Life as a Digital Marketer | What do Digital Marketers do?

Life as a digital marketer is super-fun and exciting, to say the least. Things evolve and change at such a rapid pace, that you feel the thrill of being in a race car all the time. You are constantly learning, strategizing and trying new things.

What makes it even more fun is that it requires a mix of both an analytical and a creative mindset – ensuring you sharpen both sides of your brain. If you are someone who loves challenges, constant learning and pushing boundaries, you will not find a better career than this!

Deepak Kanakaraju, Co-founder – Optinchat & Blogger at DigitalDeepak.com 

Life of a Digital Marketer is like that of a multi-cuisine restaurant chef. One day you learn to make Italian, The next day people want Mexican, third day everybody starts loving Chinese, and fourth day everybody’s taste buds make them crave for Pad Thai.

You keep learning, keep cooking, trying to become a master of different dishes, in hoping to satiate the appetite of your patrons. It’s a tough job, it’s tough to keep learning, but the resulting smile and joy makes it worth it, while the bills people pay keep you running. A digital marketer’s role is exciting, exhilarating, challenging and rewarding.

Murtaza Adenwala, Digital Marketing Head, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited

This industry has transformed me into a dynamic personality, as dynamism is the key to success for this industry.

My learning’s through my experience has taught me that it’s important to focus on your value to an organization rather than your success. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being successful, as long as you’re valuable.

Lastly, my advice is to be selective. You can’t manage every possible digital marketing approach that’s out there. Select ones you can commit to as an organization that will drive value and put quality standards behind what you do.

Mandar Marathe, Co-Founder, BriefKase Digital Communications

Digital Marketing as a career was a conscious choice I made 9 years ago with my first job post my MBA. All these years, I have been working at digital agencies – Digitas (Publicis Groupe) in Boston, Reprise Media (IPG) in Mumbai and now as an owner at BriefKase, a digital agency for startups and small business. My life as a digital marketer essentially revolves around the clients we serve and the business owners we work with day in and day out. When it comes to interest areas in digital, I take a liking to Web Analytics, SEO, and Pay Per Click marketing. There is so much to learn in this ever-evolving field – at times I feel overwhelmed and lacking in knowledge.

While taking the train & the metro to work, I read on the Feedly App – Seth Godin on Marketing, HubSpot, KiSSmetrics, and Kaushik.net are some of my favorite blogs. While at work, I refrain from using Social Media, unless its for running campaigns on Facebook / Instagram. At my desk, I am mostly immersed in checking off items on my to-do list (Read: execution).

On weekends, I teach SEO at Digital Vidya and I like doing it a lot. At IIT Bombay, I am a visiting faculty for Online Marketing and take a full-fledged 21-hour elective course for second-year MBA students.

There is an offline side to my life. I enjoy spending time with my 3-year-old kid – taking him for an occasional swim or playing with construction toys and superhero figurines. My wife and I enjoy watching Bollywood movies.

Avijit Arya, Chief Mogul, Internet Moguls

I am an accidental first mover , 20 years ago when I wanted to take my dad’s small hotel to the next level, I discovered the Internet and the brand new platforms that it had to help me connect my hotel to international  audiences , this Led us to be amongst the first-ever hotels to be listed on google Expedia and other portals and there was no stopping then.

I discovered the internet will always provide first-mover advantages for people as new trends emerge and I launched a company called Internet moguls which today helps personal brands and corporations find their place in the sun.

Himanshu Arora, Co-founder, Social Panga

Let me start from the beginning. 😀

I am basically an Electronics and Telecommunication Engineer, who had failed in his first year. After I (barely) passed out, I got a job in a Software Company. I was fired in the 2nd month.

After that I was doing a job that I did not like too much, just to keep making some money. Fortunately, after a few months, I came across this field of ‘Social Media Marketing’.

I felt an instant connect. There was something about social media that pulled me towards it. I decided to make it my career. I was carrying heavy doubts in my mind because of my past failure, but I still decided to take that leap of faith.

I applied at various firms, and was finally accepted into one. I was a fresher, and hence the salary that was offered to me was lesser than the amount of money I was making at my first software job. 🙂 My relatives thought that I had lost my mind. But somehow I had a strong belief in what I was doing. That kept me going.

When I started working, I realized that I loved my job. I became the Team Lead after just 8 months. I worked in that company for over a year, after which I loved one of the biggest ad agencies in Pune. My latest stint was at a mid-sized firm, where I worked as a Digital Marketing Head.

I must say that the ride has been eventful. Very eventful.

Currently, I am more into training (Online as well as Physical) and I am also working on my initiative on Mindfulness – Towards Fulfilment.

From where I stand right now, I don’t think I have even mastered 1% of Digital Marketing. No, this is not my modesty. I genuinely believe that there is so much to learn!

Will I say that the hard part is over? No, not at all. The hard part is still here!

I want to touch on 2 points here, which I think are super important for a Digital Marketing standpoint –

1.) Staying in the game

The Digital Marketing sector is now getting popular, which means that in order to survive, you have to continuously work on your game. The Digital Marketing World changes daily. If you are away from it for a month, it literally feels like a year. You have to keep on making efforts to stay updated. You have to keep on executing.

2.) Asking the right question

Another thing that I have personally started practicing religiously, is asking myself the question ‘What is this for?’ I believe this is a really powerful question. A lot of times, we indulge in activities on social media, that have nothing to do with the brand objectives.

For example, a lot of social media marketers strive for page likes. When asked the question ‘Why?’, there is no convincing answer. Instead of our ego driving us to seek bigger numbers, can we focus on quality? Can we focus on adding value to a selected target audience rather than aspiring to win over the whole world?

‘What is this for?’ is a question, which ensures that we keep a track of the right numbers. It ensures that we are not lost in competition.

Well, my life as a digital marketer starts with fetching data, analyze it, draw valuable actionable items, execute and then measure. You cannot survive if you don’t know how to analyze the relevant data.

Every day there is a new learning, it can be functional (tools), category (business) or consumer-centric (online behavior) in nature. The more we experiment and innovate the more we learn.

To sum it up life as a digital marketer is about finding the best possible solutions by executing, tweaking and then executing again till forever.

Shubhendu Jha, Head – Client Servicing, WeBeeSocial

Digital marketing is a very fascinating industry to be a part of. If you are really passionate about it, you can never get bored. The learning here is endless and everything is so dynamic that digital marketers always have to be on our toes to stay ahead of the curve. My day starts with me having a cup of coffee and going through the things happening around me. News from both the digital world and politics keep me hooked.

My workday typically starts with a team meeting where we discuss the status of ongoing projects and the game plan for daily deliveries. After that, I move out and attend client meetings as that is one of my key roles as the head of client servicing. New briefs are discussed post these meetings and we lay out a plan of action to ensure timely deliveries. The best part of my day is the brainstorming session with my creative team as all of us have a ball thinking of crazy ideas (mostly hilarious jokes) and strategies. In the evening we do a follow up of the morning job list and plan the deliverables for the next day. Parallelly we work on reports and MIS and ensure that targets are being met. This is a typical day in my life as a digital marketer.