Do you live on the internet? Is social media your ‘thing’? Are you an influencer or a blogger, perhaps? Or maybe an SEO specialist? Are you constantly on the lookout for emerging trends in the world of digitization that will help you upskill? Are you someone who is aiming at bigger goals to build a reliable network?

If you answered yes to all of the above, say hello to the biggest sensation that is relentlessly contributing to revolutionize the online world – Digital Marketing, the secret key to rule virtual transformation!

But wait, what is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing lets you connect with your customer through the medium of the world wide web. In layman’s terms, it’s known as online marketing. It includes several fields such as email marketing, social media marketing, pay-per-click advertising, professional blogging, affiliate marketing, and more. It differs from traditional marketing because instead of making a physical connection, you virtually connect with and influence your customers.

Is Digital Marketing the Next Big Thing?

You may have heard this before and wondered what’s all the hubbub about. That’s because the pandemic turned the marketing world upside down when online marketing replaced traditional for almost all brands. In the post-pandemic world, the buzzword that will unlock the other universe of the internet is Digital Marketing. 

In the last few years, marketing has witnessed a profound change. Today, terms like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Video Marketing are prevalent. Over time, marketing underwent a technological transformation that gave birth to the recent trend of Digital Marketing. It is expected that Digital Marketing as a field will continue to grow exponentially in the post-pandemic era and will become a preferred choice for marketers. 

Digitalization is growing rapidly today, and everyone is looking for a haven in the form of an online presence. Customers are more interested in online shopping post-Covid19 than ever before. Social media marketing and content creation for online media are also witnessing a sudden surge.

The opportunity to offer curated content and products with attractive discount offers online is lucrative for all customers. Researchers anticipate that post the pandemic, Digital Marketing will significantly impact and redefine business goals, leadership strategies, and customer loyalty and retention strategies. As a result, online marketing will allow businesses to expand their markets quickly and get more potential customers. 

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4 Popular Mediums of Digital Marketing

These are the most widely used mediums in digital marketing, and chances are, you’ve come across all of them at least once to date. 

• Email Marketing is sending a message with commercial tonality, generally to a group of people, using email. These messages could be advertisements, business proposals, requests for donations, promotion of products, or ongoing discounts. In a broader sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer is considered a part of email marketing.
• Social Media Marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with your target audience. It’s primarily used to build brand identity, increase sales, and drive more organic traffic to your website. Social Media Marketing involves publishing quality content on your social media profiles, engaging with your followers, analyzing the outcomes of your post and engagement, and running dedicated social media advertisements on popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and more.

Several tools are available that help with social media management to grow your business.

• Pay-per-click advertising is an internet advertising model that serves the purpose of driving more traffic to your website. It is a way of marketing in which the publisher is paid by the advertiser whenever the user clicks on the advertisement online. Pay-per-click is mainly associated with search engines such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
• Affiliate Marketing is the process in which an affiliate earns an amount as a commission for marketing a company’s products to prospective customers. The affiliate searches for the product as per his requirements. He or she then helps promote that product. As a result, he or she earns a part of the profit from every sale. The sales are tracked through affiliate links on the website.

Digital Marketing has some unrivalled benefits

If you still doubt how and if digital marketing works, the following information may change your mind.

• Digital Marketing helps you increase the reach of your business and present it to a global marketplace with an extensive network.
• It also helps you reach more customers for far less money than traditional marketing methods.
• You get to know your audience better and connect with them in a more personal and relatable way. It further helps create your brand identity.
• Digital Marketing provides you with detailed insights into customer behaviour and helps track the response to your marketing efforts.

Best Digital Marketing Courses Online

These Digital Marketing Jobs are all the rage

If you’re interested in pursuing a career in Digital Marketing, you first need to enrol in a certificate program. After the completion of the program, you can get hired for any of the following roles:

• Product Marketing: Product Marketing Specialist or Product Marketing Manager
• Content Marketing: Content Marketing Specialist or Content Marketing Manager or Content Marketing Strategist
• Social Media Marketing: Social Media Coordinator or Social Media Manager or Social Media Influencer
• SEO Marketing: SEO Specialist or SEO Manager or SEO Strategist
• ECommerce: ECommerce Manager or ECommerce Director.
• You can also take on a Digital Marketing Strategist or an Acquisition Marketing Manager, or a Marketing Analyst role.

What does the future of Digital Marketing look like in the Middle East?

According to a recent report, smartphone consumption has seen rapid growth in the last few years in Middle Eastern countries. A significant chunk of the population in these countries is becoming more internet savvy. As an outcome, online advertisements and other types of digital marketing like Social Media, ECommerce, SEO Marketing, etc., are seeing an upward tick in growth in the region. 

In-demand Digital Marketing Skills

Get Certified as a Digital Marketer

upGrad has brought to you a first-of-its-kind Digital Marketing program specially designed for students, specifically for those from the Middle East. We are launching a brand-new program on Digital Marketing named ‘Advanced Certificate in Digital Marketing and Communication from MICA’ in the Middle East. If you’re planning to launch your career in the field of Digital Marketing, this is the perfect program to get ahead of the curve. 

Here are the details of the program

• Program Duration: 6 Months
• Cost of the Program: USD 1999 (inclusive of taxes)
• Block Amount:  USD 200
• Batch Start Date: 28th June 2021
• Batch Completion Date: December 2021
• Eligibility Criteria: Anyone with a Bachelor’s Degree or any Equivalent Degree is eligible to apply for this program.

Digital Marketing Free courses to Learn

In Conclusion

With online and offline worlds enmeshing, it is important for brands to latch on to this opportunity of entering the digital world. Digital Marketing is the door that opens a whole new world of opportunities for you. There’s no better time than now to launch your career in this promising field. Pick the role that suits you best and start your journey towards a bright future. 

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