The pace at which the marketing discipline evolves each year is challenging for both individual marketing experts and companies as systems, which are permanently competing for global consumers. With the development of the Internet as the main channel and best opportunity for the implementation of the optimal “one-to-one” marketing model, Internet marketing as a new area of marketing theory and practice has emerged and is constantly improving.
On the other side, the power and attractiveness of online surroundings have also transformed the way consumers behave, creating new patterns and lifestyles that have to be taken into account when creating appropriate Internet marketing strategies, far different from the traditional ones.
Following improvements in mobile and tablet technology, together with social media, marketing has set itself in a new, complex, and challenging market environment. The Internet has become the primary business playground and the most popular communication channel, creating new rules and new roles on both supply and demand side, and Internet marketing and e-commerce have emerged as major preoccupations and business skills in all industrial branches. Marketing has become a completely new discipline today compared with the one that was known a decade ago, making traditional marketing methods less effective and expensive.
The most common comparison is made between Digital and Internet marketing. These two terms are similar but not synonyms. Even though Digital marketing is also known as Internet marketing, online marketing, web marketing, or data-driven marketing [4], it is the umbrella term for a group of marketing processes that exploit all available digital channels and Internet technologies intending to promote branded products and services. Its development is a direct result of the increased electronic data, digital media usage, and its impact in the business sphere globally. So, its development has primarily followed Internet improvements, which is the reason why it has so many manifestations.
WHY DIGITAL MARKETING:
If a business is thriving, it’s growing. Its revenue is increasing by leaps and bounds. Company employees are happy, and the owner is excited. It feels good to be in charge of a growing business. The role of digital marketing is essential for business growth in today’s day and age. Are you taking advantage of the Internet and advertising your business through online strategies. The world of digital marketing might seem confusing, so let us break it down for you. According to HubSpot, digital marketing refers to any marketing effort that involves the Internet or an electronic device. If marketing exists online, it’s classified as digital marketing.
Digital Marketing has been rising in popularity over the last several years. And there’s a simple reason why: the world is online. Technology Review gives us the stats–in 2000, the average American spent about 9.4 hours online. Today, most people spend 24 hours a week on the Internet, most of the time using their smartphones. Internet usage is growing, and as a business owner, you’ve got to take advantage of this. Know where the role of digital marketing stands in your business — or you’ll be left behind. If you have a small business or a start-up, you probably don’t have much money, time, or manpower to invest in traditional marketing techniques. But that’s okay! You don’t need a fancy building with hundreds of people on staff. You just need a simple but solid digital marketing strategy.
1 Offline Marketing
Offline marketing is the process to create brand awareness and reach till target customer satisfy their needs and wants. In many occurrences, individuals adopt a marketing mix strategy for their business promotion.
The entire plan behind the offline promotion is to obtain leads when there is no website for your business. There are many forms of offline marketing strategies such as through print media as well as non-print media. Offline marketing media includes Television, Radio, Brochure, Flyers, Banners, Newspapers, Pamphlets, Posters.
Offline marketing tools offer various benefits, Of course, the first benefit is that with offline marketing, a business doesn’t have to be dependent on an internet connection. If a web server goes down and a website is no longer accessible, that’s valuable custom and discoverability potentially lost. A smaller business may take a while to get back online during which vital customer attention may have been spent elsewhere.
With offline media there are no such worries, it exists in the real world and cannot be taken off the grid. Another benefit may be somewhat less tangible but no less important and that’s that digital marketing is seen by many customers and clients to be throw away. People are so used to seeing advertisements, pop-ups, and marketing emails that they don’t even notice them anymore.
2 Online Marketing:
Online marketing is the process to catch the attention of potential customers for business through a particular banner, articles, video, images, flash animation, etc. Marketing activities or information are planned as an elegant tempt to the visitors in which particular website of business wants to attract.
This information is particularly placed on the main page or front page of a website to reach key audiences. It has many ways to be done possible to get traffic for business through online marketing principles.
Online Marketing is the practice of leveraging web-based channels to spread a message about a company’s brand, products, or services to its potential customers. The purpose of online marketing is to get people to visit your website and then convert those visitors into paying customers.
That’s what online marketing is all about. It has the same set of objectives like Establish and build brand recognition, Determine Pricing and make offers, Run advertising campaigns, promotions, discounts, and specials, etc. Online marketing media includes Website/Blog, Social Media Marketing, Email Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Content Marketing, Video Blogging, Online Classifieds.
7 of the Hottest Digital Marketing Jobs
1. Content Managers & Strategists
Content management is a central role for any agency or digital marketing team as it touches on almost all levels of marketing – and it encompasses much more than just writing and social media activity.
Content managers need to understand not only how to create SEO-friendly content from the ground up, but how to organize, store, and manage it as well. They need to understand how it feeds into different subsets of the marketing plan. They also need to have a grasp on how to develop and share the huge variety of content that is out there.
Content managers may be in charge of social media strategy, managing a team of writers, developing editorial calendars, creating engaging videos, reporting and strategizing using analytics, and a whole range of related activities. They need to be able to coordinate teams and work with a diverse range of clients.
To this end, they not only need to be great writers, but they also need to be able to create stellar content that works across multiple channels. They also need to be good at relationship building, creative, organized, and self-motivated.
Click here to view digital marketing jobs in Nigeria
2. Virtual Reality Developers and Editors
This is quite a high-tech job but it’s so new and interesting and there’s plenty of room for those who are in the realm of creative – tech. If you are someone with a background that combines technology and creativity, if you are into graphics or even special effects, virtual reality might be a great field for you.
People come into virtual reality from the video arts or if they are well versed in various creative software suites. You may end up with a director-type role or start as an assistant, tester, or editor.
As a product, VR is still quite expensive to purchase and is a highly specialized field. It is being used more and more in digital marketing campaigns and to this end, those that have a strong foundation in technical arts and digital marketing manager will be highly valued.
Click here to view digital marketing jobs in Nigeria
3. SEO/SEM Specialists
SEO and SEM are crucial for a solid digital marketing campaign and to this end, anyone who can demonstrate a piece of solid technical knowledge and combine it with digital marketing expertise, especially in the managerial end of the spectrum, will be the highest earners in this field.
SEO and SEM are difficult to specialize in, in part because search engine algorithms are always fluctuating. Businesses must stay up-to-date to have a consistently high ROI and the bigger the business is, the more complex this can be. In addition, e-commerce sites and those that depend highly on internet traffic for profits will be particularly dependent on a strong SEO / SEM strategy.
Most businesses will want to rank high, so they will need people with deep expertise in these areas and this trend is not likely to slow down, especially as digital technology continues to permeate more and more aspects of our lives.
Click here to view digital marketing jobs in Nigeria
4. UX Designer
User Experience (UX) designers are responsible for the end-to-end development of websites and digital marketing applications. They may or may have a deep technical background or they may be better versed on the design end of the spectrum.
UX designers are focused on understanding the website from a whole marketing experience, and to that end, they need to understand audiences as well as have an in-depth knowledge of the product or service a given client offers.
They will typically take the lead role in project management for visual design and testing, with a specific eye on the usability of a website or application from start to finish.
Click here to view UX jobs in Nigeria
5. Email Marketing Specialist
Email marketing is an example of a specialized area of content development and marketing. People in charge of email marketing are typically extremely well versed in marketing as well as copywriting and editing.
Email continues to be one of the strongest modes of content out there. To do this well you need to be able to write persuasively. You’ll also be in charge of campaigns, launches, and PR activities based on extensive databases of customer data and various lists.
Email marketing is primarily a lead-generating activity and thus specialists would likely be working in tangent with digital marketing and/or content managers on targeted campaigns.
Click here to view digital marketing jobs in Nigeria
6. Digital Marketing Managers & Directors
CMOS and VPS can expect to make well over 100 K per year, as can creative directors. This takes years of experience in the field but this may not take too long if you have plenty of managerial experience under your belt.
An effective digital marketing manager or creative director needs to have a solid grasp of everything to do with marketing and business. They must be extremely well versed in strategic planning and execution, as well as financial forecasting. And they must be able to delegate while taking risks and holding firm on decisions.
7. Analysts & AI Specialists
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware that AI (Artificial Intelligence) is one of the hottest up-and-coming technologies and it’s not about to go away soon. And with the rise of big data, anyone who can create systems to analyze this information in such a way that it can be applied to strategic marketing will be highly in demand.
Most people who specialize in these areas will have technical degrees and a computing science background. If this is something you’re interested in, you’ll want to get a solid understanding of data optimization and machine learning, as well as have an in-depth knowledge of programming.
Data analysts will always be in demand as the world becomes more and more data-dependent because of, for instance, the Internet of Things.
Click here to view data analyst jobs in Nigeria
Tips for Improving and Transform your Digital Marketing Skills
Anyone involved in business marketing or leadership should consider their current and potential level of digital marketing skills as highly valuable – because indeed they are. Even if they’re not super high-tech.
But if you don’t feel that you’re that technologically aware or advanced, don’t worry! There are plenty of ways to acquire digital marketing training to learn and grow your skills, even if you don’t feel you have the time or resources to go back to school full time. Online learning and e-learning are keys to success for many, especially those who want to pivot existing skills mid-career.
Here are a few ideas:
· Take an online digital marketing course
· Build your website
· Network like crazy in the field of specialization that you are interested in
· Conduct informational interviews
· Subscribe to blogs that offer free learning resources regularly
· Engage in Facebook groups in your area of interest
There are a few specific subsets of skills that you can work to improve on from the comfort of your own home. For instance, content development and marketing, WordPress, SEO, and marketing automation are all areas that will continue to be in demand.
No matter what you choose to specialize in, everyone will need people with digital marketing experience, and even if you’re not technically minded, there are still plenty of opportunities to develop the career of your dreams in digital marketing and earn a comfortable income.
