Digital Marketing was a term that was once strictly associated with tech aficionados, those who knew what goes behind millions of clicks and decoded the magic of search engines. But today the word gets hyped to the moon and is thrown around left right and centre, for both the right and wrong reasons – Digital Marketing has now become the most sought out career option for young graduates as well as career professionals.
But despite hype and high enrolment, there are a lot of myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings surrounding digital marketing and its potential as a career that prevents promising candidates from pursuing it. In this blog we at Inter Smart Edutech, a top digital marketing institute in Kochi will debunk and disprove some of the widely held misconceptions and misrepresentations of digital marketing careers and tell you how it can open doors to a plethora of opportunities.
Let us bust the most commonly circulated pre-conceived notion that digital marketing is equivalent to social media but to be frank it is not. Social media is just one small part of the entire digital marketing landscape. Digital Marketing comprises Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Marketing, Content Writing, Pay per Click (PPC), E-mail campaigns, Paid Advertising and Analytics.
Posting selfies on social media is not digital marketing, it is much more than that.
This is another narrative that spread like wildfire, that you need to be a Bill Gates level coder in order to pursue digital marketing as a career. As a matter of fact you don’t even have to write a single line of code or master a programming language in order to start a career in digital marketing. Anyone with the imagination, creativity, critical thinking and analytical skills can make a mark in this field. All you ever need is the will to learn.
The big white lie. Digital marketing does not offer overnight success. It is true that the initial packages tend to be a bit on the higher side but like any other job, digital marketing too requires persistence, effort, commitment and continuous learning to increase the number of zeroes in your salary. In short, results decide your pay and not the designation.
Another rumor that has been proliferating is that freelancing is an unpredictable and unstable career path for digital marketing professionals. But when you find your specific area of interest in the digital marketing framework, with the right strategy, effort and clientele for your expertise, freelancing will provide you with flexibility and financial freedom.
Digital Marketing is an amalgamation of creative thinking and analytical strategies. It is a space where creative individuals can thrive on design, scripting and visual communication. Whereas the analytical minds can bank on critical thinking, research and data driven strategies to produce the best results.
Most people think and believe that only large companies and corporations benefit from digital marketing. But in reality it is the other way around, it’s the small to medium size businesses that really make the most out of digital marketing. By pushing targeted ad campaigns and implementing relevant social media strategies they can expand their reach to a much wider audience without causing a dent on their budget.
Search Engine Optimization is still very crucial and relevant for digital marketing to gain online visibility. But the catch here is that today, search engines do not rely on keyword research or stuffing to deliver serps, they look for the intent in the user’s query. They examine the overall context and scenario of a search to give out top tier, high quality content that matches the users needs. So long as people rely on search engines, there will be SEO!
Moreover, local SEO is still necessary for small local businesses so that they can acquire potential customers in nearby areas and other surrounding regions.
A lot of great and successful campaigns from all over the world started small at first. There is so much you can unlock with creativity, technique and strategy. Marketing is all about understanding the psyche of the audience and digital marketing is no different, your content must strike the right chord with the audience and also try experimenting with different kinds of advertising strategies and eventually everything will fall in place.
Deep pockets do not give great results. Innovation and Vision does.
This is a “marketing trick” for digital marketing and you must not fall for it. An individual or a business with 2M followers doesn’t mean that they are ruling the roost. But more often than not that might not be the case. The good chunk of the followers you see can turn out to be bots. To truly measure the success of digital marketing, you should analyze the data – engagement and conversions. Always check if people are buying – that is what matters the most!
Having a strong command in the English language can help you grasp the concepts of digital marketing in a better way, but that is not a pre-requisite for anybody looking to make this field their area of expertise. Currently there are a lot of digital marketing experts in India and around the world who create content in their own language and have garnered great success and growth.
Just like there was an “engineering craze” a decade ago (there still is), today that demand has shifted to digital marketing with more and more “digital marketing institutes” popping up in every nook and corner like mushrooms and the irony is that the highest number of people who enrol in these institutes are engineering graduates!
Yes, earning relevant certifications does help to an extent, but that is only half the job done. What really lands you a job is your skills, your ability to create independent campaigns and personal projects, your knowledge in SEO and how good are in executing social media marketing strategies. Companies don’t count the number of certifications on your resume, they look for actionable results in the real world.
Today, a good majority of digital marketers create world class campaigns on Canva, Figma (Free version) Google Analytics, Gemini ai & ChatGPT.
So it is very important to clear these myths before stepping into the world of digital marketing. Students must focus on building and honing their skills rather than relying on certifications alone. The field of digital marketing is very vast and is filled with a lot of opportunities. With the right skills, knowledge and continuous learning it can be a career goldmine.
Ready to bust the myths and unlock your digital marketing potential? Explore our digital marketing courses at Inter Smart Edutech, Kochi, and start building a successful career in this exciting field!
