How does a Digital Marketer’s Salary Grow?

“If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you are not sure you can do it, say yes. Then learn how to do it later.”

– Richard Branson
Quote this to any digital marketer out there, wait till their face lights up with an agreement, and gear up to listen to their journey in digital marketing so far. If they don’t start talking already, ask them how they got into digital marketing and at least 90% of them will tell you that they stumbled into it and discovered it along the way.

Who is a Digital Marketer? What do they do?

A Digital Marketer is a marketing professional who devises and implements strategies to promote a brand, a product or services on the internet. A digital marketing expert does this using various digital marketing tools and techniques like Online Marketing, Social Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Marketing, Display and Affiliate Marketing, Mobile App Marketing, Retargeting/Remarketing, Growth Hacking, Conversion Rate Optimisation, Lead Management, and Web, Mobile and App Analytics – to name a few skills.

Learn digital marketing courses online from the World’s top Universities. Earn Master, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career.
If you are a fresher, chances are that all the above-mentioned skills have already intimidated you and if you are a digital marketing professional with a few years of experience, you are already wondering about the skills which you haven’t got around to master yet. Either way, sit back and read on for we’re going to discuss the monies a digital marketer has the potential to earn when rightly powered by the above-mentioned skills.

How does a Digital Marketer’s Salary grow?

The salaries of digital marketers are heavily dependent on the kind of skills, experience, and value they bring to a company or a team and they are mostly independent of the regular salary brackets to which traditional organisations adhere. This means if you have the right digital marketing skills and know how to use them, you already have the potential to mint money.
Let’s look at the range of salaries drawn by digital marketers in Southeast Asia who have no formal training or certifications in Digital Marketing. As per research conducted by UpGrad and IoTalents, the following are the tentative figures according to the number of years of experience and the kinds of industries:
 

Fresher (Entry level)

Any fresher who is a graduate or post-graduate, in any field, with the slightest interest in exploring the digital marketing world and a basic knowledge of how the internet and social platforms work can earn from $3,200 per month in a mid-level to a large company. If it’s a start-up, the starting salary might be slightly lower at $2,500 to $2,800 per month.

The Educational Edge

Include a credible certification course in Digital Marketing to the executive and now the fresher has the power to negotiate and get a salary upwards of $3,200 per month. And if they are exceptionally good with their digital marketing skills with a project to validate it, their salary can go as high as $4,000 per month.

Manager (3-5 years of work exp.)

Digital marketing managers generally start out their careers in one of the specialisations like online media planning, content writing, client servicing, account management, SEO optimisation, Google Adwords specialist, marketing/research analysis, etc. Depending on how much they deep dive into their specialisation and at the same time manage to spread their wings far and wide into other digital marketing verticals out of sheer curiosity, their salaries vary from $5,000 to $8,000 per month.

The Educational Edge

3-5 years in digital marketing is just about the right time to equip oneself with all the tools and techniques of digital marketing. This not only gives a holistic view of where a professional’s career is headed but also brings about major shifts in the salary scale. For someone who has a certification in digital marketing, the hike in salary may go up by 10 to 20%.

Senior Marketing Manager (5+ years of work exp.)

Progressing from being a digital marketing specialist/lead, digital marketing experts/professionals generally seek to shift into more management-heavy roles like Senior Marketing Managers, VP/Head of Marketing, etc. after completing 5 years in the industry. Depending on the quality of experience and the companies they have worked for, their salary varies from $6,000 to $9,000.

The Educational Edge

At such a senior level, salary hikes become less frequent and so do the job shifts due to a lack of challenging avenues. A timely intervention in the form of a state-of-the-art certification course in digital marketing; one that challenges old knowledge and helps to open minds to the latest happenings of the digital world can push one towards a salary upwards of $10,000.

Why Digital Marketing Education?

Here are a few numbers and stats to give you an overview of where the digital marketing industry stands now. The chart below shows the search interest for ‘digital marketing’ on Google over the last 13 years. Since 2009, digital marketing has seen a rapid increase in interest, especially over the last three years. This surge leads to the deduction that the interest and the usage of digital marketing have increased significantly and so have the demand and job opportunities for skilled digital marketers!

A digital marketer is a professional with strong relevance to the needs of businesses right now and in the future. As such, acquiring the right skills from a course that provides certification from a renowned university like the PG Certification in Digital Marketing & Communication could prove invaluable for your career going forward.

With these skills and certifications, you can comfortably seek a lucrative job as a digital marketer. You will be able to directly contribute to business growth with the newfound skills you have. If you are using a recruiter like IoTalents, you will be placed ahead of other marketer candidates who lack experience in the digital marketing arena. All in all, digital marketing skills and certifications gives you a vital boost in your career that will pay off, in the long run.

Top job roles available in the digital marketing industry

The salary for a digital marketing manager keeps growing with time. As one acquires the skill sets, the salaries grow with it too.

If you are starting out and wish to make your mark in the digital marketing field, then the below-mentioned job roles would be useful for you.

1. Digital marketing manager

Professionals having higher experience and a good knowledge of the digital marketing domain are at the managerial level. A manager could be an expert in managing various channels of digital marketing such as SEM, performance marketing, pay-per-click marketing, etc.

2. Pay-per-click analyst

It is considered one of the in-demand jobs in today’s times. The companies quickly hire someone who is able to reap profits and higher or equal to the made investments.

3. SEO Specialist 

SEO is a successful way to rope in traffic and increase ranking on the search engine. The professionals can use sustainable, long-term, and high conversion strategies in order to increase their rankings.

4. Social media marketer

Brands focus on building a strong social media presence way before when they start their brand. Social media marketers engage themselves in building a brand that is able to create hype and become recognisable among consumers. 

5. Content marketing

Content is the key to becoming a successful brand. The word ‘content’ in marketing includes everything from copywriting to blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc. A content marketing manager is able to oversee the categories of content that help the brand to become big. 

6. Copywriting

Persuading the audience with words is a skill and power of copywriting. The copywriters are able to successfully curate content according to the consumers which helps the brand to become recognisable and different.

Digital marketing salary per month/ annually in the above-mentioned and many other roles offered in the field of digital marketing may differ according to various factors. Some of the factors are mentioned below.

Factors affecting the digital marketer salary

1. Company

A company has a specific budget allocated to each role. A bigger company can give a higher remuneration to its professionals.

2. Experience

Professionals having higher working experience would be given preference due to their skillsets and experience they hold. These professionals are preferred and the company secures a higher budget for them as their roles become critical in the company and the organisation aims to acquire good talent.

3. Skill sets

Having a big name attached is not always important as the companies aim to hire those candidates who bring their experience and skill sets to the table. They are assumed to be having the ability to solve business problems.

4. Geographical location

Geographical location plays an important role in the field of business. The companies operating from the metropolitan areas are assumed to be giving out a higher compensation as opposed to the companies having a hold in non-metropolitan areas.

5. Education

Individuals having acquired education in the field of digital marketing are assumed to gain better job opportunities instantly as opposed to those who are starting without any educational background. So the digital marketing salary for freshers is higher for the individuals with having educational background in the industry.

Conclusion

If you wish to explore and become an expert in Digital Marketing, check out upGrad & MICA’s Digital Marketing Program. Become an expert in social media marketing, content marketing, branding, marketing analysis and PR.

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This blog is co-authored by Jeremy Wong.