Which Digital Marketing Specialization Should I Choose?

So many students have asked our counselors about this. 

“Which digital marketing specialization should I choose? How do I know if I’ll be growing in this field? What if I want to change my role in the future?” 

You have these questions, and it’s understandable why. Choosing a digital marketing specialization that you’ll spend learning for five months, then in the job for a couple of years feels like a big decision. And maybe it is?

Let’s drill down on this.

What this blog contains 

 

Consider this blog to be a sneak peek into Kraftshala’s two digital marketing specializations: Digital Media Marketing and Content Writing and Social Media Marketing. The blog is created with a core objective:  help you make an informed choice about which digital marketing specialization you should go for. 

What you’ll find in this blog:

1. What We Teach in Each Digital Marketing Specialization: The Differences

2. A Brief Overview of the Digital Media Marketing Specialization

• Which Roles You Get Prepped for
• Why Choose Digital Media Marketing As A Career Option
• Skills That Will Help You Ace the Field

3. A Brief Overview of the Content and Social Media Specialization

• Which Roles You Get Prepped for
• Why Choose Digital Media Marketing As A Career Option
• Skills That Will Help You Ace the Field

Helping You Narrow Down Your Choices

What Does Kraftshala’s Digital Marketing Specialization Teach? 

What’s The Difference Between Digital Media Marketing and Content And Social Media?

Consider this. You have a brand that sells caps. You need to market your brand through different channels. On the macro level, to successfully market and scale your brand, you’ll be required a lot of things. And to start somewhere, each digital marketing specialization teaches you these skills:

 

Digital Marketing Specialization: Digital Media Marketing

 

Digital Media Marketing is a part of the digital marketing industry that runs on numbers. It is driven by Spends, ROI, analysis, CPL, and so much more. In this space, you have to make a lot of decisions that have to be almost always backed by data because this field involves a lot of big budgets and investments.  

Check out more about what you’ll learn here: Digital Marketing Course: Syllabus and Benefits

Say you have a fashion product. 

If you want to make people aware of your product through digital advertising, you’re going to be deciding how much money should you invest in the awareness marketing campaign, who should you target, and how should you target them as you push them down the consumer acquisition funnel. 

Now, among the same group of people you’ve targeted when you were driving awareness for your product through ads, some showed interest but did not purchase the product. So, you’ll be retargeting them to convince them to purchase your product. So, which creative should you use for this marketing campaign? How much money should you allocate for this retargeting marketing campaign? 

Or, which e-commerce platform should you target to showcase your product? Will it be Myntra, Nykaaa, Flipkart, or Amazon? How will you differentiate your product from the rest in the platforms? 

Then comes how you’ll scale up your targeting to reach people organically. Either on Google or on E-commerce platforms.

Kraftshala Prepares You for These Roles in the Digital Media Marketing Industry: 

 

Media Manager: where you deal with paid media strategies for a brand and sometimes with media agencies (online and offline).

Client Servicing: where you communicate with the client on a daily basis to understand business challenges and simplify them to the internal teams and deliver smooth results. 

Media Planner: here, you strategize paid media campaigns basis the brief and budget given.

Platform Expert: where you execute the media plan and bring campaigns to life across various advertising platforms. 

Sales Strategy: where you deal with planning media campaigns for a brand/agency for publisher platforms like Hotstar for instance.

Performance Marketing: an all-rounder paid digital media marketing role where you’re responsible for creating and executing media campaigns, and managing accounts of different platforms.

SEO Analyst/Executive: a basic starting-level job where you identify and execute a lot of SEO duties involving keyword research, getting backlinks, etc. 

Digital Marketing Analyst/Executive: a more diverse role where you get to work on both paid digital advertising and SEO. You’ll still work on the execution of tasks related to these two fields, but one of the pros of this role is that you get a diverse range of experience.

Associate Project Manager (SEO): if you’re way more proficient in SEO than a fresher. In this role, your day-to-day responsibilities will include executing SEO duties but also strategizing plans for the SEO of the company you’ll work for. 

SEO Outreach Specialist: where you’ll build relationships with other websites and online influencers to obtain high-quality backlinks in order to improve a website’s ranking in search engine results.

Now, Why Choose Digital Media Marketing As A Career Option?

Well, for starters, there’s a global requirement for digital marketing professionals. 

As of 2022, there are about 1,139,467,659 websites in the world. The number is so huge you’d rather skip reading it. And the number is only preparing to grow over the years. This is just one part of the equation.

The paid digital media advertising industry has seen a common trend. According to Statista, there has been spending of $602.25 Billion and is likely to grow up to $876.1 Billion by 2026. 

So, say if a brand was spending INR 50 Crores on advertising (online and offline) in a year, the contribution in digital advertising would be 5% of that budget. But, as you’ve seen the growth of the Internet over the years where people spend most of their time today, that 5% has become 25%. 

Think of how many businesses have moved from offline to online ever since the pandemic hit in 2020. Or how you now spend more time scrolling through Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, or even Nykaa to shop. Isn’t that pressing enough?

Digital Media Marketing Helps You Keep Track Your ROI

 

Paid digital media advertising is like a thin tube that can fit into any corner of your house. You can target a wider audience worldwide and can target them through different marketing campaigns. 

Like, remember when you searched for a product online, and three days later, it found you while you were scrolling through Instagram? 

So, What Will the ROI on Your Skill Building Look Like?

 

If you begin your career in digital advertising, SEO, or E-Commerce as a fresher, depending on whether you’re on the brand side or the agency side, the salary and compensation in the industry might look like this: 

And the director might not be the end for you. You might even grow beyond these roles as you move forward depending on whether you’re on the brand side or the agency side of the marketing industry. 

 

You’re Perfect for Paid Digital Media Advertising if… 

 

Now that you know paid digital media advertising involves a lot of big budgets, user-centricity, and data, a person with the following skills make a mark in the industry:

Analytical Skills: Being data-oriented means successful campaigns and higher ROI. Because campaigns and strategies often involve analyzing data to optimize targeting across various channels. This is almost always a necessity. 

Time Management Skills: Being quick on your feet, managing time well, and in a way that you execute campaigns on time is a huge plus. Why? Digital marketing is an ever-evolving industry and you need to constantly make changes to your strategies. So, the more you optimize your time, the more you get returns. 

Excellent User Centricity: It’s quite remarkable how some marketers just know their target audience so well. Because it involves creating ads, optimizing content for almost all occasions to make people tick, being user-centric, and knowing how users think is an advantage. 

High Learning Agility: With constant algorithm updates, and trends constantly emerging. You’re always learning here. Being able to adapt to new developments and learn new skills is a necessity to stay on top. 

Patience: Because sometimes, you’ll see results in 6 months, and sometimes you’ll fail. So you have to think of the long-term benefits and prioritize them over what would be a shortcut to showing results immediately. 

Technical Know-How: While not a necessity, it is still a huge advantage to know how websites are built, webiites’ user flow to optimize landing page conversions. Some knowledge of the technical aspects of the web, and tools helps you stand out.

Digital Marketing Specialization 2: Content Writing And Social Media Marketing

This creative, creative field nurtures people with a knack for making a mark with words, visuals, and ideas. It offers the opportunity to use one’s creative skills and ideas to develop marketing campaigns and materials that effectively promote products, services, or brands. 

The digital marketing specialization – Content and Social Media opens up a broad range of options from content marketing, social media marketing, copywriting, and influencer marketing, to email marketing. Now, these fields might look different as they have different roles and responsibilities, but they largely belong to the creative marketing industry.

This paves the way for the creative marketing field to be on demand at all times.

Check out more about the course here: 

How to Learn Content Writing? (Includes Course Syllabus)

What Do You Learn in Social Media Marketing? (Includes Syllabus)

Kraftshala prepares you for the following roles in the creative marketing industry:

 

Social Media Analyst/Executive: where you handle the day-to-day tasks of creating and posting content on social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter

Online Reputation Management (ORM) Specialist: where you monitor and engage with the brand’s audience and keep a positive brand image on social media platforms 

Creative Writer/Content Writer: here, you execute the tasks of collaborating with the SEO team in creating blog posts for the brand’s website

Content Marketer: where you strategize the content strategy for a brand’s website and execute the tasks of generating content. 

Influencer Marketing Specialist: you’ll be responsible for identifying and working with social media influencers to promote a brand or product through sponsored content and partnerships.

Brand Associate: here, you’ll be responsible for managing and promoting the reputation and image of a brand, and ensuring that all marketing efforts align with the brand’s values and messaging.

Now, What’s The Upside to Choosing Content and Social Media As A Career Option? 

Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing Set the Base for Creating a Brand: 

The phrase “content is king” is often used to emphasize the importance of high-quality, relevant, and valuable content in marketing and branding efforts. Observe yourself, you’ll find yourself getting swayed by good content that makes you feel, and good advertisements that sway you away.  

High-quality content can help establish a brand as a thought leader in its industry, and can also help build trust and credibility with potential customers. Another reason why content is a key factor in attracting and retaining an audience. Even Deloitte agrees and has given its point of view. 

So, while content may take many forms, including written articles, videos, podcasts, social media posts, and more, the outcome of it remains the same. It helps a brand establish its true identity. This way, it becomes a key factor in attracting and retaining an audience. 

Content is “king”, remember? 

Demand and Demand Everywhere: SEO, Paid Digital Advertising, E-Commerce

Be it making a mark on search engines by creating epic website content, or through paid media advertising by creating copies, what makes people tick is content. Hence for SEO, content becomes a critical ranking factor. For advertising, it is the vehicle that drives conversions. 

As new businesses come to realize that, we’ve also seen our hiring partners returning to more creative people, those who understand marketing and can also convey a brand’s message through words. 

With So Much Demand, What’s The Salary Like for People in Content and Social Media Marketing?

In any of the scenarios among content marketing, social media marketing, copywriting, influencer marketing, or email marketing, your average salary, and compensation will look like this: 

 

You’re Perfect for Content And Social Media if… 

No matter the role you choose, you’re going to be involved in the creative industry. So, among creativity and marketing, these skills are going to be an absolute add-on to your career. 

A knack for Writing: Copywriting, content writing, and social media marketing. Anything. They all require you to write in a way that engages your audience is an absolute must for you to thrive in this industry.

User-Centricity: You write content well when you know who you’re writing to. So, being able to understand users is another skill that helps you bring out the best in content.

Adaptability: To keep writing content, coming up with campaign ideas, and brand execution ideas, you also need to expose yourself to learning more about things. So, being able to keep up and organize your thoughts well is a good skill you should have. 

Having a Mind for Data: While the industry wants you to be creative at all times, you also have to make sure that your creative investment is making an impact. So, having a mind for data, while not a necessity is a huge advantage that can help you stand out from the crowd. 

Helping You Narrow Down Your Choices: 

Think about ten years down the line. You’ll grow in your chosen career and if all’s well, you’ll grab a higher position there. And to reach the top of the mountain, you’ve got to start somewhere.

Picking a specialization is like choosing candy from a jar. In the short term, it’ll feel like it’s a big deal to get the “right” candy. Your tastebuds matter after all. But eventually, you’ll get to the bottom of the jar, and have all the candies. It’s just a matter of time till you get to the bottom while carrying on to eat one candy after another.

Companies hire you because they need you to solve problems. And as you just start your career, solving specific problems relating to one field is more important than being a jack of all trades and master of none. That’s why you’re given the choice. 

No matter which digital marketing specialization you choose, it teaches you to be a master of that specialization. Then as you proceed in your career, you learn and become a master of some more fields. In time, you evolve into a kickass all-rounder marketer!

So, if you’re ambitious in hitting the spot in the marketing industry, the Marketing Launchpad could be a good starting point in that direction. 

And now, if your doubts have been cleared, head over to the digital marketing course to get started!