This will open up job opportunities for you as well. The best method to learn and not forget the newly acquired knowledge is to practice the concepts.

This holds true, especially in digital marketing. If you create your own website and start practicing blogging, website management and advertising online, you've won half the battle already. The investment is hardly anything—internet and a good functioning laptop and of course your time. You’ll get most of the topics online and you can learn yourself from different sources.