Digital marketing is the practice of building up one’s brand image, awareness, and customer base through online tools and channels. With most of us now active and reliant on the internet, failing to have a solid online presence will likely spell lost potential profits for your business. Websites or social media profiles are therefore a now a must for any company – those who fail to have these are bound to fall behind competition.

This field can take on my forms, though the most common types of digital marketing include:

Content marketing: This type of digital marketing focuses on content creation, helping build brand awareness and customer engagement. Such assets could include blog articles, audio-visual content, infographics, and eBooks.

Social media marketing: Those in this field leverage various social media channels to promote their brand or company. They engage and create content for audiences on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – allowing for regular interaction with their customer base.

E-mail marketing: Digital marketers will often use e-mails as a way of promoting new services, products, sales, or welcoming customers to loyalty programs. Those contacted are typically subscribed to an “e-mail list”, ensuring they’re updated on the latest business happenings.

Sponsored content: This type of marketing pays other businesses, entities, or solo influencers to promote one’s brand or services. This is typically done through social media posts, blog articles discussing a new product or service, or ad placements in online audio-visual content (i.e. YouTube videos or podcasts).

Successful digital marketers are often a mix of analytical and creative expertise.

Those in this role will typically rely on qualitative and quantitative research when developing new strategies, requiring skills in data analytics, data visualisation, and brainstorming inventive ways of connecting with online audiences. You’ll spend much of your time tracking, measuring, and analysing the performance of past online marketing campaigns – demanding a keen eye for detail and the ability to extract meaningful insights out of numeric information.

At the same time (though this may depend on your role), creative skills in content creation will do well to bolster your career. Most digital marketers rely on social media platforms and website content to engage with potential customers; assets that require unique, engaging ideas in order to capture fleeting user attention.

Additionally, various technical skills such as SEO, database querying, and basic HTML/CSS are often staples; helping you leverage these digital tools to greater effect.

A wide range of digital marketing courses now exist to equip one with the entry-level skills for junior employment opportunities, such as AIICT’s Growth Marketing Professional course. Our program offers a “boot camp” overview of the profession, giving you a starter feel of the industry through basic technical concepts like SEO, e-mail marketing, and content marketing. Those who complete our training may go on to pursue entry-level roles in the job market, or further tertiary education in the field.

On top of formal education, however, individuals are also encouraged to join professional associations such as the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) or the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA). Through these industry bodies, you’ll get to network with experts, find new job opportunities, and gain access to further professional development resources. Membership can additionally verify your skills for the job market, helping you stand out among potential employers.

AIICT’s Growth Marketing Professional course covers all the technical and practical skills required of a digital “growth” marketing role. These areas include (but are not limited to):

• Data analytics

• Channel acquisition

• Copywriting and content creation

• Marketing automation

• Front-end development

• Social media marketing

• E-mail marketing

• SEO

• Google Analytics and Paid Search

Growth marketing is a subset of digital marketing that focuses on constant strategy testing and experimentation. It accounts for all levels of the “customer funnel” – helping build awareness while also actively improving acquisition, conversion, retention, and referral. Those in this role are highly data-driven, innovative, and constantly find newer, better ways of connecting and interacting with online audiences.