ShareDigital marketing is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the marketing industry, so it’s no wonder that more and more businesses are beginning to take the plunge into the deep pool of digital.
Getting to grips with digital marketing requires an understanding of what drives business success online, as well as knowing how strategic and creative marketing skills can be implemented for different clients across a wide range of industries and sectors.
Marketing degrees used to be a requirement for any aspiring marketers, but the modern digital arena means that the world of digital marketing has become much more accessible to anyone who has an internet connection. There are many professional marketers who are extremely successful without a degree, as well as marketing professionals who are extremely successful with a degree.
There are a variety of ways to learn marketing without attending university:
- Apprenticeships
- Online courses
- Creating and managing your own website
- Utilising social media platforms
Numerous UK universities offer a Marketing degree, which means you will need to find one that really stands out from the crowd. If you can implement some of the above whilst studying, it can go a long way towards putting you ahead of the game. Most universities offer a practical approach to learning marketing and enable you to have a complete understanding of marketing as a whole, allowing you to choose subject areas to specialise in.
The benefits of a marketing degree
If you are interested in business, psychology, or social studies, then a marketing degree may well suit you and enable you to find areas of marketing that interest you most. Marketing includes everything from market research and campaign strategy, to execution of the ad campaign and monitoring of the results. Because of this variety, marketing appeals to a wide variety of people, so completing a degree can help you to discover which branch of marketing you enjoy the most.
The university you choose to attend will depend on the specific modules you wish to learn. There is also the option of choosing a Bachelor of Science (Bsc) or a Bachelor of Arts (BA) marketing degree. Typically, a BA Marketing degree entails more of the marketing communication/media aspects, whereas a BSc usually includes learnings from both business and media perspectives.
Employment opportunities with a marketing degree
The jobs within the marketing sector are extremely varied, meaning there is always something for everyone, no matter what your personality type or skill set. Your degree can be used to progress into careers in marketing, communications, sales, PR, advertising, consultancy, management, and digital-specific marketing. You can choose to specialise in one marketing area, such as SEO, PPC, Email Marketing, or you can pursue a role wherein you can work across the whole marketing field.
Digital technology will continue to change the marketing industry, which means it is an incredibly exciting time to become a marketeer! Plus, graduates may find themselves in the position to climb the career ladder more quickly. But what about the people who prefer teaching themselves and want to avoid the debt that comes with a university degree?
The benefits of self-learning marketing
There is no doubt that degrees are a fantastic way to learn a broad range of marketing and digital marketing skills. However, if you want a focused, affordable, and more convenient learning program, then choosing to self-teach might be the right route for you.
You can find numerous online courses that can help teach you digital marketing, such as:
- Google Digital Garage
- Thinkful’s Digital Marketing Bootcamp
- HubSpot Content Marketing Certification
- Digital Marketing courses from Udemy
- Free Digital Marketing Certification Courses from LinkedIn Learning
- Digital Marketing Courses from Coursera
- Digital Marketing Strategies by Kellogg School of Management
- Master Digital Marketing by London School of Business
- Facebook Blueprint
Anyone in the marketing industry will tell you that the best way to learn marketing is by doing marketing. Many people feel that someone who is self-taught is more likely to have a bigger desire to continue their development in a full-time position, whereas graduates may feel a little less inclined to do so – given that they just spent 3 to 4 years in higher education.
Employment opportunities for a self-taught marketeer
Many agencies across the country offer apprenticeships for aspiring marketer. One benefit to completing an apprenticeship is that you get to apply your learning in real-life business situations. You may choose to take a creative apprenticeship, but you will still understand how a business operates because you would be a part of it.
Organisations across the country are now beginning to accept portfolios of work. With social media continuing to rise and marketing moving further and further online all the time, discussing with employers your wins and being able to show them your work goes a long way.
Another idea is creating your own website. Find something that interests you – whatever hobby that might be – and use your website to shout about your understanding and show off your digital marketing skills. You never know who may be watching and interested in the work you are producing.
So, what is better? Marketing degree or no marketing degree?
As with anything in life, it’s entirely dependent on who you are as a person and what your personality is like. If you are an individual who finds that they gain a better understanding whilst in an academic environment, then a degree may be what’s best for you. Of course, there are the added benefits of going to university and gaining an understanding of the whole discipline in a more structured, educational environment.
However, some people find that the best way for them to learn something new is by just doing it and learning as they go. For those individuals, an apprenticeship or online course may be better suited to their learning preferences and creating a strong portfolio of work will allow for applications to a range of different companies – you might even end up starting your own marketing agency in the process!
So, to summarise, the digital marketing sector welcomes all personalities and people, after all good marketing is always about the customers, it does not matter what way you choose to learn it if your committed to always learning new things and developing your skills every day. Marketing will continue to change, and we will all have to develop new skills as it develops.
Here at Coast Digital, we understand that when you first face marketing it can be difficult to know where to start, that is why we have put together our Coast Campus to help all people understand digital marketing better. Our marketing experts are on hand to offer personalised digital training course and workshops, you will develop the skills and confidence to build, optimise and benefit from your digital marketing. Get in contact with our digital marketing experts today!
