Digital Marketing Vs MBA: Which Option To Choose
Digital Marketing vs MBA – Which to choose has been in the minds of students for some time now. Let’s clear it up a little more. MBA has long been the most desired option for higher education. Over the years the allure of MBA courses has gone down owing to students not getting the desired job profiles after graduating with MBA courses.
Let’s get some of the statistics of the Indian Digital advertising industry(2019) as per the Dentsu Aegis Network.
In 2019, the total digital advertising industry was 13683 crores, or 1.93 billion dollars. According to experts, there will be a rise of 27.42% and the digital advertising industry might go up to 58550 crores only in India.
From the statistics available you can understand just how potent the digital marketing industry is. It can completely transform lives, creating competent entrepreneurs, and professionals who can create a highly rewarding career in Indian digital marketing successfully.
Social media has the highest share of advertising expenditure of 28%. That is followed by the paid media, online video, display media.
From the enormous shift in consumer behavior over the past few years we can deduce that the future of digital marketing is extremely bright in India. The reasons are:
Moving on from traditional marketing
The vast mushrooming of Digital channels has led to people’s intrigue and interest. As a result, we find the majority of the consumers online today.
Since the digital space offers diverse options and information on a product, consumers have gradually moved on from traditional forms of marketing. Also, the easy accessibility of information on digital media has further cemented defeat in consumers.
If you want information on a particular topic, the first place will look for information is the web. The web has answers to all your questions, doubts, and queries. This intrinsic character of digital channels has helped consumers make the switch from traditional to digital marketing
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Number of startups and online digital businesses
Since the leads (prospective customers) are found online it has given rise to several startups in the online domain. India has seen an increase in the number of entrepreneurs who have moved on from their regular jobs and started a business of providing value to targeted consumers in the last few years.
The Government’s Digital India initiative
The Indian government has also propagated going digital for the betterment of society as a whole. The easy ways of transactions, the hassle-free method of buying and selling products via the digital medium has made it extremely popular.
Propelled by the government initiative, consumers, as well as business houses, have moved to digital methods of carrying out the entire marketing process of gaining information, buying, and selling
Global reach and exposure
Digital as the word sounds is an all-encompassing medium. This means, the global reach, visibility, and exposure to digital marketing is far better than traditional businesses. Today you are not limited to a geographical location to carry on business in any part of the world.
Digital expansion in the remotest areas and small towns
Since the government proposal of the Digital India Initiative, there has been an effort to boost the plan of going digital in the remotest areas and towns for people to leverage the benefits of the digital medium.
Today even a small shopkeeper has a Point-of-Sale machine referred to as POS in a town where you can swipe your card and carry on successful transactions.
High return on investment (ROI)
It takes a lot of time to reach the break-even point in a traditional marketing business. Whereas, in the format of Digital Marketing, returns on investment are higher and easier to achieve.
Proper planning and strategy in digital marketing campaigns can yield great results with a very low cost of acquisition. Entrepreneurs understood the advantage of taking and starting their business in the webspace.
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Customer engagement and retention
Customer engagement and retention become easier because the digital business is active and accessible 24/7. You can connect with your consumers at any part of the day through digital channels.
It helps to know your consumers better, create personalized content for them, reach out to them and develop a rapport. The character of accessibility also helps consumers to put their faith in your business. Digital medium makes you accountable and as a result, increases your goodwill in the market.
Brand influence
A corollary of the above point, online businesses can develop their brand reputation very successfully in a very short period. The traits of exposure and visibility in digital mediums are the greatest advantages for digital marketers.
It becomes convenient to put forth the positive attributes of your brand and gain the attention of focus groups, potential and existing.
An influential form of marketing
All of the above points reiterate just how impactful Digital Marketing is. However, a keen understanding of the components of digital marketing is important to leverage maximum benefits and value from this flexible dynamic medium.
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The decline of MBA as the most popular course
According to surveys, MBA applications have declined globally by 6.9% according to the Graduate Management Admission Council as of October 2019. However, the Indian applications have not seen a drastic decline though the admission has fallen from 57 % to 45%. (2019) report.
MBA used to be a prestigious program. More and more students enrolled to get better job opportunities and great placements with record pay packages.
But over the years there have been several MBA institutes that have come up promising to provide very rewarding careers for prospective students. But according to the data available from various research, we can see that the demand for MBA candidates and MBA programs has gradually declined over the past 3-4 years from 2015 to 2019.
The reason for this sharp decline can be attributed to the fact that among the numerous management schools that students graduate from, only a handful of premium business schools provide great job opportunities and placement assistance.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for MBA graduates to find proper jobs according to their preferences today.
The MBA courses are quite expensive and other than some of the top institutions, students are finding it difficult to land a good job with a good package that is going to be able to help them settle their loans.
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Several factors like the affordability of these courses, loan repayment have put students in a dilemma as to what other courses they can pursue 2 to have job security, standard pay, and a good standard of living.
That is where the option of digital marketing courses comes to the fore.
Digital marketing enables students to get far greater work opportunities with great returns on investment.
The courses provide a 360 degree understanding of digital marketing as well as other marketing concepts that help you to become competent leaders and marketers able to take correct decisions that are beneficial to the company or organization that you are working for.
Digital marketing is also an ever-evolving flexible and dynamic curriculum that is constantly updating itself creating various new tools, techniques, and strategies to provide more focused marketing.
The problem with MBA courses has been that these courses have reached a stagnancy point where the same curriculum is followed year after year.
A lot of reputed MBA schools teach case studies from the 1990s and early 2000 even when we are in 2020 and on the brink of a major digital transformation.
There hasn’t been much change in the marketing and business administration scenario and there is a wide gap between the skills and education as well as the implementation of successful marketing and business administration policies.
Digital marketing is the future of the marketing scenario. All companies today strive to have a positive digital presence and some companies are even moving away from the traditional form of marketing to focus on the digital aspect and how that can help their businesses and brands to flourish.
Businesses can get great returns and success from implementing Digital Campaigns. here are some of the Advantages that Digital Marketing Courses have over MBA courses
More Affordable
Digital marketing courses are far more affordable than MBA courses. Moreover, if you don’t pass out from another top B school then your education doesn’t have much value. Enrolling in a top MBA School requires you to incur expenses other than education.
The top online digital marketing course providers have very reasonable fees and you don’t have to incur any other expenses related to the course.
Since the demand for Digital marketers is very high and will remain so in the following years, there is a lot of prospect in the sector and you can get quick returns on investment by getting adequate placement assistance and support. You also get major tips for cracking interviews.
Digital marketing is mostly a non-technical-based course baring a few technical modules like web analytics, website performance measurement. Those can also be read successfully through the tools available.
More Convenient skill set to learn
It is also more convenient to learn and you can start gaining an education and digital marketing after you pass your higher secondary examination. All you need is business instinct and an interest in the online domain. The courses are not for a long duration so you can start working as soon as you complete the course
It is no secret the digital marketing industry is booming. Today the top companies want marketers to understand the pulse of the audience who have plenty of practical training in customer engagement. That helps in turning leads to conversions and creating effective online marketing campaigns.
Some observations
It is estimated that there will be around 65 lacs of digital jobs by 2025. Which only confirms and cements the fact that digital marketing will have diverse job positions to fill.
The courses will provide skills that can help you start your own business and get returns very quickly owing to the properties of digital marketing.
Top companies and brands in organizations look for results. With the help of premium quality digital marketing courses, students get placed in some of the biggest names in the corporate sector.
With proper planning and strategy, these competent Digital Marketers provide invaluable techniques that reap great results for business organizations and propel their careers towards success.
Let’s look at some of the job roles in digital marketing that you can apply for after completing a certification program in digital marketing
Though responsibilities and duties overlap in a digital marketing agency these are some of the positions to offer you some clarity on the roles and responsibilities
The different job positions are as follows
SEO executive or SEO Specialist
The primary objective of an SEO specialist is to create content that is going to rank on the first page of a search engine. The Search Engine Optimisation components of digital marketing are extremely important for the overall improvement and growth of a website.
It gives the required visibility and exposure to your website and creates a sense of trust in online users about your brand. SEO is an organic ranking of your website. This means that your website is ranked only based on your content and not on other factors related to monetary marketing techniques.
An SEO specialist should have an understanding of Keyword research competition analysis. They should be able to conduct onsite and offsite SEO analysis. Also, it should remain updated on the best practices of SEO.
A blog is a very important aspect of the entire Search Engine Optimisation process for any website. You should be equipped with knowledge of how to handle and contribute to the blog articles by providing relevant and useful information.
An SEO strategist also needs to know about Google algorithms and the changes made by Google that help websites rank better in the result pages of a search engine.
Content writer / copywriter
A content writer helps to create educational, informative, and inspirational content for web pages. They are either freelance writers or employees of the organization that help to create content through various formats like text, images, gifs, infographics, and a combination of all these elements to create compelling content meant to grab the attention of the online customer.
While content writing involves the dissemination of useful information to influence consumers to take the desired action, the job of a copywriter is to create content that directly influences the sales of the product of the brand or business.
Key aspects of the Job
Some of the key features of a content writer are that they should possess an understanding of how Search Engine Optimization works and create content around Google algorithms to rank better on search engines.
They should also understand the demands of the target audience. It is important to produce content that is going to be beneficial for online users.
Consulting with the other departments to ensure that the content is focused and quality-driven is essential. A content writer and copywriter should be able to write and tailor the content according to the digital channel in which the content is published.
They should be proficient in writing for blogs social media campaigns ebooks web pages video scripts landing pages etc.
Taking care not to create duplicate content
Content writers need to stay away from plagiarizing others’ works. Most content writers have a diverse range of tools that help them to create original, creative and interesting content and help them in the process of eliminating any duplication or stale content.
Social Media Strategist
Social media strategist specialist is equipped with an in-depth understanding of social media and its audiences. They are skilled in providing content combining digital marketing and social media properties to give the brand a positive reputation in the social media domain.
Interacting with consumers on social media is a vital part of getting leads. Social Media Marketing Strategist understands the immense opportunities provided by social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Instagram.
They also are aware that the promotion of the brand and its products and services have to be different for every social media channel. It depends on the unique character of a particular medium.
Therefore the social media strategist is responsible for creating a budget around that social media channel, disseminating information that is both going to inform the online consumers of the benefits of the brand as well as help the business by converting leads into consumers.
They should have skills meant to drive traffic to the website, create a rapport with the audience and thoroughly leverage the benefits of the social media channels.
Digital Marketing Manager is responsible for the entire trajectory of the digital marketing process starting with developing a campaign for the business to getting increased profits with decreased cost of acquisition.
They are responsible for developing, implementing, and executing campaigns in the digital space to promulgate the product and services of the organization.
Quite often a digital marketing manager is concentrated on creating the goodwill of a brand in the webspace. This is a very important aspect of the digital marketing business.
The online reputation of your brand can firmly establish your supremacy in your niche market. In the same way, a negative perception of your brand can have an ever-lasting negative impact.
Therefore it is the responsibility of the digital marketers to evaluate the digital opportunities available to optimize the campaign for more driven planning to identify the key aspects of success in the digital domain and maintain website traffic consistently.
A very important part of the Digital Marketing Manager is to be the bridge among the different departments in the digital marketing system of an organization. They are responsible for the people working in the different modules.
Search Engine Marketing Specialist
Search engine marketing specialists are a dedicated group of individuals who are involved with creating paid search campaigns for maximum visibility of websites on search engines.
Their main concern is to achieve maximum returns on investment of profit and at the same time decreasing the expenses incurred in the business.
They have a diverse range of duties to fill like analyzing the data, the traffic, trends. They should also work on insights on the target consumer.
Optimizing landing pages for search engine marketing campaigns, Pay-per-click, CPC, are some of the areas to focus on.
Search engine marketing specialists track and report website analytics, create a sound paid marketing strategy by managing the budget of such campaigns.
There have an incisive understanding of the structure of a successful paid marketing campaign. Analyzing advertising links and keeping an eye out for competition come under the purview of their work.
Content Marketing Manager
Content Marketing Manager publishes and maintains the standard and quality of the content that is disseminated to the public.
They are often responsible for managing blogs, publishing ebooks replying to comments, deciding on the posting schedule, copywriting the sales page, communicating through emails.
They decide on the voice and positioning of the content and integrate the content with the brand mission to influence consumers to keep the brand at the top of their minds when making purchasing decisions.
Content Marketers develop schedules in editorial calendars, analyze website metrics, create an effective plan and strategy to meet the brand’s objectives.
They also need to understand the pulse of the potential customer and create and size content based on the service or product offered by the business.
Publishing the content by taking into account the consumers and when they are most active on the various digital marketing platforms should be clear to content marketers.
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Website Analyst
A web analytics expert or Digital analyst analyzes different data and metrics to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a website.
The main objective is to provide reports, track engagement activity on the website to increase page views. They are also concerned with providing tips on how to improve the User experience for better engagement and strategizing for or turning leads to consumers.
Web analytics expert has to be conversant with the different digital tools available to measure the metrics to provide insights and solutions to digital marketing challenges.
They also have to understand the customer pulse and steer the website in the correct direction to get more leads. Web analysts are generally proficient in the technical aspects of a website and create reports by collaborating with various departments like IT, Media Operations, and Customer Care.
They generally have extensive data mining experience with a background in Computer Science, Statistics, Information Technology, marketing, etc. A keen sense of the online best practices and designs is beneficial to web analysts.
Digital Marketing Strategist
A digital marketing strategist looks after the entire web marketing campaign for the brand and/or organization. From creating an effective strategy to you applying, implementing, and executing it successfully come in the purview of job profiles of a digital marketing executive.
Since they are concerned with the overall aspects of the organizations’ online success, therefore, they have to possess clarity on the various models of digital marketing and carry out activities to improve on weaknesses and strengthen the strong points.
People often confuse The Digital Marketing executive with the Digital Marketing Manager. In most cases, a Digital Marketing executive has a higher standing in the company than a digital marketing manager. it comes with enhanced knowledge, and experience.
Some of the activities of digital marketing executive ways to identify leads and provide actionable insights to ensure that the brand is a top priority for consumers when making purchasing decisions.
They should also be equipped with strong digital marketing best practices and identify trends to post content that is relevant to people on different digital media channels.
Web developer
Major credit for the success of a website goes to web developers who are responsible for creating responsive website interfaces by using various software.
Web developers are efficient in coding, designing, and the overall appearance of the website. They are also responsible for creating a design that enables websites to function properly without glitches or compromising on speed.
They maintain software documentation, scale the site, integrate data from various Data services. Also, collaborate with web designers and sometimes create designs themselves for users to navigate the site better. web developers are generally adept at JavaScript HTML CSS JQuery etc
Email Marketing Manager
Some organizations have a separate email marketing specialist whereas others incorporate this job role in other positions like Digital Marketing managers and Digital Marketing executives.
The main responsibility of an email marketing specialist is to promulgate the brand, create a favorable perception of the brand through email copies to target audiences.
They devise email campaigns around the digital marketing strategy. Email Marketers generate leads for the business by conveying the right information about the product to potential customers.
Email marketing emphasizes the personalization strategy by which you create emails personalized for your leads and consumers.
It involves addressing them by the specific name, creating content with specific writeups, graphics, and descriptions that provides information tailored to a particular consumer.
They should see to it that the emails are responsive to different devices and should include an impressive call to action for consumers to take the required action.
Any email copy should be brief, succinct, and contain all the important details without turning the readers off the content.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management is sometimes integrated with email marketing roles. But, a lot of big corporate organizations have a completely different position for customer relationship managers.
As the name suggests they are a liaison between the customer and the brand and are responsible to instill faith and build camaraderie with potential and existing customers.
Customer Relationship Manager should have excellent communication skills. They should be able to lend an affable voice to connect with the brand while communicating with consumers.
They should also have a comprehensive understanding of the brand and be able to answer questions from consumers.
Since they are the bridge between the brand and the consumer, the reputation of the brand is majorly dependent on the customer relationship manager. They are responsible for strategizing and establishing an effective communication line, conducting business reviews with the help of several customer relationship management tools and programs.
Conclusion
Though both MBA and digital marketing can provide you with lucrative careers, digital marketing is a much-in-demand skill set today that has innumerable opportunities in all sectors and industries.
Digital marketing course is shorter, more job-driven than an MBA course, and provides a 360 degree understanding of the subject that has gained enormous importance in today’s business world.
A digital marketer has a wide variety of career opportunities and innumerable sources of income like blogging, freelancing, affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, starting a business.
Also, a digital marketing course is just as effective online as it is offline. The student has to be present in on-campus classrooms for an in-depth understanding of the subject.
Another important facet of digital marketing is the practical implementation and exercises that a reputed institute provides for its students. MBA institutes lack in that area.
Industry knowledge is not enough for MBA graduates. The curriculum is more concentrated on theoretical aspects than practical execution in a mock work environment.
The main reason for pursuing a digital marketing course is that it provides ready employment, lucrative career opportunities, and a great hike in pay.
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