Digital marketing has become one of the most sought-after career paths worldwide, shaping the success of countless businesses and evolving as a crucial part of modern society. Since the 90s, it has transformed into the backbone of thriving brands and industries alike.
But is digital marketing still a good career choice in 2024? In this post, I’ll explore what this career path involves—from the essential skills needed to get started to the unique benefits and challenges that come with the field.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is a powerful force that connects brands with their audiences in creative, impactful ways. It encompasses strategies like social media, email, SEO, and multimedia messaging to promote brands and reach potential customers. At its core, digital marketing is about crafting solutions to help brands overcome obstacles and achieve their goals—whether that’s generating leads, building an online community, increasing brand awareness, or driving website traffic. For many businesses, a well-rounded digital marketing campaign is the key to growing and engaging with their audience in today’s digital landscape.
What skills do I need to become a digital marketer?
With more companies embracing digital marketing, the demand for skilled digital marketers is high across many industries. Although formal qualifications are often not required, employers expect candidates to bring a strong blend of hard and soft skills to the table. By building these skills independently—such as creating personal social media projects, learning digital tools and analytics, or writing blogs—candidates can set themselves apart in a competitive market.
Here’s a brief overview of the top skills you’ll need to excel in digital marketing:
Hard skills
- Proficiency in social media management
- Basic understanding of SEO & PPC management
- Familiarity with web analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads
- Experience with A/B and multivariate testing on social platforms
- Knowledge of CRM tools like Pardot and Salesforce
- Competence with graphic design tools such as Canva, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop
- Proficiency in email marketing tools like MailChimp
- Understanding of UX design, along with landing page creation and optimisation
Soft skills
- Strong verbal and written communication
- Analytical and critical thinking
- Organizational and time management abilities
- Self-motivation and initiative
- High attention to detail
- Project management skills
- Leadership and task-oriented mindset
- Enthusiasm for learning new digital tools
Top 8 benefits of having digital marketing as a career
You can choose from a wide range of roles in different industries
One advantage of choosing digital marketing as a career is the diversity of roles out there for entry-level positions. Whether you’re completely new or experienced in the industry, there will certainly be a position that is suitable for you.
Depending on your skills and experience, you can choose a generalist or specialist role such as the following:
Digital Marketing Assistant – A generalist role with virtually all the elements of digital marketing, including: social media campaigns, email marketing campaigns, SEO and PPC.
Tik Tok Assistant – An entry-level specialist role with a focus on planning and executing campaigns on Tik Tok.
SEO Specialist – An entry-level specialist role with a focus on increasing website traffic through organic search campaigns.
Email Marketing Specialist – An entry-level specialist role with a focus on sending out promotional emails to existing and prospective customers.
PPC Specialist – An entry-level specialist role with a focus on creating, managing and optimising paid online ad campaigns.
You’ll find high demand for skilled digital marketers
It’s no doubt that digital marketing is a fast-growing industry in our world today. This translates into more stability, higher salaries, and greater opportunities for career advancement.
In the era of digitalisation, we’re seeing a tremendous increase in digital ad spending on a global scale. As of 2021, global digital ad spending amounted to £521 billion which was projected to reach £876 billion by 2026. These astronomical figures are a result of businesses constantly needing more skilled digital marketing professionals to help them drive a profit and meet their social media goals.
As organisations continue to grow and invest in digital marketing initiatives, this will lead to increased opportunities for entry-level digital marketers, as well as executive and managerial positions in this field.
You can get good compensation
If compensation is an important factor when making a career choice, then digital marketing might be the career for you.
As of January 2023, the average annual salary for digital marketers in the UK was £36,466. This may include health care, workplace pensions and other benefits. Entry-level digital marketers could earn anywhere between £22,000 and £30,000. Meanwhile, Digital Marketing Managers make an average salary of £50,683 per year. From there, you could even begin to start looking for senior-level positions such as a Marketing Director which has an average base pay of £93,775 in the UK.
A senior manager at Glassdoor recommends staying in a job for at least a year. This will boost your chances of career progression, learning new skills and maximising your salary. The only exception for staying in a company for a long period of time would be progressive growth.
You’ll find scope for professional development
With digital marketing being a booming industry, it should come as no surprise that there are plenty of opportunities for professional development.
Let’s take a look at the different levels that exist within this industry:
Entry-level
Those new to the field typically begin in entry-level roles like Social Media Assistant or Paid Search Assistant. In these positions, digital marketers often handle responsibilities such as managing multiple social media accounts, developing media plans, and assisting with billing tasks.
Mid-level
Digital marketers usually spend 1-3 years in an entry-level role before advancing to mid-level positions, such as Social Media Manager or Paid Social Manager. In these roles, they take on responsibilities like planning, developing, and executing creative social media strategies, building influencer relationships, and identifying trends to inform campaign planning.
Mid-level marketers often collaborate with other teams, mentor junior staff, and set goals to boost brand awareness and engagement, helping to drive a brand’s growth and visibility.
Senior-level
In most companies, individuals spend up to 8 years gaining experience at the mid-level before progressing to senior roles. At the senior level, they take on a more hands-on leadership approach, guiding the daily operations of the marketing department and overseeing strategic initiatives. A common role at this level is ‘Marketing Director,’ where the focus is on shaping the marketing vision and driving team performance.
You can achieve a good work-life balance
Did you know that many employees who report high levels of work-life balance are in digital marketing roles?
Glassdoor has published a list of the 25 best jobs for work-life balance. Here’s a quick run-down of which digital marketing roles made the list:
- #2 – SEO Manager
- #4 – Social Media Manager
- #7 – UX Designer
- #8 – Digital Marketing Manager
- #9 – Marketing Assistant
- #15 – Marketing Analyst
With a marketing career, you’ll have flexible hours and the opportunity to work from home. This translates into lower stress and burnout, as well as improved mental health and quality of living.
You can use your creativity to make a difference
One of the most rewarding parts of a career in digital marketing is the opportunity to make a real impact with your creativity. Crafting an ad that resonates with your audience can not only build meaningful connections but also give you a confidence boost as a marketer.
Your creativity also plays a key role in helping businesses achieve their strategic and financial goals. When your efforts drive results, it leaves a strong impression on your team and can open doors to future projects—and even potential promotions.
You get to see results on the job
Similarly, using creative solutions as part of your digital strategy will enable you to see results on the job. When you create an impactful Instagram reel or a meaningful blog post, these will often generate positive results such as increased engagement or web traffic. These results will incentivise you to remain productive and work harder to achieve even better results next time.
You can be your own boss
A career in digital marketing can be a pathway to personal freedom and success. With an entrepreneurial spirit and the skills of a digital marketer, you can choose to work for yourself rather than a corporation.
You could launch your own business, or you could work as a freelancer to provide services for other individuals or organisations. Either way, you will still have a degree of autonomy on what you do and how you do it.
Drawbacks of a Digital Marketing Career
You’ll have to stay up-to-date on industry changes
The evolving nature of digital marketing is certainly a positive trait in our world today, but it can also be detrimental to your career. As of 2022, around 15% of all businesses had adopted at least one AI technology, which translates to 432,000 companies. This means that the vast majority of companies have not yet implemented AI into their activities which could be a setback for digital marketers. As a result, they will struggle to keep up with changes that are happening around them and won’t be able to provide strategic solutions for any marketing-related issues that they encounter.
In order to remain successful in this career, you must constantly keep abreast of the latest trends, developments and updates in the industry. You should also make sure to join a company that is up-to-date on the latest trends, or at least striving to do so.
You’ll have more competition
With the soaring popularity of digital marketing, there has been a surge of demand for digital marketing professionals since the onset of the pandemic. In 2021, LinkedIn saw an increase of 177% in the number of remote job postings for marketing roles. There was also significant year-over-year patterns of growth in digital skills, including Instagram (up 72%), content marketing (up 63%), creative problem solving (up 45%), brand awareness (up 41%), branding (up 41%) and Hootsuite (up 39%). This data suggests that it will be more difficult for entry-level marketers to stand out from the crowd when applying for digital marketing roles.
You can overcome this by upskilling yourself through online courses, doing voluntary work, or picking up new hobbies associated with this career. Doing these activities will undoubtedly boost your chances of getting your dream job.
Remember, employers will only consider you if you can provide evidence that you are truly passionate about this career. Be sure to include any marketing-related courses or activities that you’ve done on your CV.
You’ll need to set aside time to learn new skills
Digital marketing requires you to dedicate a lot of time on learning new skills. This might not be a problem for some people, but for those who are currently working full-time or have other responsibilities to take care of, it might be difficult to find the time to learn these skills.
This problem can be resolved by developing proper organisation and time management skills which will keep you disciplined and determined to achieve your goals. If you’re really struggling to manage your time effectively, check out this article from Indeed which highlights different ways you can improve your time management skills.
Conclusion
I hope this article was able to give you some insight into the question: Is digital marketing a good career to have in 2024? As with every other field, digital marketing certainly has its fair share of challenges and difficulties, and the pursuit of it would be an arduous journey for many. However, your creative spirit and commitment to endless learning can pave the way for a successful career in digital marketing.