Different types of digital marketing career paths

What are you passionate about? Running a small business or a personal brand? Are you trying to connect others with your website or design portfolio?

Attention seems to be in short supply these days. Every search in a search engine or newsfeed can feel like a million voices vying for your consideration, all of which can make the prospect of promoting your own work daunting.

In the digital business landscape, it’s key that your voice cuts through that noise and connects to the people who will share your passion for your work. That’s where digital marketing enters the picture.

Digital marketing describes any marketing effort a company performs on digital channels that can reach consumers on their phone, computer or tablet. Digital marketing happens on search engines, social media pages, app stores and blogs (like the one you’re reading now!).

We can’t overstate the importance of digital marketing. It’s increasingly critical in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic (which led to an explosion of digital-first delivery and takeout options) and amid the rise of direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands that focus on e-commerce.

By virtually connecting businesses to customers, digital marketers also can help businesses withstand the slowdown of in-person customers. Brands that thrive sometimes consider digital marketing the rule rather than the exception.

Let’s explore common types of digital marketing and what careers in the field might look like for recent graduates.

Digital marketing is a diverse field with many specialties for professionals. Depending on the size of an organization, it may hire digital marketing specialists with unique skill sets and priorities, or it might employ a generalist who has knowledge in multiple fields.

That said, most digitally minded organizations usually seek out professionals in the following fields as they build their campaigns and strategies:

When you look for something online through search engines, you usually encounter a page filled with links that are relevant to your search. That is the search engine results page (SERP).

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of making adjustments to a website and pages to claim and secure the top position on the SERP. SEO has many moving parts that are constantly changing (especially with rapid developments in machine learning that are changing how a popular search engine works). The most common parts of any SEO strategy include on-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO:

• On-page SEO is the strategy of optimizing content on a website for search keywords. Search engines “read” the website and determine how well its content relates to search queries. Factors that also influence on-page SEO performance include videos, images, backlinks to other pages and links to other pages on the same site.
• Off-page SEO focuses on creating connections outside of a website that leads users back to it. This helps establish authority on given search queries. It often involves reaching out to other websites to connect your content with theirs.
• Technical SEO’s focus is on the actual website infrastructure that hosts content.  Because search engines “crawl” a website to gather information, technical SEO makes it easier for those engines to crawl the website efficiently with few errors. SEO specialists who focus on technical SEO usually optimize the website’s directory, clarifying its URL structure.

Why is SEO so important to digital marketers? Users are much more likely to click on a higher-ranked result than lower ones. In fact, 39.8% of all clicks on Google go to the link in the first position and drastically drop off for the succeeding positions. This drop-off is so extreme that only 1.6% of searchers clicked on something in the 10th position on the SERP.

SEO involves helping a website’s SERP rankings improve organically (for free). Proper SEO implementation drives more traffic to websites by presenting that website as more relatable for search queries.

Search engine marketing (SEM) involves paying for advertising space on the SERP. As you perform searches, you may notice some links have designations as ads at the top of the SERP. This is part of SEM. Digital marketers pay the search engine (usually Google) to place their domains at the top position. SEM can take two main forms: pay-per-click (PPC) and display ads.

• PPC ads involve paying for ad space at the top of the SERP when users search for specific keywords. More valuable keywords with frequent searches are often more expensive. Less frequently searched keywords may cost less.
• Display ads usually pop up on various websites you visit and are most often hosted on specific ad-generating services like Google Ads. Companies bid for display ads on a basis of cost per thousand impressions. Impressions are the number of times ads appear in front of users. Contrast this with cost-per-click ads, which cost money regardless of whether users click on it.

Social media marketing is another pillar of digital marketing. It promotes brands through social channels, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter), to reach a wider audience than it might in traditional advertising.

According to Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans are on some form of social media. Success on these platforms has the potential to expand your brand to millions, and getting started with a social media account is generally free.

There are two main types of social media marketing: organic and paid.

Organic social media marketing focuses on free methods to grow an account’s following. This includes following other accounts and creating content that is of interest to others. A digital marketer seeking organic social media traffic might make posts with popular hashtags. This connects that post with others using that hashtag, which makes it more likely that users will visit that account.

A strong social media marketing strategy builds an audience by using multiple accounts on different social media platforms. A popular video on YouTube, for example, can drive user traffic to an Instagram profile or a Facebook page. The result is a stronger brand identity and potentially more customers for your business. 

As with search engines, paid social media marketing allows digital marketers to buy ad space on social media feeds. Scrolling your Facebook newsfeed or “for you” page on Instagram, you’ve likely run across promoted posts. These may relate to your interests or search history and are a way for a brand to reach an audience that may not have found it through organic means.

On social media platforms, many users have amassed large followings, usually related to a common interest. These users, known as influencers, can leverage their large followings to share a promotion with a large audience.

As part of influencer marketing, brands will reach out to influencers for promotion. This helps bring a product to a community of people who are likely to be interested in it. Health brands, for example, often work with exercise influencers to promote products or deals.

Affiliate marketing is a similar marketing tactic. Instead of paying influencers to create content that promotes a purchase, companies or brands pay affiliate marketers a commission for referring customers once those customers make a purchase. 

Email marketing is one of the first forms of digital marketing. It involves emailing potential customers with marketing assets to highlight the latest promotions, news, products, etc. These potential customers might have submitted their email addresses to receive updates from a specific business, or a digital marketer may have purchased a list of emails specifically for this purpose.

Email marketing is an opportunity to connect with the users most likely to be new or returning customers. Often, these users have consciously opted in to receive marketing messages, which usually indicates that they have a particular interest in a brand.

Email marketing can be beneficial in getting customers who have submitted their emails at checkout to return for another purchase. Though the potential reach is smaller compared with SEO or social media marketing, the email marketing audience is generally more enthusiastic about the brand. 

Content marketing focuses on creating and sharing relevant and valuable assets with a brand’s audience. It complements the other types of digital marketing and is a particularly critical aspect of on-page SEO.

Content marketing encompasses everything from blog posts to videos to informative graphics. Its common feature is that the content can be hosted on a website and shared on different channels. Content marketing translates a brand’s identity into assets that can be accessed, understood and shared among an audience.

Strong content marketing consistently produces content that is valuable to potential customers. This might mean doing in-depth research for a blog, creating video content that’s novel and engaging, or developing images that users can share on social media. Content marketing can improve brand awareness across channels, funnel SEO traffic to a website and increase sales.

Some roles in this field include copy editors and copywriters. 

Mobile marketing is an evolution of SMS marketing, through which companies target advertising to consumers through text messages (SMS means short message service). Mobile marketing can encompass that model as well as push notifications within apps.

Mobile marketing allows for instantaneous, simultaneous messaging to many users. This is perfect for time-sensitive promotions like fire sales or reminding users about an upcoming event. Messaging can often be personalized to individuals, which can deepen the connection between a user and the brand. 

No matter which area you specialize in, it’s possible to grow your career in digital marketing in several ways. Marketing manager careers can be a rewarding option for people passionate about digital advertising, either in one area or across all fields.

How do we know if our digital marketing efforts are paying off? In a word: analytics.

Using data gleaned from various sources, analytics provide insights that can be used to improve your digital marketing strategy. Depending on the tools you use and the importance of specific metrics, you may need multiple ways to collect, analyze and view the data. Typical digital marketing measuring services include, but aren't limited to, the following:

• Google Analytics, which displays user behaviors on your website
• Google Search Console, which helps with understanding impressions, clicks and what keywords your website ranks for
• Semrush, which can help compare your website’s SEO and SEM efforts with competitors, as well as keyword rankings and SERP features
• Meta Business Suite, which allows you to manage and gauge the performance of your social media ads on Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are major pieces of data related to a digital marketing effort’s success. These are what digital marketers look for to see how their campaigns are working. Some KPIs include: 

There are hundreds of potential KPIs, but all provide insight into how digital marketing efforts are going and where there is room for improvement. Knowing how to use KPIs to help tell the story about your business’s digital marketing performance is one of the primary skills needed for digital marketing.

Digital marketers use various channels to generate leads, build brand awareness and drive website traffic to acquire customers. Their tasks often include things like conducting market research to understand their audiences and the competitive landscape, creating and managing content to share their messaging, and analyzing the performance of that content. They often collaborate with other marketing professionals to develop long-term, successful campaigns.

Digital marketing requires a strong balance of hard and soft skills. Many digital marketers have at least a basic understanding of SEO and SEM tactics. They’re also adaptable professionals who can pivot to new technologies or methods quickly. A digital marketer must also have a good understanding of data analysis to help inform decision-making and communicate results to stakeholders. Many have taken online digital marketing courses to help them gain these valuable skills.

A career in digital marketing may be a flexible role that allows you to work on multiple projects and brands. Some agencies also allow for remote or hybrid work. If these qualities interest you in a role, this could be a good career for you to consider.

Depending on their specialty, marketing and advertising managers made between $63,580 and $239,200 (with a median wage of $131,870) as of May 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Finally, it’s a dynamic field that sees constant change. It keeps the work challenging and exciting.

Salary ranges are not specific to students or graduates of University of Phoenix. Actual outcomes vary based on multiple factors, including prior work experience, geographic location and other factors specific to the individual. University of Phoenix does not guarantee employment, salary level or career advancement. BLS data is geographically based. Information for a specific state/city can be researched on the BLS website.

Digital marketing can be an exciting field with many career opportunities to choose from, but how do you know where to start?

University of Phoenix can help introduce you to critical digital marketing concepts like SEO, SEM and PPC advertising. If you’re already a digital marketer with an associate degree or years of hands-on experience without a formal education, an online degree from University of Phoenix can help teach skills that prepare you for management roles.

You may want to consider a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Marketing Certificate, which teaches useful skills such as marketing management, marketing strategies, social media, SEO and more. These skills can be used in roles such as advertising manager, marketing manager and brand manager.

You may also want to consider a Bachelor of Science in Communication, which covers skills such as content development, communication technology, search engine optimization and more. These skills can used in roles sch as media relations specialist, editor and copywriter.

To learn more, request information about University of Phoenix online digital marketing courses today.