Digital is a large, fast-paced, and exciting industry that many professionals dream of working in. However, there are so many choices to choose from that it’s not always easy to identify the career that best fits your unique skills and experience.
Fortunately, if you know the sector where you want to work, it becomes much easier to pinpoint your ideal profession. Whether you veer towards design, marketing, management, or development, there are many rewarding paths to choose from.
In this post, we’ll provide an overview of each before listing some of the most sought-after jobs within each sector. We’ll also discuss some of the vital information about each of these jobs, including necessary qualifications and career prospects. Let’s get started!
An Introduction To the Online Digital Marketing Industry
Online marketing isn’t too different from traditional marketing. As with the latter, you have a product or service that you want to sell, and a consistent goal of connecting with your target audience.
There are many different digital marketing activities that promote and reinforce these goals including paid advertisements, search engine optimization, email marketing, lead acquisition, and more.
As a marketer or designer working in the digital space, you’ll primarily work with software and operate through online channels. There is a wide range of digital jobs out there, which means a huge variety of career options. This makes it an exciting and attractive industry, as you can often find a career that’s perfectly tailored to your strengths and interests.
Digital is also a rapidly-growing industry. Research suggests that spending budgets for digital marketing are set to increase, with studies indicating that over 75 percent of marketing budgets will go to digital within five years.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also triggered a remote working revolution. Throughout 2020, businesses relied on remote working to remain operational. Many household names have also announced plans to continue working remotely for the foreseeable future, including Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft.
As a digital creative or marketer, you can work from any location, including your home office. In these uncertain times, it’s likely we’ll see businesses increasing their investment in digital jobs over the coming months, and potentially even years.
However, narrowing down which job, in particular, to pursue can be challenging. Fortunately, there are plenty of solid options to choose from. Let’s take a look at some of the top jobs to consider in the digital marketing industry.
Top 3 Digital Design Jobs
Design is something that no business can live without, at least to some degree. This means that digital designers have lots of opportunities to move into different industries, including gaming, animation, social media marketing, plus television and video production.
Remote work, freelance contracts, and flexible schedules are commonplace in the world of digital design. You could even start your own digital design business.
When it comes to qualifications, a digital designer will typically have a degree in graphic design, art, or a related subject. Since digital design requires a high level of technical expertise, employers will often look for certification or proficiency with specific graphic design software. It’s also a good idea to keep up to date on the latest web design trends.
According to PayScale, the average digital designer salary is $54,986. However, annual earnings can reach $78,000. There are many job categories for digital designers, including the following top three.
1. User Experience (UX) Designer
User Experience (UX) designers help to ensure a positive experience for anyone who uses their employer’s digital products and services. A UX designer’s work might involve creating the front end of an application, streamlining the buyer’s journey on an e-commerce platform, or creating user personas to identify issues with a website’s User Interface (UI).
UX designer jobs usually require a degree in a relevant subject, such as design, computing, apps development, or digital media and technology. Career progression opportunities include graduating to a role as a senior UX designer, head of UX, content strategist, or UX design manager. UX designers can expect to earn an average annual salary of $85,277.
2. Product Designer
As a product designer, you could help develop new products or improve existing ones. A digital product designer will be expected to use their understanding of technology to improve a product’s design and usability. Most product designers have a degree in product design, industrial design, or 3D design.
Progression to the role of a senior designer is usually the next step, although some designers may move to a creative director or management role. The average product designer earns around $119,568 per year.
3. Web Designer
As a web designer, you’ll design and develop web pages that fit your employer’s and users’ requirements. You may also be responsible for maintaining existing websites and often use tools such as WordPress and Elementor:
Relevant degree subjects include computer science, digital media production, graphic design, Information Technology (IT), software engineering, and web design. However, a formal qualification may not always be necessary, as some employers place greater value on relevant experience. As a web designer, average salaries can vary depending on a handful of factors, but the average annual salary for web designers is about $51,564.
Top 3 Digital Marketing Jobs
Digital marketers promote brands, products, and services through online channels. This includes social media, websites, and mobile applications.
Digital marketers may have a degree in marketing, management, business studies, or Public Relations (PR). However, they may also have a qualification in a related subject, such as media.
Since this is a digital role, employers also look for a solid level of technical expertise. In particular, you should be familiar with popular digital marketing tools, such as Google Analytics, Mailchimp, and Sprout Social:
According to PayScale, the average salary for a digital marketer is $69,406. However, a vice president of marketing can earn as much as $152,000.
Since every business requires marketing, there is also plenty of room to work as a freelancer, contractor, or consultant in this field as well. Additionally, there’s the possibility to move into a related field, such as advertising, sales, e-commerce, or PR.
There are many job roles for digital marketers. Let’s take a look at the most popular.
1. Digital Copywriter
As a digital copywriter, you’ll produce written content for websites and blogs. However, you may also produce content for social media, e-books, and email campaigns.
Qualifications specific to content writing include a degree in marketing, journalism, or creative writing. However, formal qualifications aren’t always required for a digital copywriter role. Relevant experience may be enough to kickstart your career. For example, you might run your own WordPress blog.
Most digital copywriters start in a junior copywriter role before progressing to midweight jobs. Many different sectors require digital copywriters. Therefore, as you can gain relevant experience, you may gravitate toward a particular discipline, such as education or scientific copywriting. On average, digital copywriters earn around $52,529 per year.
2. Social Media Manager
Social media managers are responsible for driving their organization’s social strategy. They’re also tasked with boosting visibility and audience engagement across popular social media channels.
There are no set qualifications for becoming a social media manager. However, degrees in business management, digital marketing, PR, and media and communications may be beneficial.
As a relatively new role, social media managers don’t have a defined career structure. However, you may progress to a more senior role, such as the head of social media. The average social media manager salary is reportedly around $52,808.
3. Email Marketer
Email marketers use email to develop and maintain relationships with clients and customers. Company updates, product information, promotions, and emails are all elements of email marketing.
Relevant degrees include marketing, advertising, communications, and business. After gaining the necessary experience, an email marketer may progress to become a digital marketing manager or a chief marketing officer. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for an email marketer is nearly $61,000 per year in the United States.
Top 2 Digital Developer Jobs
A digital developer is a technical expert who designs, develops, and maintains websites, applications, and services. They are in high demand, with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics identifying software and application development as the areas projected to add the newest jobs and grow the fastest through to 2024.
To succeed as a digital developer, you should have strong development skills and experience working with information architecture and design interfaces. The average digital developer salary comes in at $57,998. Let’s take a look at two top potential jobs in this sector.
1. DevOps
DevOps engineers build, test, and maintain the infrastructure and tools that speed up and automate the software development process. Graduates may start out as an associate DevOps engineer before progressing to a senior DevOps role.
DevOps engineers typically require a degree in a technical or a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field. DevOps engineers can expect to earn around $135,000 annually.
2. Mobile Developer
As a mobile developer, you’ll translate requirements into code and develop mobile applications, either for use internally within your organization or externally by your target audience. Mobile application jobs are typically open to graduates in software, computer science, or related fields.
As you gain experience as a mobile developer, you may be promoted to a senior applications developer. You may also move into systems analysis or be promoted to an applications manager position. A mobile applications developer can expect to earn around $74,033.
Top 3 Digital Management Jobs
Digital managers are responsible for creating, improving, and maintaining digital projects. They are also commonly tasked with enhancing brand awareness within the digital space and identifying and evaluating new digital technologies. This can include using analytics platforms to monitor and assess the performance of digital marketing campaigns.
Digital management salaries range from $54,214 to $136,783, according to PayScale. However, on average, digital managers can expect to earn around $86,347 per year. In-demand digital management roles include the following.
1. Product Marketing Manager
Product marketing managers are responsible for developing marketing strategies that promote new products to customers. Most product manager roles require a degree in marketing.
Product marketing managers also typically work for several years in lower-level marketing positions before progressing to a managerial role. As a product marketing manager, your next steps might include a marketing director, insight director, or strategy director. Product marketing managers can expect to earn around $119,723 per year.
2. Digital Manager
Digital marketing managers are responsible for creating and managing online marketing strategies. They typically have a degree in marketing or a relevant field such as PR or communications. As a digital marketing manager, you could expect to earn around $74,234 per year.
3. Content Manager
A content manager oversees the content that is published on websites and blogs. They are also often responsible for maintaining content as well. For example, this may include updating older blog posts or creating and managing a monthly content calendar.
Content managers typically hold a degree in a relevant subject and have at least two years of experience in a content marketing role, such as a copywriter. A content manager can expect to earn an annual salary of around $59,588.
Launch Your Digital Career With These Top Jobs
Digital is a huge and growing industry. With online careers on the rise, many people dream of breaking into this rewarding field. However, with so many options, it can be difficult to know where to start.
To help focus your job search, we’d recommend identifying the area where you want to work, such as management or marketing. You can then evaluate the top jobs within your chosen area and find the career that’s the best match for your skills and experience.
Do you have any questions about finding your dream digital job? Ask away in the comments section below!
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