3 Best Digital Marketing Career Paths

Digital marketing is one of the fastest-growing careers, as digital marketing specialists are in high demand. Here are the three most common paths to take if you’re interested in pursuing a career in this red-hot field.

1. SEO Specialist

SEO (short for search engine optimization) specialist is probably the most sought-after career path in the digital marketing world—these days, almost no organization can operate without an SEO specialist. All businesses need their websites to rank higher in search results, which is where the expertise of a professional SEO specialist comes in handy. SEO specialists (also sometimes called SEO consultants or SEO analysts) are experts in auditing websites, which involves testing and boosting usability and loading speed, and, most important, understanding how to improve the interaction of search engines with websites. Note that if you’re a novice SEO specialist, you can take courses and trainings to learn how to audit sites and optimize content for search.

2. Social Media Marketer

Another fast-growing career path is social media marketing. Many consumers now buy products through social media rather than other advertising platforms, so this path has also become essential for many businesses. The core skills required for a successful SMM specialist are writing and editing. You also ideally need knowledge of analytics, metrics, content management, design, video editing, the basics of advertising and targeting, working with influencers, and working with negative reviews. Through online trainings, beginning SMM specialists can learn how search engines work, how to collect semantics, how to master SEO and web analytics tools, and how to assign tasks to contractors and lead a team.

3. Email Marketer

On average, companies earn $40 for every $1 they spend on email marketing, which shows how effective email marketing can be—and how important good email marketers can be. For a career as an email marketer, you need very strong writing and editing skills. A degree in marketing, advertising, business, or communications is also ideal. Employers often look for people with technical backgrounds to fill email marketer roles, since duties can include analyzing large amounts of data, developing email marketing strategies, segmenting target audiences, developing email chains, and drawing up content plans for mailings.

A final note 

Digital marketing is not only a highly sought-after role but also a very well-paying one. The path can garner an annual salary of $150,000 a year for experienced marketers. The role also comes with the built-in ability to work remotely. Since nearly all of your work is online, you could work and live almost anywhere.

Mathilde Leroux is an experienced career advisor. She assesses personal characteristics, skills, and interests via individual interviews and group work by providing appropriate help and advice.